Georges Dorival

Georges Dorival, or Dorival (1871-1939), was a French stage and screen actor of Norman origin. He was a resident of the prestigious Comédie-Française, but also promoted open-air theatre. Between 1909 and 1914, he acted in 26 historical and modern film dramas at Pathé Frères. Dorival was also a painter and an important art collector.


French postcard, no. 13. Photo: Femina.


French postcard by Ed. Le Deley, Paris. Georges Dorival in 'L'Affaire des poisons' (performed 1907) by Victorien Sardou.


French photo card by Pathé Frères. Photo: S.C.A.G.L./ Pathé Frères. Georges Dorival (the father), Darmody (the mother), Marie Fromet (Pierrot) and Carina (the little sweep) in the sentimental drama Oiseau de printemps, hirondelle d'hiver (Georges Denola, 1911), scripted by E. M. Laumann. Both boy roles were played by girls. The poor little sweep, maltreated by his boss, saves the life of little Jean and is afterward adopted by the family of Jean.


French photo card by Pathé Frères. Photo: S.C.A.G.L./ Pathé Frères. Marie Fromet (Pierrot) and Carina (the little sweep) in Oiseau de printemps, hirondelle d'hiver (Georges Denola, 1911). Not visible on this card, Pierrot's parents, played by Georges Dorival and Darmody. Auguste Mévisto played the little sweep's master.


French postcard in the Nos artistes dans leur loge series, no. 134. Photo: Comoedia.

A promoter of open-air theatre tours

Dorival or Georges Dorival was born Georges Édouard Lemarchand in 1871 in Orival-lès-Elbeuf, near Rouen, in France.

Initially, he worked as a painter of ceramics like Renoir. Dorival gradually focused on stage play and entered the Conservatoire in 1891. From 1896 to 1914, he was a prolific member of the Odéon troupe.

In 1898, he married the American actress Blanche James. From 1907 to 1909, he also acted at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin. In 1910, he made triumphant tours as Le Grand Duc (the owl) in Edmond Rostand's 'Chantecler'.

Dorival joined the Comédie-Française in 1917, where he became the dean of the boarders (Pensionnaires). He was the oldest resident until he died in 1939, and acted well into 1938 in some 67 productions.

As a promoter of open-air theatre tours, Dorival also played at the arenas in Béziers. In 1898, he played Hercules in 'Dejanire', in 1902 Artaxerxes in 'Parysatis', and in 1909 King Elpénor in 'La fille du soleil'. In Nîmes, he was Zakir-Iddin in 'Sémiramis' in 1904, and he also performed in Arles, at the ancient theatre and other venues.


French postcard. Caption: Arènes de Béziers, Déjanire, 1898. 'Déjanire' by Camille Saint-Saëns was the first classical, musical tragedy performed at the Arènes de Béziers, founded in 1898 by the Béziers maecenas Fernand Castelbon de Beauxhostes (1859-1934). Every two years, a musical tragedy, often set in Greco-Roman times, would be performed here, such as 'Parysatis' (1902) by Saint-Saëns, 'Armida' by Gluck (1904), 'La Vestale' by Spontini (1906) and 'Héliogabale' (1910), a spoken tragedy but with music (again) by Saint-Saëns. 'Dejanira' was no ordinary opera, but Saint-Saëns conducted incidental music to the eponymous tragedy by his friend and collaborator Louis Gallet. Reputed prose actors from the Paris Odéon played the leads. Georges Dorival played Hercules, Cora Laparcerie Déjanire, and Eugénie Segond-Weber Iole. Henri Dauvillier (Théâtre du Vaudeville) played Philoctetes. The first performance was on 28 August 1898.


French postcard by Edition E.D.B. An open-air performance of the play 'Parysatis' at the Arène de Beziers, France, in the Summer of 1902. Caption: Parysatis (1902), 2nd act, Return of the Hunt. Jane Dieulafoy wrote the novel 'Parysatis' in 1890. In 1902, it was turned into a three-act play with instrumental music by Camille Saint-Saëns and first performed at the Arène de Béziers. The plot focuses on the ambitious, ruthless mastermind Persian Queen Parysatis, the consort and half-sister of Darius II, and mother of Cyrus and Artaxerxes II. The musical line-up was colossal, with 450 instrumentalists, including two wind bands, twenty harps and seventeen hunting horns, a 250-strong mixed choir and sixty dancers. Eugénie Ségond-Weber played the title role, Georges Dorival played Artaxerxes, Odette de Fehl was crossdressing as Darius, and Cora Laparcerie played Aspasia.


French postcard in the Collection artistique Lux by Lang Fils, Photo-edition, Orange. Caption: Théâtre Antique, Orange. Georges Dorival in the play La Victoire by Louis Payen.

A prolific career at Pathé Frères

Incidentally, Georges Dorival appeared in a number of short films and a few major motion pictures between 1909 and 1938. He first had a prolific career at Pathé Frères between 1909 and 1914, where he made his film debut in the melodrama Les deux orphelines (Georges Monca, 1909).

