The son of a surgeon at the
Hôtel des Invalides, Legrand started very early his acting career, first in
Lyon in 1692 in the company of
Marshall de Villeroy and made a first attempt at the
Comédie-Française 19 March 1694 but was not received. After a stay in Warsaw at the court of
John III Sobieski, he returned to the Comédie-Française 21 March 1702 and was received 18 October. Disgraced by nature, he one day harangued the audience by throwing "Gentlemen, it is easier for you to accustom yourself to my face, that for me to change it." If he never gave up the stage (he even played the role of Maître Robert in his last play
Les Amazones modernes in 1727, written in collaboration with
Louis Fuzelier), he devoted part of his time to writing theater plays (forty in all), sometimes to the Comédie française, sometimes to the
Comedie Italienne, and once even for a
Théâtre de la foire, the
opéra comique,
Les Animaux raisonnables, 1717.
Le Roi de Cocagne (1718) is usually considered to be his masterpiece. While he was composing the play
Cartouche ou les voleurs (1721), he pushed the sake of realism as far as visiting in prison the famous brigand to document the argot. == References ==