Dorin, Françoise 1928–

PERSONAL: Born January 23, 1928, in Paris, France; married Jean Poiret (a writer and playwright), October 2, 1958 (divorced); children: Sylvie.

ADDRESSES: Home—23 rue Simon-Dereure, Paris 75018, France.

CAREER: Actress, comedienne, singer, and songwriter in Paris, France, c. 1950s–60s.

AWARDS, HONORS: Named chevalier, Ordre National du Mérite; Trophée Dussane, 1973.

WRITINGS:

PLAYS

(Under a pseudonym) Comme au théâtre (produced in Paris, France, 1967), published as Théâtre, Volume 2, Julliard (Paris, France), 1973.

La facture (four-act comedy), L'Avant-Scène (Paris, France), 1968.

Les Bonshommes (produced in Paris, 1970), L'AvantScène (Paris, France), 1970.

Un sale égoiste (four-act comedy), L'Avant-Scène (Paris, France), 1970.

Théâtre, Volume 1: Le tournant, Volume 2: Comme au théâtre, Julliard (Paris, France), 1973.

Le tube (two-act comedy), Flammarion (Paris, France), 1975.

L'autre valse, L'Avant-Scène (Paris, France), 1976.

L'autre valse and Si t'es beau … t'es con, R. Laffont (Paris, France), 1978.

(With Loleh Bellon) Changement à vue (contains Le tout pour le tout), L'Avant-Scène (Paris, France), 1979.

L'intoxe, Flammarion (Paris, France), 1981.

L'étiquette (three acts), Flammarion (Paris, France), 1983.

Les cahiers tango, Flammarion (Paris, France), 1988.

Le retour en Touraine (comedy), Flammarion (Paris, France), 1993.

OTHER

La seconde dans Rome (novel; title means "Second in Rome"), R. Julliard (Paris, France), 1958.

Va voir maman, papa travaille! (novel), R. Laffont (Paris, France), 1976.

Les lits à une place, Flammarion (Paris, France), 1980.

Les miroirs truqués, Flammarion (Paris, France), 1982.

Les jupes-culottes (novel), Flammarion (Paris, France), 1984.

Les corbeaux et les renardes (novel), Flammarion (Paris, France), 1988.

Nini Patte-en l'air, R. Laffont (Paris, France), 1990.

Au nom du père et de la fille (novel), Flammarion (Paris, France), 1992.

Pique et coeur, Flammarion (Paris, France), 1993.

La mouflette (novel), Flammarion (Paris, France), 1994.

Les vendanges tardives, Plon (Paris, France), 1997.

La courte paille (novel), Plon (Paris, France), 1999.

Dorin père et fille (poems), Plon (Paris, France), 1999.

Les julottes (novel), Plon (Paris, France), 2000.

Soins intensifs, Plon (Paris, France), 2001.

La rêve-party (novel), Plon (Paris, France), 2002.

Tout est toujours possible (novel), Plon (Paris, France), 2004.

Et puis après (novel), Plon (Paris, France), 2005.

Author of Virginie et Paul (novel; title means "Virginia and Paul"), [Paris, France], c. 1950s; work represented in anthologies, including Les Plus belles scènes d'amour, Albin Michel (Paris, France), 1997.

SIDELIGHTS: Françoise Dorin worked as an actress in France for many years, writing a number of songs which she performed with a cabaret group. Still, she was never comfortable on stage. At first, she worked under a pseudonym, and she also wrote her first play, Comme au théâtre, under a pen name. Her comedy was a huge hit, and Dorin went on to write many plays and novels. She was once married to Jean Poiret, author of the hit La cage aux folles.

Pierre Billard wrote in the World Press Review that "there is a fiercely anti-Dorin camp which does not identify with the work of this uncompromisingly Right-Bank author. But she has dramatized the pent-up grudges of the 'silent majority' against 'prophets of permissiveness,' armchair leftists, weak-kneed parents, and sexually liberated women…. She rejects the label 'reactionary' along with all others, but a single message underlies her works: To be happy, you must take charge of yourself and avoid all alienating human ties."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

French Review, April, 1981, Nicole Aronson, review of Les lits à une place, pp. 758-759.

World Press Review, March, 1981, Pierre Billard, "France's New Boxoffice Queen," p. 62.