BELLECOUR French actor, whose real name was JEAN CLAUDE GILLES COLSON, was born on Jan. 16 I 725, the son of a portrait painter. After playing in the provinces he made his debut, on Dec. 21 I 75o, as Achilles in 1 phigenie. He was more successful, however, in comedy parts. He wrote a successful play, Fausses apparences (1761), and was very useful to the Comedie Francaise in editing and adapting the plays of others. He died on Nov. I 1778.
His wife, ROSE PERRINE LE ROY DE LA CORBINAYE, was born at Lamballe on Dec. 20 I 73o, the daughter of an artillery officer. Under the name of Beaumenard she made her first Paris appear ance in 1743 as Gogo in Favart's Le Coq du village. After a year at the Opera Comique she played in several companies, including that of Marshal Saxe. In 1749 she made her debut at the Comedie Francaise as Dorine in Tartu ff e, and her success was immediate. She retired in 1756, but reappeared in 1761 as Madame Bellecour, and continued her successes in soubrette parts in the plays of Moliere and de Regnard. She retired at the age of sixty, but the Revolution put an end to her pension, and she died in poverty on Aug. 5