Molière
(1622–1673)
Molière (B * PARIS, 1622 – † D PARIS, 1673) Stage and pen name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, one of the great French playwrights as well as a virtuoso actor. The son of an upholsterer in the court of Louis XIII (1601–1643), he gravitated toward the theater world in 1643, forming a company, L'Illustre Théâtre, with his partner and lover Madeleine Béjart (1618–1672), an actress, and her extended theatrical family (her younger sister Armande [1640–1700] became Madame Molière). In 1644, after…