Béjart or Béjard, French family of actors associated with Molière, who joined their amateur company, Les Enfants de Famille. Their professional debut in Paris (1643) was as the Illustre-Théâtre; this failed (1645) and the company returned to the provinces only to triumph on their return in 1658. The eldest of the family was Joseph Béjart, c.1616-1659. His sister Madeleine Béjart, 1618-72, a fine actress and virtually the manager of the company, was Molière's mistress. Their sister, Geneviève Béjart, 1624-75, and brother, Louis Béjart, 1630-78, were also actors in the company. Louis retired in 1670, and was the first of Molière's actors to receive a pension. Armande Grésinde Béjart, c.1640-1700, Madeleine's sister or daughter, married Molière in 1662 and, trained by him, played most of his heroines. The death of Molière (1673) caused a momentary collapse of the King's Troupe, as the company was called, but Molière's widow and the actor La Grange procured the absorption by their group of one of the two rival Parisian companies, the troupe of the Théâtre du Marais. At the same time they lost the Palais Royal, the theater they had had since 1660. From its new quarters the company was known as the Hôtel Guénégaud troupe. In 1680 the troupe was merged with its only rival, the company of the Hôtel de Bourgogne. The resultant company was called the Comédie Française.

Béjart, Maurice, 1927-2007, French ballet dancer and opera director, b. Marseilles as Maurice Jean Berger. After studying in Marseilles, Paris, and London, he danced and choreographed for the Royal Swedish Ballet and the Ballets de l'Étoile before forming his own company in 1957. He choreographed (1959-87) for his Ballet of the 20th Century, which he established in Brussels, where it became the resident troupe of the royal opera theater until he moved to Lausanne in 1987. There he renamed the group Béjart Ballet Lausanne; he continued to work with the company until his death.

In keeping with European tradition, Béjart emphasized content over innovation in movement. Many of his themes were academic, cultural, or biographical in content; he was influenced by mysticism, and East Asian influences can be detected throughout his dances. His expressionist style incorporates jazz and avant-garde music, nontraditional dance forms, e.g., acrobatics, and unusual settings. Among his works are his versions of Rite of Spring and Firebird as well as Symphony for a Lonely Man, Mass for the Present Time, Tannhäuser, and Le Flûte enchantée.

For the Swiss ballet company, see Béjart Ballet, and its choreographer, Maurice Béjart

Béjart, the name of several French actors, children of Marie Hérve and Joseph Béjart (died 1643), the holder of a small government post. The family—there were eleven children—was very poor and lived in the Marais, then the theatrical quarter of Paris. One of the sons, Joseph Béjart (c. 1617–1659), was a strolling player and later a member of Molière's first company (l'Illustre Théatre), accompanied him in his theatrical wanderings, and was with him when he returned permanently to Paris, dying soon after. He created the parts of Lélie in L'Étourdie, and Eraste in Le Dépit amoureux. His brother Louis Béjart (c. 1630–1678) was also in Molière's company during the last years of its travels. He created many parts in his brother-in-law's plays—Valère in Le Dépit amoureux, Dubois in Le Misanthrope, Alcantor in Le Mariage forcé, and Don Luis in Le Festin de Pierre—and was an actor of varied talents. In consequence of a wound received when interfering in a street brawl, he became lame and retired with a pension—the first ever granted by the company to a comedian—in 1670.

The more famous members of the family were two sisters.

Madeleine Béjart (1618––1672) was at the head of the travelling company to which her sister Geneviève (1631–1675)—who played as Mlle Hervé—and her brothers belonged, before they joined Molière in forming l'Illustre Théâtre (1643). With Molière she remained until her death on February 17 1672. She had had an illegitimate daughter (1638) by an Italian count, and her conduct on her early travels had not been exemplary, but whatever her private relations with Molière may have been, however acrimonious and violent her temper, she and her family remained faithful to his fortunes. She was a tall, handsome blonde, and an excellent actress, particularly in soubrette parts, a number of which Molière wrote for her. Among her creations were Marotte in Les Précieuses ridicules, Lisette in L'École des maris, Dorine in Tartuffe.

Her sister, Armande Grésinde Claire Elizabeth Béjart (1645–1700), seems first to have joined the company at Lyons in 1653. Molière directed her education and she grew up under his eye. In 1662, he being then forty and she seventeen, they were married. Neither was happy; the wife was a flirt, the husband jealous. On the strength of a scurrilous anonymous pamphlet, La Fameuse Comédienne, ou histoire de la Guérin (1688), her character has been held perhaps unduly low. She was certainly guilty of indifference and ingratitude, possibly of infidelity; they separated after the birth of a daughter in 1665 and met only at the theatre until 1671. But the charm and grace which fascinated others, Molière too could not resist, and they were reconciled. Her portrait is given in a well-known scene (Act iii., sc. 9) in Le Bourgeois gentilhomme. Mme Molière's first appearance on the stage was in 1663, as Élise in the Critique de l'école des femmes. She was out of the cast for a short time in 1664, when she bore Molière a son—Louis XIV. and Henrietta of England standing sponsors. But in the spring, beginning with the fêtes given at Versailles by the king to Anne of Austria and Maria Theresa of Spain, she started her long list of important roles. She was at her best as Celimène—really her own highly-finished portrait—in Le Misanthrope, and hardly less admirable as Angélique in Le Malade imaginaire. She was the Elmire at the first performance of Tartuffe, and the Lucile of Le Bourgeois gentilhomme. All these parts were written by her husband to display her talents to the best advantage and she made the most of her opportunities. The death of Molière, the secession of Baron and several other actors, the rivalry of the Hôtel de Bourgogne and the development of the Palais Royal, by royal patent, into the home of French opera, brought matters to a crisis with the comédiens du roi. Well advised by La Grange (Charles Varlet, 1639–1692), Armande leased the Théâtre Guénégaud, and by royal ordinance the residue of her company were combined with the players from the Théâtre du Marais, the fortunes of which were at low ebb. The combination, known as the troupe du roi, at first was unfortunate, but in 1679 they secured Mlle du Champmeslé, later absorbed the company of the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and in 1680 the Comédie Française was born. Mme Molière in 1677 had married Eustache François Guérin (1636–1728), an actor, and by him she had one son (1678–1708). She continued her successes at the theatre until she retired in 1694, and she died on November 30, 1700.

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