Tristan Bernard

Tristan Bernard (September 7, 1866 - December 7, 1947) was a French playwright, novelist, journalist and lawyer.

Born Paul Bernard into a Jewish family in Besançon, Doubs, Franche-Comté, France, he started his career as the manager of an aluminium smelter, but after his first publication in 1891, he turned his talents increasingly to writing. His first play, Les Pieds Nickelés (Nickel-plated Feet), was a great success and set the tone for his later work: humorous and generally light. He found the greatest fame writing for vaudeville, which was a very popular genre in France at the time. He also wrote several novels and tried his hand at poetry.

Bernard is chiefly remembered for his highly quotable witticisms, particularly from his play Les Jumeaux de Brighton (The Brighton Twins).

He was interned during World War II at the Drancy deportation camp. Public outcry at his imprisonment brought about his release in 1943. He died in 1947 and was buried in Passy cemetery in Paris. The Théâtre Tristan Bernard in Paris is named in his honor.

His son, Jean-Jacques Bernard, published a memoir of his father in 1955 titled Mon père Tristan Bernard (My father, Tristan Bernard).