Sacha Guitry

AlexandrePierre Georges Guitry 21 February 1885 24 July 1957 known as Sacha Guitry was a French stage actor film actor director screenwriter and playwright of the boulevard theatre He was the son of a leading French actor Lucien Guitry and followed his father into the theatrical profession He became known for his stage performances particularly in boulevardier roles He was also a prolific playwright writing 115 plays throughout his career He was married five times always to rising actresses whose careers he furthered Probably his bestknown wife was Yvonne Printemps to whom he was married between 1919 and 1932 Guitrys plays range from historical dramas to contemporary light comedies Some have musical scores by composers including André Messager and Reynaldo Hahn When silent films became popular Guitry avoided them finding the lack of spoken dialogue fatal to dramatic impact From the 1930s to the end of his life he enthusiastically embraced the cinema making as many as five films in a single year The later years of Guitrys career were overshadowed by accusations of collaborating with the occupying Germans after the capitulation of France in the Second World War The charges were dismissed but Guitry a strongly patriotic man was disillusioned by the vilification he received from some of his compatriots By the time of his death his popular esteem had been restored to the extent that 12000 people filed past his coffin before his burial in Paris Guitry was born at No 12 Nevsky Prospect Saint Petersburg Russia the third son of the French actors Lucien Guitry and his wife MarieLouiseRenée née Delmas de PontJest 18581902 The couple had eloped in the face of family disapproval and were married at St Martin in the Fields London in 1882 They then moved to the then Russian capital where Lucien ran the French theatre company the Théâtre Michel from 1882 to 1891 The marriage was brief Guitry senior was a persistent adulterer and his wife instituted divorce proceedings in 1888 Two of their sons died in infancy one in 1883 and the other in 1887 the other surviving son Jean 18841920 became an actor and journalist The familys Russian nurse habitually shortened AlexandrePierres name to the Russian diminutive Sacha by which he was known all his life The young Sacha made his stage debut in his fathers company at the age of five Lucien Guitry considered the most distinguished actor in France since Coquelin was immensely successful both critically and commercially When he returned to Paris he lived in a flat in a prestigious spot overlooking the Place Vendôme and the Rue de la Paix The young Sacha lived there and for his schooling he was first sent to the wellknown Lycée Janson de Sailly in the fashionable Sixteenth arrondissement He did not stay long there and went to a succession of other schools both secular and religious before abandoning formal education at the age of sixteen Source Article Sacha Guitry from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30