Henri Monteux
Henri Philippe Moïse Monteux (born Paris, 23 February 1874, died Sachsenhausen, 12 April 1943) was a French theatre and film actor, and an elder brother of the conductor Pierre Monteux. His family was descended from Sephardic Jews who settled in France. Life and career. Born at 16 rue de la Grange Batelière, he was the fourth child of Gustave and Clémence Monteux who had moved to Paris from Marseille in 1864. It was a modest household, his father being a shoe-maker and his mother a piano teacher. His younger brother Pierre later recalled as children spending afternoons  observing the passers-by in the local square laid the foundations of the future actor's characterisations. Monteux made his debut at the Théâtre National de l'Odéon on 30 September 1895 as Georges Bréval in "La Vie" by Adolphe Thalasso, having won the prize for tragedy at the Paris Conservatoire (pupil of Gustave Worms) with his performance as Othello the previous July. He played the same part to considerable praise in a production of de Vigny's "More de Venise" at the same theatre in December that year. He played in the revue at the Folies Bergère in 1903: a  most amusing pantomime with dogs "une pantomime extrêmement amusante, jouée par des chiens" "The Merian Dogs". He followed these with leading roles such as Molière in "Le Prêcheur converti", the title rôle in "Britannicus", Oreste in "Andromaque", and Robert Morel in the premiere of "Les Irréguliers". He later became famous at the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt and was considered a specialist in the plays of Rostand, noted in roles associated with Benoît-Constant Coquelin, and went on to make several films and records. In 1937 Monteux starred in "Pas de ça chez nous" at the Théâtre de la Renaissance (Théâtre du  Peuple) as the President. A reviewer commented that Henri Monteux reminded everyone what a remarkable actor he was, displaying dramatic intensity coupled with fantasy. At the time of his arrest in Paris he was playing with acclaim the drunken father in Gorky's "The Mother". Theatrical work. This includes: