Lucien Guitry
Lucien Germain Guitry was a French actor.Life
In 1885, while living in Saint Petersburg, Guitry appeared at the French Theatre.
His son, the future actor, writer and director Sacha Guitry, was born in Saint Petersburg and named in honour of Tsar Alexander III.
Lucien met the composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and his brother Modest, and became good friends with them.
It was at Guitry's instigation that Tchaikovsky wrote both his Hamlet Overture-Fantasy in 1888, and the Incidental Music to the Shakespeare play in 1891, for which he reused the overture-fantasy in shortened form as the overture.
He became prominent on the French stage at the Renaissance theatre, in 1897, then at Porte Saint-Martin theatre in 1900, and the Variétés in 1901.
He was a member of the Comédie-Française, but resigned in order to become director of the Renaissance, where he was principally associated with the actress Marthe Brandès, who had also left the Comédie. Here, in a number of plays, he established his reputation as one of the greatest contemporary French actors in the drama of modern reality.Filmography
