Born: April 1, 1868, in Marseilles, France
Died: December 2, 1918, in Paris, France
Edmond Rostand was the son of a distinguished journalist and economist. He was educated in law but his passion was poetry. His career began successfully when his first volume of verse, Les Musardises, was published in 1890.
In the same year he was married to Rosemonde Gérard who also wrote poetry. Soon after, the two settled in Paris. There he concentrated on his professional writing career.
Rostand's first play, Les Romanesques, published in 1894, was very successful. He soon was writing plays for Sarah Bernhardt, who starred in such plays as The Faraway Princess and L'Aiglon. In 1897, Cyrano de Bergerac, a play he wrote for the great actor Benoit Constant Coquelin, was an enormous success. It established his reputation in Europe and the United States.
It was not long before Rostand was officially recognized for his work. In 1900 he was made an Officer of the Legion of Honor and in 1901 he was commissioned to the French Academy.
Rostand built a villa in Southern France in 1901 and spent most of the rest of his life there. He continued to write despite his failing health. The play Chantecler, also written for Coquelin, is notable from this later period.