Michel Baron

Born Oct. 8,1653, in Paris; died there on Dec. 22, 1729. French actor.

In 1665, Baron joined Moliére’s company. Beginning in 1673 he worked in the theater at the Hotel de Bourgogne, and beginning in 1680 (with a break from 1691 to 1720), at the Comedie Francaise. He played the roles of tragic heroes, including Hippolyte and Pyrrhus (in Racine’s Phedre and Andromaque) and Rodrigue and Horace (in Corneille’s Le Cid and Horace). Baron followed the principles of Moliere: he renounced monotonous evenness in reading alexandrine verse and subordinated intonation to thought and emotion. However, as an actor in classical theater he created images of exaggeratedly noble heroes, and he continued to use stylized costumes. Baron wrote the comedy L’Homme à bonnes fortunes (1686) and other works.