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Almodóvar, Pedro

(Encyclopedia)Almodóvar, Pedro pāˈᵺrō älmōᵺōˈbär [key], 1951–, Spanish film director. Almodóvar began making short films using an inexpensive Super 8 camera in the early 1970s, graduated to longer 1...

Coward, Noël

(Encyclopedia)Coward, Noël (Sir Noël Pierce Coward) nōˈəl [key], 1899–1973, English playwright, actor, composer, and director, b. Teddington, England. Coward first gained wide prominence in 1924 acting in hi...

French architecture

(Encyclopedia)French architecture, structures created in the area of Europe that is now France. Engineers and architects, including François Hennebique, Auguste Perret, and Tony Garnier, pioneered the use of rei...

Deschanel, Émile

(Encyclopedia)Deschanel, Émile āmēlˈ dāshänĕlˈ [key], 1819–1904, French author and politician. Of his numerous works the best known are such critical studies as Études sur Aristophane (1867) and Le Roman...

Coysevox, Antoine

(Encyclopedia)Coysevox, Antoine äNtwänˈ kwäzĕvōksˈ [key], 1640–1720, French sculptor. He enjoyed the patronage of Louis XIV and produced a great part of the sculpture at Versailles. His Winged Horses, at t...

Freyssinet, Eugène

(Encyclopedia)Freyssinet, Eugène özhĕnˈ frāsēnāˈ [key], 1879–1962, French engineer. Freyssinet was noted as a designer of bridges and industrial buildings. He was the inventor of the internationally used ...

Girardon, François

(Encyclopedia)Girardon, François fräNswäˈ zhērärdôNˈ [key], 1628–1715, French sculptor. Chancellor Séguier sent him to study in Paris with François Anguier and later to Rome. On his return he was commis...

Gautier, Émile Félix

(Encyclopedia)Gautier, Émile Félix āmēlˈ fālēksˈ gōtyāˈ [key], 1864–1940, French geographer, an authority on Algiers, the Sahara, and the French African possessions. He explored W Madagascar (1892–94...

Jura, department, France

(Encyclopedia)Jura zhüräˈ [key], department (1990 pop. 249,600), E France, in Franche-Comté, bordering on Switzerland. Lons-le-Saunier is the capital. The area is a major producer of Gruyère cheese and a cente...

Castro y Bellvís, Guillén de

(Encyclopedia)Castro y Bellvís, Guillén de gēlyānˈ dā käsˈtrō ē bĕlvēsˈ [key], 1569–1631, Spanish dramatist, best known of the Valencian group of playwrights of the Golden Age. Three of his plays dra...