Roland Alexandre(1927-1956)

Born in 1927, Roland Alexandre started his adult (and professional) life under favorable auspices. Young (he was only 22 when he joined the prestigious Comédie-Française), handsome (L'Aurore, a French newspaper described him as having a wonderful physical appearance and a fantastic charm), gifted (the same paper praised his clear singular voice and his presence) and in love with Juliette Greco, the famous singer, he had everything. But the fairy tale suddenly turned sour when the "cherished child of the gods" took his own life at the age of 28. A sad (and premature) ending for a young man who could have become a new Gérard Philipe. However, for all the brevity of his career, Roland Alexandre had had time to star in nearly twenty plays signed André Gide, William Shakespeare, Jean Racine, Victor Hugo, Molière and Alfred de Musset as well as to appear in ten movies in France and abroad. His best remembered roles in the movies were that of Jacques Morhange, a young intern, godson of a famous surgeon (Pierre Fresnay) in Yves Ciampi's Perfectionist (1951) and Armand Duval in Raymond Bernard's version of A Lady with Camelias (1953). But his real shining hours were on the boards when he performed such difficult (and rewarding) roles as Lafcadio in "Les caves du Vatican", Britannicus in 'Racine's play of the same name, Perdican in "On ne badine pas avec l'amour" and Clitandre in "Les femmes savantes". Roland Alexandre, a man who had everything but who said no to life. How sad.