Catherine Samie ・ Comédie-Française

Teachers have found the twenty-three-year old girl rather clumsy and difficult to accommodate in a job. Nevertheless, in 1956, after her graduation exam during which she performed Molière and Courteline, the jury awarded her a double prize, a second prize for her performances from the classical repertoire and a second prize from the contemporary one. Created with mischievous humor, endowed with an unequalled energy, a nice dose of lightness, gales of laughter, and a sort of calm strength, the young actress made her début in comedy.

Catherine Samie joined the Comédie-Française in September 1956 and boarded for a trip that lasted half a century. In a few months, she took part in more than six productions staged by Jean Meyer. She embodied all of Molière’s soubrettes, Dorine, Lisette, Nérine, Marine, Zerbinette,Nicole, Toinette, Jeannette, and Claudine. She was even considered the archetype of a Molière’s soubrette. Besides Molière, she performed in plays by Feydeau, Courteline, Meilhac and Halévy, Labiche, Flers and Caillavet.

Less than five years after she enrolled in the Troupe, Catherine Samie had already played in more than fifty plays ranging from classic comedy to vaudeville. She was appointed in 1962 as its 438th sociétaire.
She could play any role for comedy had taught her generosity in acting, involvement and aloofness, the controlling of effects, the graciousness of a moment and an intense connection with the public. She could play everything and that was what she did. From Marivaux and Montherlant, to Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky, and from Mérimée and Rostand to Strindberg, Euripides and Beckett. Catherine Samie epitomized the Comédie-Française which was at a turning point in its history, one willing for change, for transformation and for the relinquishment of obsolete customs and practices, one that was opening up to the world despite its centuries-old tradition, one that created new links with the public and expected a whole range of different work from the members of its Troupe. She took part in all the new experimentations led by the general administrators Maurice Escande, Pierre Dux, Jean-Pierre Vincent, Jacques Lassalle, Antoine Vitez, Jean-Pierre Miquel, and Marcel Bozonnet. She was the source of great inspiration to the most renowned directors, namely Jacques Charon, Jean-Paul Roussillon, Jorge Lavelli, Otomar Krejka, Klaus-Michael Grüber, Stuart Seide, Bruno Bayen, Jean-Luc Boutté and Éric Vigner. She starred in plays by famous contemporary authors such those written by Fernando Arrabal, Jean Audureau, Samuel Beckett, and Marguerite Duras. In fifty years, she has performed 133 roles.

As of the beginning of 1989, upon Bernard Dhéran’s departure from the Company, Catherine Samie became the Doyen of the Comédie-Française, a title she has kept eighteen years, one of the longest reigns in the history of the House of Molière. In 1990, when Antoine Vitez died, she was the second woman, after Claude Winter, to assume the postion of an acting General Administrator. As she played a role in Jean Audureau’s Félicité, the writer gained access to the company’s Repertoire. She performed in Aimé Césaire’s The Tragedy of King Christophe (La Tragédie du Roi Christophe), and performed Madeleine’s role, in Savannah Bay, for the début of Marguerite Duras at the Salle Richelieu in 2002. Moreover, she played Winnie in Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days in 2005.

During fifty years, the big screens have sought her performances, and she thus worked with numerous directors ranging from Julien Duvivier to Josiane Balasko, from Michel Audiard to Claude Lelouch, from Jean-Jacques Annaud to James Ivory, just to name a few.

At the end of 2006, she was ready to leave the House of Molière. The following January, “Jubilé Jubilant,” a traditional big farewell party was held in her honor celebrating the immense actress she was. All the members of the Troupe paid a vibrant tribute, imbued with a love of life and theatre that she had indefatigably witnessed over the years.

Catherine
Samie

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