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Tirso de Molina

(Encyclopedia)Tirso de Molina gäbrēĕlˈ tĕlˈyĕth [key], 1584?–1648, outstanding dramatist of the Spanish Golden Age, b. Madrid. His fame rests on El burlador de Sevilla (1630; tr. The Love Rogue, 1924), the...

Coquelin, Benoît Constant

(Encyclopedia)Coquelin, Benoît Constant bənwäˈ kôNstäNˈ kôklăNˈ [key], 1841–1909, French actor, known as Coquelin aîné [the elder]. He made his debut at the Comédie française in 1860 and achieved fa...

Balzac, Honoré de

(Encyclopedia)Balzac, Honoré de bălˈzăk, bôl–, Fr. ōnôrāˈ də bälzäkˈ [key], 1799–1850, French novelist, b. Tours. Balzac ranks among the great masters of the novel. Of a bourgeois family, he himsel...

Ghelderode, Michel de

(Encyclopedia)Ghelderode, Michel de mēshĕlˈ də gĕldərōdˈ [key], 1898–1962, Belgian dramatist. He wrote in French and is noted for his colorful and avant-garde plays. He lived in obscurity until 1949, when...

Mendoza, Pedro de

(Encyclopedia)Mendoza, Pedro de dā māndōˈthä [key], b. 1501 or 1502, d. 1537, Spanish conquistador, first adelantado [civil and military governor] of Río de la Plata (present-day Argentina). After a military...

Signoret, Simone

(Encyclopedia)Signoret, Simone, 1921–85, French actress, b. Wiesbaden, Germany, as Simone Henriette Charlotte Kaminker. The sultry blonde actress began as a movie extra; she became well known after she starred in...

Cormenin, Louis Marie de La Haye, vicomte de

(Encyclopedia)Cormenin, Louis Marie de La Haye, vicomte de lwē märēˈ də lä ā vēkôNtˈ də kôrmənăNˈ [key], 1788–1868, French politician, jurist, and pamphleteer. He held minor offices under Napoleon,...

Vérendrye, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de la

(Encyclopedia)Vérendrye, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de la pyĕr gōtyāˈ də värĕnˈ syör də lä vāräNdrēˈ [key], 1685–1749, explorer in W Canada and the United States, b. Trois Rivières (Three...

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