born April 1, 1868, Marseille, France
died Dec. 2, 1918, Paris
French playwright.
He wrote poetry, essays, and plays for puppet theatre before his first stage play, The Red Glove , was performed in 1888. His most popular work is the heroic comedy Cyrano de Bergerac (1898), the story of an ugly, long-nosed soldier who despairs of winning the woman he loves and helps a friend woo her instead. A final, belated example of French Romantic drama, it was enormously successful internationally. He also wrote The Eaglet (1900) for Sarah Bernhardt .