Pierre Berton, (6 March 1842 – 1912) was a French playwright and comedian.
Pierre Berton, real name Pierre François Samuel Montan, was the grandson of the composer Henri Montan Berton (1767-1844), the son of the comedian Charles-François Montan Berton, called Francisque Berton (1820-1874) and of Caroline Samson, novelist and Joseph Samson's daughter, himself a sociétaire de la Comédie française.
Pierre Berton first appeared as an actor on the Parisian stages, winning success at the théâtre du Gymnase, the Théâtre de l'Odéon, the Théâtre-Français, and the théâtre du Vaudeville. In 1865, he made his debut as playwright with Les Jurons de Cadillac, a one-act comedy, and carried on two years later with another comedy, La Vertu de ma femme. Therefore, during three decades, he would alternate his work as an author and an actor. At the end of the 19th century, he stopped performing but continued to write for theatre until his death.
From 1908 to 1909, he serialized his Souvenirs de la vie de théâtre in Le Figaro Littéraire, published as a book in 1913.
1864: Les Flibustiers de la Sonore by Gustave Aimard and Amédée Rolland, Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin
1869: Patrie ! by Victorien Sardou, Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin
1886: Le Crocodile by Victorien Sardou, Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin
1887: La Tosca by Victorien Sardou, Théâtre de la Porte Saint Martin
1891: L'Impératrice Faustine by Stanislas Rzewuski, Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin
1895: Le Collier de la reine by Pierre Decourcelle, Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin
March 1862: Le Pavé by George Sand, with Pierre Chéri Lafont (1797-1873); Pierre Berton (1842-1912); Marie Delaporte (1838-1910); Anna Chéri-Lesueur (1826-1912) as actors and actresses.
1865: Les Jurons de Cadillac, comedy in 1 act, Théâtre du Gymnase
1867: La Vertu de ma femme, comedy in 1 act, Théâtre du Gymnase
1868: Didier, play in 3 acts, Théâtre de l'Odéon
1880: La Tempête, symphonic poem in 3 parts, after Shakespeare, poem by Armand Silvestre and Pierre Berton, music by Alphonse Duvernoy, Théâtre du Châtelet
1882: Sardanapalus, opera in 3 acts, after Lord Byron, libretto Pierre Berton, music by Alphonse Duvernoy, Concerts Lamoureux
1889: Léna, play in 4 acts with Sarah Bernhardt, Théâtre des Variétés
1894: Les Chouans, drama in 5 acts by Pierre Berton and Émile Blavet after Balzac, Théâtre de l'Ambigu
1898: Zaza, play in 5 acts by Pierre Berton and Charles Simon, Théâtre du Vaudeville. Elle sera adaptée l'année suivante à New-York, par David Belasco
1901: Yvette, comedy in 3 acts after Guy de Maupassant, Théâtre du Vaudeville
1905: La Belle Marseillaise, drama in 4 acts, Théâtre de l'Ambigu
1909: La Rencontre, play in 4 acts, Comédie-Française, 17 June
1912: Mioche, play in 3 acts, Théâtre du Vaudeville
Pierre Berton, Souvenirs de la vie de théâtre, La Revue de Paris, Paris, 1913
