Marquise Thérèse de Gorla

Biography

She was the daughter of Giacomo Gorla, which was "operator" in Lyon in 1635. She seems to have started as a dancer and actress in a travelling troupe, before becoming a member in Lyon in the company of Molière. On February 23, 1653, she married one of her colleagues in the troupe, René Berthelot, with the stage name Du Parc, an actor man who had specialized in the roles of servant, and she then took her stage name as Mlle Du Parc. She was the subject of poems by Corneille.

The troupe of Molière, having arrived at Paris, Du Parc performed before the monarch October 24, 1658 in the Louvre in the role of Hippolytus, and then before the public at the Petit Bourbon. In 1659–1660, the Du Parc couple was active at the Theatre du Marais, at Easter 1660, they returned to the troupe of Molière. She was one of the stars of the Molière troupe, performing main parts and also ballet. Larousse and Lyonnet both relate the following testimony: "She made some notable antics, because we saw her legs and part of her thighs through its split skirt on both sides, with silk stockings attached to the top of panties", something which aroused great attention by contemporaries.

She suddenly left the band to join that of the Hôtel de Bourgogne and author Jean Racine. This quasi-kidnapping was the result of a quarrel between Racine and Molière. The latter, 18 years older, had provided the first aid, support, advice and sometimes its best actors. Racine wrote specially for her the role of Andromache. She died suddenly as one of the greatest stars in France. She was suspected to have been poisoned, but the probable cause of death seem to have been a miscarriage or an incompetent abortion. During the Poison Affair, Racine was pointed out by La Voisin, who claimed that he had poisoned de Gorla, but this claim was never examined

She is the subject of the 1997 French language film Marquise.