BEJART FAMILY

17th-century French theatrical family closely associated with the playwright Molire. Its members include the brothers and sisters Joseph, Madeleine, Genevive, Armande, and Louis. Joseph Bjart (c. 1617-59) was a strolling player and later a member of Molire's first company (the Illustre Thtre). Joseph accompanied Molire in his theatrical wanderings and was with him when he returned permanently to Paris, dying soon after. He created the parts of Llie in L'Etourdi (1653; The Blunderer) and Eraste in Le Dpit amoureux (1654; The Amorous Quarrel). His brother Louis Bjart (1630-78) was also in Molire's company during the last years of its travels and created many parts in Molire's plays-Valre in Le Dpit amoureux, Dubois in Le Misanthrope (1666), Alcantor in Le Mariage forc (1664; The Forced Marriage), and Don Luis in Dom Juan, ou le festin de Pierre (1665; Don John; or, The Libertine). He was lamed in a brawl and retired with a pension in 1670. The more famous members of the family were two sisters: Madeleine Bjart (1618-72) was at the head of the traveling company to which her sister Genevive (c. 1622-75), who played under her mother's name (Herv), and her brothers belonged, before they joined Molire in forming the Illustre Thtre (1643). Madeleine remained with Molire until her death on Feb. 17, 1672. She was an excellent actress, particularly in soubrette parts, a number of which Molire wrote for her. Among her creations were Marotte in Les Prcieuses ridicules (1659; The Affected Young Ladies), Lisette in L'Ecole des maris (1661; The School for Husbands), and Dorine in Tartuffe (1664-69). Madeleine's sister, or possibly daughter, Armande (-Grsinde-Claire-Elisabeth) Bjart (1642-1700), seems first to have joined the company at Lyon in 1653. In 1662 Molire married her, he being then 40 and she 19. Neither was happy; the wife was a flirt, the husband jealous. They separated after the birth of a daughter in 1665 and met only at the theatre until 1671, when they were reconciled. Her portrait is given in Act iii, scene 9 of Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1670; The Bourgeois Gentleman). Armande's first appearance on the stage was in 1663, as lise in La Critique de l'cole des femmes (School for Wives). She was out of the cast for a short time in 1664, when she bore Molire a son, but in the spring she started her long list of important roles. She was at her best as Celimne-really her own portrait-in Le Misanthrope and hardly less admirable as Anglique in Le Malade imaginaire (1674; The Imaginary Invalid). She was Elmire in the first performance of Tartuffe, and was Lucile in Le Bourgeois gentilhomme. After Molire's death Armande leased the Thtre Gungaud, Paris, and by royal ordinance the residue of her company was combined with the players from the failing Thtre du Marais. The combination, known as the Troupe du Roi, at first was unfortunate, but in 1679 they secured the services of Marie Champmesl, one of the leading tragediennes of her time, and absorbed the company of the Htel de Bourgogne, in Paris. The combined company became the Comdie Franaise. In 1677 Armande married the actor Isaac-Franois Gurin d'Estrich. She retired in 1694 and died six years later.