Marthe Régnier (1880-1967) was a beautiful and famous French stage actress and singer of the Belle Epoque and beyond. She launched her own perfume, designed fashion and jewelry, and was the companion of Baron Rothschild. Regnier also acted in six silent and sound films.
![Marthe Régnier]()
French postcard by FA, no. 148. Photo: Reutlinger.
![Marthe Régnier]()
French postcard by PC, no. 4095. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.
Marthe Régnier was born in 1880 in Paris.
In 1901 she entered the Comédie-Française and made her debut in a play called 'Agnès'. After alternating drama (e.g. Hugo) with comedy (e.g Beaumarchais) at the Comédie, she moved in 1903 to vaudeville, where she acted for years at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in plays by e.g. Bernard and Mirbeau. Among her favourite authors were Robert de Flers ('l'Ane de Buridan', and 'le Retour'), Stève Passeur ('Etienne'), and Paul Gavault (la Petite Chocolatière).
In 1934 she acted as Jocaste opposite Jean-Pierre Aumont as Oedipus in Jean Cocteau's 'La Machine infernale' (1934), which premiered at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées in Paris, then the theatre of Louis Jouvet. This role more or less signed the end of her stage career.
In 1902. she married playwright Abel Tarride Régnier was the mother of director Jean Tarride and actor Jacques Tarride. She divorced Tarride and married in 1916 José de Oliveira Murinelly, secretary of the Brazilian embassy in France.
From ca. 1920 she was the mistress of Baron Henri de Rothschild, who, aside of being a millionaire, doctor, and founder in 1902 of the first modern children hospital in France, had developed as a playwright under the name of André Pascal. He wrote 'La Caducée', the controversial play on medical malpractice. He was the theatre manager too, taking over the Théàtre Antoine in the early 1920s.
In four years, De Rothschild had the new, ultramodern Pigalle Theatre built, which opened in 1929 and was the 'baby' of his son Philippe, but the theatre didn't fare too well. Philippe fared better afterward with wine: the famous Mouton-Rothschild. After the early death of Henri de Rothschild's wife in 1926, Régnier became his companion, who would follow him in exile during the war.
![Marthe Régnier]()
French postcard, 1e Serie. Photo: H. [Henri] Manuel. Caption: Marthe Régnier of the Comédie Française.
![Marthe Régnier]()
French postcard by ND Phot., no. 48. Photo: Manuel. Caption: Marthe Régnier (Comédie française).
![Marthe Regnier]()
French postcard. by E.L.D., no. 4157. Caption: Marthe Régnier, Vaudeville.
Marthe Régnier was highly interested in fashion and jewelry, and as a businesswoman, she was ahead of her time. She was often photographed to publicise her own creations. In the 1910s she launched her own perfume, entitled 'Suivez-moi, jeune homme' (Follow me, young man). Régnier was portrayed by famous painters like Giovanni Boldini, who painted a magnificent, dynamic portrait of her in 1905, and photographers such as Reutlinger, Henri Manuel and Adolph Meyer.
In 1910, Régnier debuted in the title role of the short film Manon, produced by Pathé Frères and based on the famous novel (1731) by Abbé Prevost and on the opera (1884) by Jules Massenet. Her co-actors were also popular stage actors: Jean Périer played Lescaut, while Émile Dehelly played Des Grieux.
In 1918 Régnier acted opposite Musidora in Germaine Dulac's film La jeune fille la plus méritante de France (1918).
When sound film set in, Régnier returned to the sets to act as the maid in the comedy Y'en a pas deux comme Angélique (Roger Lion, 1931), starring Colette Darfeuil.
Next, she was the wife of Jacques Baumer in Étienne (1933), directed by her son Jean Tarride, and with Jean Forest in the title role. It was based on a play by Jacques Deval, in which she had acted in 1929. Opposite Charles Boyer as Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, Régnier was Danielle Darrieux's mother, Baroness Vetsera, in the romantic historical drama Mayerling (Anatole Litvak, 1936).
Régnier's last film was Les hommes sans peur (Yvan Noë, 1942), about the inventors of X-Rays, in which she played a sick woman. Perhaps her shots were taken before the German invasion, because Rothschild's biographer Harry W. Paul and others too write that she remained with Rothschild in Lisbon, Portugal, during the war years.
Anyway, she stayed close to him till the end. Rothschild, a heavy smoker, and diabetic, died near Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1947, at the age of 75. Marthe Régnier died in Paris in 1967, at the age of 86. She rests in the cemetery of Marly-le-Roi (Yvelines).
In 2011 Boldini’s 'Portrait of Marthe Régnier' was sold to a private European buyer for $1,874,500. In 2012 part of her jewelry was sold in Fontainebleau.
![Marthe Régnier]()
French postcard by SW, no. 0422. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.
![Marthe Régnier (Vin Désiles)]()
French postcard by S.I.P. in the Collection Artistique du Vin Désiles. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Caption: It's decided now, I won't drink but Vin Désiles.
