Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 4).djvu/476

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PORTRAITS OF CELEBRITIES.
479

C. COQUELIN.

Born 1841.

Age 21.
From a Photo. by Chetiennot, Paris.
Age 50.
From a Photo. by Thors, San Francisco.
Age 30.
From a Photo. by Etienne, Carjat & Cie.
Age 39.
From a Photo. by Hohlenberg, Copenhagen.


B ENÔIT CONSTANT COQUELIN, better known as Coquelin Aîné, the finest actor of comedy in France, or perhaps in the world, is the son of a baker at Boulogne, and was brought up to that trade; but, displaying a great aptitude for the stage, he was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire, of which, at eighteen, he became the most brilliant pupil. He made his début at the Théâtre Français in the following year. Since that time his name has been among the most eminent of living actors, and is almost as well known in England as in France.