François Joseph Talma was a French actor.
He was born in Paris. His father, a dentist, moved to London, gave him a good English education. He returned to Paris, where for a year and a half he practised dentistry. His predilection for the stage was cultivated in amateur theatricals, and on November 21, 1787 he made his debut at the Comédie-Française as Seide in Voltaire’s Mahomet. His efforts from the first won approval, but for a considerable time he only obtained secondary parts.
Talma possessed the physical gifts to enable him to excel, a striking appearance and a voice of beauty and power, which he gradually trained to perfection. At first somewhat stilted and monotonous in his manner, he came to be regarded as a model of simplicity. Talma married Julie Carreau, a rich and talented lady whose salon attracted the principal Girondists. The actor was an intimate friend of Napoleon Bonaparte, who delighted in his society, and even, on his return from Elba, forgave him for performing before Louis XVIII and friend of Juliette Récamier. In 1808 the emperor had taken him to Erfurt and made him play the Mort de Cesar to a company of crowned heads. Five years later he took him to Dresden.

If you want to know more about Hotel La Belle Juliette, click here : www.labellejuliette.com