Dorival acted at Pathé in 26 historical and modern dramas. These included Aux temps des premiers chrétiens (André Calmettes, 1910) with Albert Lambert, Madame Sans-Gêne (Henri Desfontaines, André Calmettes, 1911) with Réjane as Catherine and Dorival as Lefebvre, Roger la Honte (Adrien Caillard, 1913) with Paul Capellani, and Le chevalier de Maison-Rouge (Albert Capellani, 1914). Dorival also played the Marquis of Morfontaine in the SCAGL / Pathé serial Rocambole (Georges Denola, 1913-1914) starring Gaston Sylvestre.

He also worked for other firms. At Films Georges Lordier/ Société des Grands Films Populaires, he played the evil Philippe de Gonzague opposite the protagonist Henri de Lagardère (Henry Krauss) in Le bossu / The Hunchback (André Heuzé, 1912). At Eclair, he appeared in La Marseillaise (Emile Chautard, 1913). In the 1920s, Dorival did only one film: as Radoub in André Antoine's French Revolution film Quatre-vingt-treize (André Antoine, 1921), based on the novel by Victor Hugo. In the 1930s, he acted in five more sound films, including the military comedy Le tampon du capiston (1930) with Dorival as the Commander opposite Bach as soldier Cochu. He had an uncredited part as a baron in the classic Un carnet de bal (Julien Duvivier, 1937). His last part was that of an innkeeper in Sacha Guitry's Remontons les Champs-Élysées (Sacha Guitry, Robert Bibal, 1938).

Dorival was a leading figure in the cultural scene of Paris between the wars. Passionate about painting, he amassed an amazing collection of paintings from the 1920s and 1930s. He was the first to buy works from Maurice Utrillo and a patron of Pierre Dumont. He was also a friend of Raoul Dufy and Robert Delaunay. His wife, Blanche, was twice portrayed by Amedeo Modigliani in 1916. The couple was also pictured with their daughter by the Norman painter Eugène Tirvert.

Georges Dorival died at his home at 33, Boulevard de Clichy in Paris on 16 July 1939. His grandchildren were regulars on the Boulevard de Clichy, and among others, the painter Gen Paul, another friend of Dorival, painted their portraits, often as little musicians. Dorival left his wife, Blanche, a priceless collection of paintings by modern masters: Edouard Manet, Auguste Renoir, Amedeo Modigliani, Kees Van Dongen, André Lhote, P. Hodé, Maurice Utrillo, Max Jacob, J. Metzinger, Pierre Dumont, and Eugène Tirvert.


French postcard by E.L.D. (Ed. Le Deley). Image: GPL. Dorival as Le Grand Duc in Edmond Rostand's play 'Chantecler'.


French postcard by Charles Bernheim photo. edit., Nimes, no. 5. Dorival of the Odéon in his role as Zakir-Iddin in 'Sémiramis'. The stage play Sémiramis (1904) by Joséphin Peladan was first performed on 24 July 1904, at the Amphitheatre antique in Nimes, South of France. The title role of the Assyrian queen Semiramis was for Segond-Weber (Comédie Française), while Albert Lambert fils played the Egyptian prince Keth-Aour, her love interest, and Dorival played Zakir-Iddin, Semiramis' army leader. Additionally, Albert Darmont played the magician Ourkam, M. Liser Naram Sin and Lucie Brille, one of the choruses. The story takes place in Assyrian Nineveh. Despite her mature age, the mighty warrior queen Semiramis falls in love with a young Egyptian prince. The men at her court detest the relationship, and in the end, the lover is killed in a duel. Semiramis criticises the intolerant conspirators and flies away in a cloud of doves.


French postcard by Charles Bernheim photo. edit., Nimes, no. 8. Caption: Sémiramis (1904), Act 1. The Arrival of the Egyptian Prince Keth-Aour. The stage play 'Sémiramis' (1904) was first performed on 24 July 1904, at the Amphitheatre antique in Nimes, South of France. Dorival played Zakir-Iddin, Semiramis' army leader.


French postcard by Charles Bernheim photo. edit., Nimes, no. 9. Caption: Sémiramis (1904), Act IV. The Provocation. Dorival (right) played Zakir-Iddin, Semiramis' army leader.


French postcard by Charles Bernheim photo. edit., Nimes, no. 10. Caption: Sémiramis (1904), Act IV. The Duel. Albert Lambert fils played the Egyptian prince Keth-Aour, her love interest, and Dorival played Zakir-Iddin, Semiramis' army leader.


French postcard. Photo: C. Lasaille, Toulouse. Caption: Ségond-Weber, Georges Dorival and Jacques Fenoux in 'Phèdre' (1677) by Jean Racine, in the Théâtre de la Nature, Cauterets (6 August 1905).


French postcard by Ed. L. Jame, Orange. Caption: Theatre Antique, Orange. Ségond-Weber and Georges Dorival in the play 'La victoire' by Louis Payen. Performed on 7 August 1909.


French postcard by Ed. EDB, Darnoux. Caption|: Georges Dorival as King Elpenor in the play 'La fille du soleil', Arènes de Béziers, 29 and 31 August 1909.

Sources: Les Archives du spectacle (French), Ciné-Ressources (French), Wikipedia (French) and IMDb.