1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Delaunay, Louis Arsène

DELAUNAY, LOUIS ARSÈNE (1826–1903), French actor, was born in Paris, the son of a wine-seller. He studied at the Conservatoire, and made his first formal appearance on the stage in 1845, in Tartuffe at the Odéon. After three years at this house he made his début at the Comédie Française as Dorante in Corneille’s Le Menteur, and began a long and brilliant career in young lover parts. He continued to act as jeune premier until he was sixty, his grace, marvellous diction and passion enchanting his audiences. It was especially in the plays of Alfred de Musset that his gifts found their happiest expression. In the thirty-seven years during which he was a member of the Comédie Française, Delaunay took or created nearly two hundred parts. He retired in 1887, having been made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1883.