Edmond Rostand

Edmond Eugene Alexis Rostand was a French author born in Marseille, France on April 1, 1868. Rostand wrote romantic plays, mostly written in verse and they provided many strong roles for several generations of actors.

Rostand was born into a wealthy family as the son of an economist and a poet and he studied literature and history at the College Stanislas in Paris. At twenty years old, Rostand's first play "Le Gant Rouge" was performed at the Cluny Theatre. However, the play went largely unnoticed by society.

Six years later, Les Romanesques (1894), his first drama was produced in Paris and gained more success. Its story of innocent young love would later be adapted into the longest-running musical in American history, "The Fantasticks".

Rostand achieved international fame with "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1897) a brilliant verse play. It was based on the life of an actual personage. In 1897, Rostand produced a play called "L'Aiglon" which had, for its hero the unhappy son of Napoleon.

Rostand became the youngest ever writer to be brought into the Academie Francaise in 1902 and moved to Provence to work on his next play, "Chantecler" for the next seven years.

Rostand married the poet and playwright Rosemonde-Etienette Gerard and the couple raised two sons together. Rostand died from the Spanish flu on December 2, 1918. He was buried in the Cimetiere de Marseille.