Merle, Jean-Toussaint

PLAYWRIGHT, JOURNALIST (FRANCE)
BORN 10 Jun 1785, Montpellier, Hérault - DIED 27 Feb 1852, Paris: Ancien 8e
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Cimetière du Montparnasse, 3 Boulevard Edgar Quinet (division 06)

Jean-Toussaint Merle was educated at the École centrale in the Hérault department. In 1803 he came to Paris where he was in the Ministry of the Interior. He left Paris for his military service and after he returned in 1808 he started a career as a journalist and a playwright. He worked for several newspapers, including Mercure de France, Gazette de France and La Quotidienne. He wrote more than hundred plays, mostly in colloboration with others and some of them more successful than others. In 1820 he wrote an imitation of Friedrich Schiller's "Marie Stuart".

From 1822 to 1826 he was the diretor of the Porte-Saint-Martin theatre in Paris. He married the actress Mary Dorval on 17 October 1829. They had an open marriage and both he and Mary had affairs. In 1831 he published "Anecdotes historiques et politiques pour servir à l’histoire de la conquête d’Alger".

Family
• Wife: Dorval, Marie (1829-1849)

Images

The grave of Marie Dorval at Montparnasse Cimetière, Paris.
Picture by Androom (18 May 2005)

 

Sources
Jean-Toussaint Merle — Wikipédia


Mérode, Cléo de

Published: 27 Dec 2023
Last update: 27 Apr 2024