Ève Lavallière (French pronunciation: [ɛv lavaljɛʁ]; born Eugénie Marie Pascaline Fenoglio, 1 April 1866 – 10 July 1929) was a French stage actress and later a noteworthy Catholic penitent and member of the Secular Franciscan Order.
Ève Lavallière was born at 8 rue Champ-de-Mars in Toulon. She was the daughter of Louis-Emile Fenoglio, a tailor of Neapolitan origin, and Albania-Marie Rana, who was born in Perpignan. At birth, her parents already had a son. Her birth was not desired, and she was placed, up to school age, with a local family of peasants. At school age, however, she was enrolled by her parents in a private school of excellent reputation. After the death of her parents in tragic circumstances and running away from home she arrived in Paris as a teenager.
She became an actress renowned in the Belle Époque, including the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris.
From 1917, she moved to the castle of Choisille, at Chanceaux-sur-Choisille, Indre-et-Loire (later occupied by the Pinder circus). She had a radical religious conversion and became a devout Catholic. She wished to join a religious order and for a time was a medical missionary in Tunisia. She became a Franciscan tertiary, a member of the Secular Franciscan Order or Third Order of St Francis.
She is buried in Thuillières where she died in 1929.
Her most famous roles were in the following:
1892 : La Vie parisienne by Jacques Offenbach, Henri Meilhac, Ludovic Halévy, Théâtre des Variétés,
1896 : Le Carillon by Ernest Blum and Paul Ferrier, Théâtre des Variétés
1897 : Paris qui Marche, a review by Hector Monréal and Henri Blondeau, Théâtre des Variétés
1898 : Les Petites Barnett by Paul Gavault and Louis Varney, Théâtre des Variétés
1899 : La Belle Hélène by Jacques Offenbach, booklet by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, Théâtre des Variétés
1900 : Mademoiselle George by Victor de Cottens and Pierre Veber, music by Louis Vernet, Théâtre des Variétés
1901 : La Veine by Alfred Capus, Théâtre des Variétés
1902 : Les Deux Écoles by Alfred Capus, Théâtre des Variétés
1903 : Le Sire de Vergy by Gaston Arman de Caillavet, Théâtre des Variétés
1903 : Paris aux Variétés, revue by Paul Gavault, Théâtre des Variétés
1904 : La Boule by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, Théâtre des Variétés
1904 : Monsieur de la Palisse by Robert de Flers and Gaston Arman de Caillavet, music by Claude Terrasse, Théâtre des Variétés