Jodelet

Jodelet [ Julian Bedeau] (?1590–1660), French comedian. He joined the company of Montdory shortly before the opening of the Théâtre du Marais in 1634, and with several of his companions was transferred by order of Louis XIII to the Hôtel de Bourgogne. He returned to the Marais in 1641, where he played Cliton in Corneille's Le Menteur (1643). He also appeared in a series of farces written for him, mostly with his name in the title, by, among others, Scarron (Jodelet; ou, Le Maîtrevalet, 1643) and Thomas Corneille (Jodelet prince, 1655). He was extremely popular with Parisian audiences—he had only to show his flour-whitened face to raise a laugh—and he frequently added jokes of his own to the author's lines. When Molière established himself in Paris in 1658 he induced Jodelet to join his company, thus assuring the co-operation of the one comedian he had reason to fear, and wrote for him the part of the Vicomte de Jodelet in Les Précieuses ridicules (1659). He probably intended to give him the title-role in Sganarelle; ou, Le Cocu imaginaire (1660), but Jodelet died just before the production opened and Molière played the part himself.