COQUELIN, BENoi• CONSTANT (1541—). A distinguished French actor, known as Coquelin Ainel. to differentiate him from his younger brother, Coquelin Cadet. Porn at Boulogne-Imr-Mer, January 23, 1841. he early showed such dramatic gifts that he was sent to the Paris Conservatoire (1859). The following year he took the seeond prize for comedy, and made his di•but on the stage of the Comedie Frangaise in Lc depit amoureux. Later he ap peared with brilliant .6ise•ess in Lc •mariage dc •igaro. Le malade intaginaire, Lc misanthrope. Lc barbier de Seville, and other pieces in the classic repertoire. In modern plays he was no less effective, and he speedily became a great popular favorite. His versatility is considered remarkable. Among his creations have been rides in Lc lion amoureux, Gringoire, Paul For estier, faux menages, Le monde nu ion s'ennuie, and Denise, to mention only a few. He had been elected a soeietai•c in the Fran cais as early as 1564, but in 1856 he retired and made an extensive tour abroad. In 1858 he visited America. At the end of 1889 he returned to the ThMtre FranQais, where as a salaried member of the company he remained till 1892, creating among other parts that of LabussiOre in Thermidor (Jannary, 1591). In 1893-94 he
appeared again in the United States. His en gagement in 1895 at the Renaissance Theatre in Paris led to a lawsuit from the Francaise, in which he was condemned to pay damages. In 1897, at the Porte-Saint-Martin, he produced Ilostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, which has become his most celebrated character. In 1599 came his Napoleon in Plus que ?Tine. In 1900-01 he visited America once more, this time in company with Sarah Bernhardt, to whose Due de P‘eiehstadt he played Flambeau in Ros tand's Coquelin is known also as a writer and lecturer, among his publications being: L'.trt et lc comedicn (1550). which has been tranAlated into German, and into English The Actor and his Art): Les comedirns, par nn comedicn (1552) ; f;_trnolphe de Molierr (1582); and L'A rt dr dire le monologue, in part by his brother, Coquelin Cadet ( 1554 ) .