The 18th-century French actress Hippolite Clairon was famous for her portrayal of classic heroines, but she also inspired contemporary dramatists to write parts specifically for her.
According to the biographer Frederick Hawkins, "Many tragedies were written in the hope that she might appear in them, and nearly all of those in which she did appear received at least a temporary vitality from her disciplined art and intensity of passion."
Voltaire was a particular admirer of hers, and he penned the role of Idamé in L'Orphelin de la Chine expressly for Clairon. That play was based on a Yuan-era zaju play from China, but ended up being re-adapted by dramatists all over Europe, including Arthur Murphy.
Clairon began her career at the Comédie Italienne, debuting in a small role in a play by Marivaux. She became famous, however, at the Comédie-Française, playing many of the parts exalted by the neoclassical French stage, including Racine's Phèdre.
One reason for Clairon's success might have been her comparatively physical style of acting. The writer Denis Diderot claimed her "acting sometimes has a pathos beyond all the resources of the art of oratory." Clairon was able to declaim with the best of her rivals, including the notorious Marie Françoise Dumesnil. In addition to that, though, she moved with a naturalness rarely seen before on the French stage.
With Clairon's new style of acting came a new style of costume design as well. Traditionally, French actors wore a mixture of ancient and modern dress when appearing in plays on Greek and Roman subjects. Clairon strove for a new level of authenticity in historical costuming, and the rest of the French theatre followed.
She survived the French Revolution, but like many artists who were associated with the old regime, she fell on hard times after the change in government. Her economic need became a boon to historians, and she published her memoirs in 1799, quickly selling out the first edition.