Zacharie Jacob, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetZacharie Jacob
French stage actor
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Château-Gontier, Pays de la Loire, France
About Zacharie Jacob
- Zacharie Jacob (died 1667), known as Montfleury, was a famed French actor and playwright of the 17th century. Jacob was born in Anjou during the last years of the 16th century.
- He was enrolled as one of the pages to the duc de Guise, but he ran away to join some strolling players, assuming the stage name of Montfleury.
- About 1635, he was a valued member of the company at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and he was in the original cast of the Cid (1636) and of Horace (1640).
- Richelieu thought highly of him, and when in 1638, Montfleury married the actress Jeanne de la Chalpe (d.
- 1683), the cardinal desired the ceremony to take place at his own country house at Rueil.He was the author of a tragedy, La Mort d'Asdrobal, performed in 1647.
- His son, Antoine Jacob, who was also known as Montfleury, was a rival of Molière and Cyrano de Bergerac.
- Both father and son feuded with Molière.
- Zacharie was mocked for his girth in a Molière play, to which Antoine responded with one mocking Molière.
- Shortly before his death, Zacharie denounced Molière to King Louis XIV as having committed incest, a rumor which has never gone away. Montfleury died in Paris from the rupture of a blood-vessel, while playing the part of Orestes in Andromaque, in December 1667.
- It is believed that a metal belt he used to support his enormous belly was the cause.
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