Clémentine Jouassain | |
---|---|
Born | Catherine-Julie-Clémentine Jouassain 3 December 1829 Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat |
Died | 7 May 1902 Paris |
Occupation | Actress |
Catherine-Julie-Clémentine Jouassain, baronne de Tournière (3 December 1829 – 7 May 1902) was a French actress, a societaire of the Comédie-Française.
Joassain was born in Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, near Limoges, the daughter of Léonard Jouassain and Marie Masrevery. Her father was a merchant. [1] She studied at the Conservatoire in Paris, a student of Joseph Isidore Samson. [2] [3]
Jouassain debuted with the Comédie-Française in 1851, [4] and became a societaire in 1863. She was called "reine des duègnes" (Queen of the Duennas), because she almost always played supporting characters; she was not considered to have the face or physique for leading roles. [5] She was cast in plays by Jean Racine, Molière and Victor Hugo, [6] and was credited as creating dozens of roles. [3] In 1870, Joussain and three other actresses of the Comédie-Française, Madeleine Brohan, Marie Favart and Edile Riquier, announced that they were closing the theatre to open its space as "an ambulance" for treating French casualties during the Siege of Paris. [7] "Excellent above all in Molière and Marivaux, and interesting in everything," commented a London newspaper in 1879, "she is one of the most original, most useful, and most laborious members of the company." [8] She retired from the Comédie with a pension in 1887. [2] [3]
Jouassain donated art to the Musée d'Orsay. [9]
In 1876, Joassain married a marine officer, Albert Edouard Olivier de Tournière, and became a baroness. [10] She was a widow when she died in Paris in 1902, aged 72 years, [5] after injuries sustained in a street accident with a bicycle. [2] [10]