Marie Champmeslé

Marie Champmeslé (; née Desmares ; 18 February 1642 – 15 May 1698) was a French stage actress.

Biography She was born in Rouen of a wealthy family; her father's name was Desmares. She made her first appearance on the stage at Rouen with Charles Chevillet Champmeslé (1645-1707), who called himself sieur de Champmeslé, and they were married in 1666. By 1669 they were playing in Paris at the Theatre du Marais, her first appearance there being as Venus in Boyer's Fête de Vénus. The next year, as Hermione in Jean Racine's Andromaque, she had a great success at the Hotel de Bourgogne.

Her intimacy with Racine dates from then. Some of his finest tragedies were written for her, but her repertoire was not confined to them, and many an indifferent play - like Thomas Corneille's Ariane and Comte d'Essex - owed its success to her natural manner of acting, and her pathetic rendering of the hapless heroine. Phèdre was the climax of her triumphs.

La Fontaine dedicated to her his novel Belphegor, and Boileau immortalized her in verse.

Family Her husband Charles distinguished himself both as actor and playwright. Her brother was the actor Nicolas Desmares (c. 1650–1714). Her niece, Christine Antoinette Charlotte Desmares (1682–1753), was also an actress.