Mononymous person town of Stendal, birthplace of the German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann, whom Stendhal admired. In the 20th century, a fourth French writer, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (author of "Gigi", 1945), used her actual surname as her mononym pen name, Colette. Some French actors and singers have used their given name or surname as a stage mononym. In the 17th and 18th centuries, most Italian castrato singers used mononyms as stage names (e.g. Caffarelli, Farinelli). The German writer, mining engineer and philosopher, Georg Friedrich Philipp Freiherr von Hardenberg (1772–1801), became famous as Novalis. The 19th-century Dutch writer Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820–87), better
Gabrielle Robinne troubadour". She is often regarded by critics to be the first French star of the silent film era. Gabrielle Robinne alternated her time between the stage and film. Between 1906 and 1973, Robinne would appear in nearly fifty films. Her last film appearance was a role in the 1973 Stanislav Stanojevic-directed drama "Le journal d'un suicidé" (English release title: "Diary of a Suicide"). Gabrielle Robinne was married to actor René Alexandre from 1912 until his death in 1946. She never remarried. She died in Saint-Cloud, Hauts-de-Seine, France in 1980 at the age of 94. In 2006, after several years of