Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (Molière)

The greatest French comic playwright. Under Louis XIV's patronage he created comedies of character — Tartuffe, The Misanthrope, The Bourgeois Gentleman — that savaged religious hypocrisy, social pretension, and medical charlatanism with a precision that still stings. He died on stage during a performance of Le Malade Imaginaire, playing a man pretending to be sick.

• Nationality: french
• Roles: playwright, actor, director