Sacha Guitry as le narrateur et Louis XI

Louis de Funès as Antoine Allègre

Jean Marais as François Ier

Robert Lamoureux as Latude

Andrex as Paulus

Renée Saint-Cyr as l’Impératrice Eugénie

Françoise Arnoul as la duchesse de Bassano

Danielle Darrieux as Agnès Sorel

Sophie Desmarets as Rose Bertin

Clément Duhour as Aristide Bruant

Odette Joyeux as La Passementière

Pierre Larquey as Pierre Broussel

Lana Marconi as la reine Marie-Antoinette

Michèle Morgan as Gabrielle d'Estrées

Pauline Carton as la bouquiniste

Pierre Would as

Jeanne Boitel as Mme Geoffrin / Sarah Bernhardt

Gilbert Bokanowski as Louis XVI

Julien Carette as Un Cocher

Jean Martinelli as Henri IV / Firmin

Lana Marconi as Marie-Antoinette

Jean Parédès as Un Médecin

Gisèle Pascal as Comtesse de G...

Gérard Philipe as Le Trouvère

Simone Renant as Marquise de V...

Renée Saint-Cyr as L'Impératrice Eugènie

Jean Tissier as Un Gardien de Musée

Antoine Balpêtré as Verlaine

René Blancard as Aubineau

Aimé Clariond as Beaumarchais

Paul Colline as Charles VII

Suzanne Dantès as Madame d'Epinay

Jean Debucourt as Philippe de Comynes

Jean-Jacques Delbo as Monsieur de la Personne

Bernard Dhéran as Voltaire jeune

Denis d'Inès as Fontenelle

Henri Doublier as Un dominicain

Émile Drain as Victor Hugo

Pierre Dudan as Un manifestant

Jacques Dumesnil as Richelieu

Catherine Erard as La Journaliste

Jacques de Féraudy as Voltaire

Maurice Escande as Le Baron de Grimm

Michel François as Le Deuxième Visiteur

Jeanne Fusier-Gir as L'Aubergiste

Gilbert Gil as Molière

François Guérin as Le Premier Visiteur

Marguerite Jamois as Anne de Savoie

Roland Lesaffre as Le Premier Royaliste

Robert Manuel as Flaubert

Jacques Morel as Gouverneur Jourdan

Lucien Nat as Montesquieu

Claude Nollier as Anne d'Autriche

Pierre Palau as Un Moine

Jean Pâqui as Le Comte d'Orgeix

Simone Paris as Une Dame

Marguerite Pierry as La Centenaire

Jacqueline Plessis as La Reine Eléonore

Odile Rodin as La Princesse d'Essling

Claude Sylvain as Catherine de Médicis jeune

Pierre Vaneck as François Villon

Jean Weber as Henri III

Paul Fort as Self - Le prince des poètes

Maurice Utrillo as Self - Painter

Sirena Adgemova as La Baronne de Pierre

Jean-Marc Anthony as

Fernand Bellan as Tristan l'Hermitte / Fouquier-Tinville

Henri Belly as

Roland Bourdin as

Henri Bosc as

Alain Bouvette as Monsieur Duval

Wladimir Brasco as

Laurent Capelli as

Brigitte Segui de Carreras as

André Chanu as Sully

René Charles as

Pierre Darçay as

Micheline Dax as Yvette Guilbert

Paul Demange as Fouquier-Tinville

Jacques Derives as Un Garde

Germaine Dermoz as Catherine de Médicis

Jean Dunot as Un Moine

René Dupuy as

Albert Duvaleix as Béranger

Jim Gérald as Un Cocher

Lucienne Granier as La Provinciale

Gisèle Grandpré as La Marquise de Sévigné

Janine Grenet as Marguerite de Valois

Françoise Jacquier as Une Amoureuse

Pierre Jadoux as

Ariane Lancell as Diane de Poitiers

René Lefèvre-Bel as

Maria Lopez as

Marcel Lupovici as Marcel Paul

Pierre Massimi as Un Photographe

Albert Médina as Paul Tabout

Annie Monnier as

Hubert Noël as Un Passant

Nadine Olivier as La Duchesse d'Etampes

Xénia Palley as Karsavina

Léna Pastor as

Josette Privat as

Jacques Ralph as Un Gardien de Prison

Jean-François Rémi as

Philippe Richard as Louis-Philippe

André Roanne as Denis Diderot

Catherine Romane as Une Jolie Femme

Madeleine Rousset as

Roger Royer as Un Officier de Police

Serge Sauvion as Un Officier de Police

Georges Spanelly as Bourgoin

Alice Tissot as Madame Denis

Irène Tunc as La Comtesse de Malazet

Pierre-Jean Vaillard as Coitier

Jacques Varennes as Scherer

Jeanne Véniat as Madame Lefebvre - la mère de Firmin

Alain Saury as Arsène (uncredited)