He began his career in the provinces, making his debut in 1770 at the Com�die Fran�aise, where he aspired to leading comedy roles. He pleased the public at once and was made soci�taire in 1772. Dugazon was an ardent revolutionist, helped the schism which divided the company, and went with Talma and the others to what became the Th��tre de la R�publique. After the closing of this theatre and the dissolution of the Com�die Fran�aise, he took refuge at the Th��tre Feydeau until he returned to the restored Com�die in 1799. He retired in 1805, and died insane at Sandillon.
Dugazon wrote three mediocre comedies of a political character, performed at the Th��tre de la R�publique. He married, in 1776, Louis Rose Lef�vre, but was soon divorced and then married again. The first Madame Dugazon (1755 - 1821), the daughter of a Berlin dancing master, was a charming actress. Her first appearance on the stage was made at the age of twelve as a dancer. It was as an actress "with songs" that she made her debut at the Com�die Italienne in 1774 in Gr�try's Sylvain. She was at once admitted pensionnaire and in 1775 soci�taire. Madame Dugazon delighted all Paris, and nightly crowded the Com�die Italienne for more than twenty years. The two kinds of parts with which she was especially identified--young mothers and women past their first youth--are stil called "dugazons" and "m�res dugazons." Examples of the first are Jenny in La Dame blanche and Berthe de Simiane in Les Mousquetaires de la reine; of the second, Marguerite in Le Pr� aux clercs and the queen in La Part du diable.
Dugazon's sister, Marie Rose Gourgaud (1743 - 1804), was an actress who first played at Stuttgart, where she married Angelo Vestris, brother of Ga�tano Vestris, the dancer. Under the protection of the dukes of Choiseul and Duras, she was commanded to make her debut at the Com�die Fran�aise in 1768, where she created important parts in a number of tragedies.
This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.