René Fauchois

René Fauchois (31 August 1882 – 10 February 1962) was a French dramatist, librettist and actor. Stagestruck from his youth, he moved from his native Rouen to Paris as a teenager to pursue a stage career. He had early success both as an actor and as a playwright. Among those with whom he collaborated as his career flourished were Sarah Bernhardt and Sacha Guitry. His career lasted for more than sixty years, and his output was prolific.

As a librettist Fauchois is probably best known for writing the "poème lyrique" for Fauré's Pénélope (1913). His best-known play is Prenez garde à la peinture (1932), a comedy of bourgeois avarice, adapted for US and British stage and screen as The Late Christopher Bean. His 1919 comedy Boudu sauvé des eaux has been filmed in both French and English.

Life and career Fauchois was born in Rouen to a family of modest means. The work was a success when presented at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, but its fame was short-lived: the furore of the premiere of The Rite of Spring in the same theatre less than a month later relegated the opera to the background. A few years later Fauchois wrote another libretto on a classical theme: Nausicaa, to music by Reynaldo Hahn, which was premiered in 1919.

During the First World War Fauchois wrote and acted less, although three of his plays were presented at the Comédie-Française: La Veillée des armes (1915), L'Augusta and Vitrail (1916). |group= n but it was not until Sacha Guitry produced Fauchois' La Danseuse éperdue in 1922 that the writer's gift for comedy was widely recognised.

Fauchois' career continued for nearly three decades after the success of Prenez garde à la peinture. He wrote more than twenty further stage works, and continued to act in plays and films. Among the works of his later years was a third libretto, an operatic adaptation of Madame Bovary (1951) to music by Emmanuel Bondeville. French Wikipedia has a complete list of Fauchois' plays.

Fauchois died in Paris on 10 February 1962 at the age of 79.

Filmography The Monkey Talks, directed by Raoul Walsh (1927, based on the play Le Singe qui parle) Boudu Saved from Drowning, directed by Jean Renoir (France, 1932, based on the play Boudu sauvé des eaux) , directed by Henri Chomette (France, 1933, based on the play Prenez garde à la peinture) Christopher Bean, directed by Sam Wood (1933, based on the play Prenez garde à la peinture) Dreams of Love, directed by Christian Stengel (France, 1947, based on the play Rêves d'amour) Down and Out in Beverly Hills, directed by Paul Mazursky (1986, based on the play Boudu sauvé des eaux) Boudu, directed by Gérard Jugnot (France, 2005, based on the play Boudu sauvé des eaux)

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