Henri Léon Emile Lavedan (9 April 1859 - 30 September 1940), French dramatist and man of letters, was born at Orléans, the son of Hubert Léon Lavedan , a well-known Catholic and liberal journalist.

He contributed to various Parisian papers a series of witty tales and dialogues of Parisian life, many of which were collected in volume form. In 1891 he produced at the Théâtre Français Une Famille, followed at the Vaudeville in 1894 by Le Prince d'Aurec, a satire on the nobility, afterward re-named Les Descendants.

Later brilliant and witty pieces were:

• Les Deux noblesses (1897)
• Catherine (1897)
• Le nouveau jeu (1898)
• Le Vieux marcheur (1899)
• Le Marquis de Priola (1902)
• Varennes (1904), written in collaboration with G. Lentre
• Le bon temps (1906)
• L’assassinat du duc de Guise (1908)

He had a great success with Le Duel (Comedie Française 1905), a powerful psychological study of the relations of two brothers. Lavedan was admitted to the Académie française in 1898.