1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Novelli, Ermete

NOVELLI, ERMETE (1851–), Italian actor and playwright, was born in Lucca on the 5th of March 1851, the son of a prompter. He made his first appearance in 1866, and played character and leading comedy parts in the best companies between 1871 and 1884. By 1885 he had his own company, and made a great success in Paris in 1898 and 1902. He established in Rome in 1900 a new theatre, the Casa di Goldoni, on the lines of the Comédie Française. He dramatized Gaboriau’s Monsieur Lecoq, and alone or in collaboration wrote several comedies and many monologues.