La Thorillière

Engraving of La Thorillière by Frédéric-Désiré Hillemacher after a watercolour. François Le Noir, sieur de La Thorillière (c. 1626 – 27 July 1680) was a French comic actor, who was born and died in Paris.

Life La Thorillière was the son of Charles Le Noir, founder of the Théâtre du Marais in 1634, and the actor Isabelle Mestivier.

After serving as a captain in the Lorraine Regiment, he married the 21-year-old Marie Petitjean on 30 April 1658.

He was also for a time in charge of the accounts for Molière's company. His first register (1663–1664) was published by George Monval in 1890; the second (1664–1665) is preserved in the Archives of the Comédie-Française. On 17 January 1671 he played the King in the premiere of the comédie-ballet Psyché, with text and lyrics by Molière, Philippe Quinault and Pierre Corneille and music by Jean-Baptiste Lully.

After Molière's death in 1673, La Thorillière (along with Michel Baron and Beauval and his wife) left that troupe and joined the Comédiens du Roi at the Hôtel de Bourgogne. It was La Thorillière's death in 1680 that, among other reasons, precipitated the merger of the players from the Bourgogne with those at the Guénégaud Theatre, leading to the creation of the Comédie-Française. Some scholars have suggested he had been opposed to any merger since 1673, possibly due to animosity or rivalry between La Thorillière and La Grange, the orator of that troupe.

His son Pierre (1659–1731), also known as La Thorillière, became a sociétaire of the Comédie-Française. His daughter Charlotte (born 1661) married Michel Baron in 1675, whilst his daughter Marie-Thérèse (born 1663) married the playwright Dancourt in 1680.