Sources: Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia (French), and IMDb: and also biographies of Henry de Rothschild by Harry W. Paul and Nadège Forestier,
French postcard by FA, no. 148. Photo: Reutlinger.
French postcard by PC, no. 4095. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.
The mistress of Baron Henri de Rothschild
Marthe Régnier was born in 1880 in Paris.
In 1901 she entered the Comédie-Française and made her debut in a play called 'Agnès'. After alternating drama (e.g. Hugo) with comedy (e.g Beaumarchais) at the Comédie, she moved in 1903 to vaudeville, where she acted for years at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in plays by e.g. Bernard and Mirbeau. Among her favourite authors were Robert de Flers ('l'Ane de Buridan', and 'le Retour'), Stève Passeur ('Etienne'), and Paul Gavault (la Petite Chocolatière).
In 1934 she acted as Jocaste opposite Jean-Pierre Aumont as Oedipus in Jean Cocteau's 'La Machine infernale' (1934), which premiered at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées in Paris, then the theatre of Louis Jouvet. This role more or less signed the end of her stage career.
In 1902. she married playwright Abel Tarride Régnier was the mother of director Jean Tarride and actor Jacques Tarride. She divorced Tarride and married in 1916 José de Oliveira Murinelly, secretary of the Brazilian embassy in France.
From ca. 1920 she was the mistress of Baron Henri de Rothschild, who, aside of being a millionaire, doctor, and founder in 1902 of the first modern children hospital in France, had developed as a playwright under the name of André Pascal. He wrote 'La Caducée', the controversial play on medical malpractice. He was the theatre manager too, taking over the Théàtre Antoine in the early 1920s.
In four years, De Rothschild had the new, ultramodern Pigalle Theatre built, which opened in 1929 and was the 'baby' of his son Philippe, but the theatre didn't fare too well. Philippe fared better afterward with wine: the famous Mouton-Rothschild. After the early death of Henri de Rothschild's wife in 1926, Régnier became his companion, who would follow him in exile during the war.
French postcard, 1e Serie. Photo: H. [Henri] Manuel. Caption: Marthe Régnier of the Comédie Française.
French postcard by ND Phot., no. 48. Photo: Manuel. Caption: Marthe Régnier (Comédie française).
French postcard. by E.L.D., no. 4157. Caption: Marthe Régnier, Vaudeville.
A businesswoman ahead of her time
Marthe Régnier was highly interested in fashion and jewelry, and as a businesswoman, she was ahead of her time. She was often photographed to publicise her own creations. In the 1910s she launched her own perfume, entitled 'Suivez-moi, jeune homme' (Follow me, young man). Régnier was portrayed by famous painters like Giovanni Boldini, who painted a magnificent, dynamic portrait of her in 1905, and photographers such as Reutlinger, Henri Manuel and Adolph Meyer.
In 1910, Régnier debuted in the title role of the short film Manon, produced by Pathé Frères and based on the famous novel (1731) by Abbé Prevost and on the opera (1884) by Jules Massenet. Her co-actors were also popular stage actors: Jean Périer played Lescaut, while Émile Dehelly played Des Grieux.
In 1918 Régnier acted opposite Musidora in Germaine Dulac's film La jeune fille la plus méritante de France (1918).
When sound film set in, Régnier returned to the sets to act as the maid in the comedy Y'en a pas deux comme Angélique (Roger Lion, 1931), starring Colette Darfeuil.
Next, she was the wife of Jacques Baumer in Étienne (1933), directed by her son Jean Tarride, and with Jean Forest in the title role. It was based on a play by Jacques Deval, in which she had acted in 1929. Opposite Charles Boyer as Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, Régnier was Danielle Darrieux's mother, Baroness Vetsera, in the romantic historical drama Mayerling (Anatole Litvak, 1936).
Régnier's last film was Les hommes sans peur (Yvan Noë, 1942), about the inventors of X-Rays, in which she played a sick woman. Perhaps her shots were taken before the German invasion, because Rothschild's biographer Harry W. Paul and others too write that she remained with Rothschild in Lisbon, Portugal, during the war years.
Anyway, she stayed close to him till the end. Rothschild, a heavy smoker, and diabetic, died near Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1947, at the age of 75. Marthe Régnier died in Paris in 1967, at the age of 86. She rests in the cemetery of Marly-le-Roi (Yvelines).
In 2011 Boldini’s 'Portrait of Marthe Régnier' was sold to a private European buyer for $1,874,500. In 2012 part of her jewelry was sold in Fontainebleau.
French postcard by SW, no. 0422. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.
French postcard by S.I.P. in the Collection Artistique du Vin Désiles. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Caption: It's decided now, I won't drink but Vin Désiles.
Sources: Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia (French), and IMDb: and also biographies of Henry de Rothschild by Harry W. Paul and Nadège Forestier,