Anne Françoise Elisabeth Lange (17 September 177225 May 1816, Florence) was a French actress of the Comédie-Française and a "Merveilleuse" of the French Directory. Her stage name was Mademoiselle Lange. Life She was born in Genoa, the daughter of Charles-Antoine Lange (or L'Ange) and Marie-Rose Pitrot, itinerant musicians and actors putting on shows right across Europe. She thus made her stage debut very young in child roles in her parents' companies. In 1776, the family was taken on at the theatre at Liège, and in 1784, they found themselves taken on at the theatre in Ghent. In 1787, Mlle Lange was taken on at the theatre at Tours in Marguerite Brunet's company. On 2 October 1788, she made her official debut at the Comédie-Française in the role of Lindane in L'Écossaise by Voltaire. She next played Lucinde in L'Oracle by Saint-Foix. In 1791, the production of the anti-religious and anti-monarchical play Charles IX by Marie-Joseph Chénier divided the company of the Théâtre-Français, with Mlle Lange joining the "patriots" group under Talma, which set itself up at rue de Richelieu (the present home of the Comédie-Française). However, thinking her talents were not being fully recognized there, she quickly moved to the "aristocrats" faction that had set itself up at the Théâtre du Faubourg Saint-Germain (renamed the Théâtre de la Nation, now known as the Théâtre de l'Odéon). On 24 February 1793, she played Laure in Le Vieux Célibataire by Jean-François Collin d'Harleville, becoming a sociétaire later that year. She had a triumph in the eponymous role in Paméla ou la Vertu récompensée (Pamela or Virtue Rewarded) by Nicolas-Louis François de Neufchâteau, setting a fashion for straw hats known as "à la Paméla", but the play's royalist overtones led to this theatre being shut down and the author and actors arrested by the Committee of Public Safety. Mlle Lange was at first imprisoned in the prison de Sainte-Pélagie until, after a few months in captivity, she managed to arrange her transfer to the pension Belhomme (along with her cook, her valet and her lady's maid). There she was able to maintain a large household thanks to funds from the banker Montz, filling the street outside with those coming to visit her. She also bought a hôtel particulier on rue Saint-Georges. In the wake of a denunciation, Fouquier-Tinville opened an enquiry which led to the arrest of Jacques Belhomme and the closure of