Arriving in St. Petersburg, Bernhardt invited Damala to give up his diplomatic post to become an actor in her company, as well as her lover, and before long, they decided to marry. Her second American farewell tour (her eighth tour in America) began in late 1910. Photo by Félix Nadar, 1887. Furthermore, the parts assigned for her performance were classical and required carefully stylized emotions, while she preferred romanticism and fully and naturally expressing her emotions. On this tour, she traveled with Constant Coquelin, then the most popular leading man in France. She was transported to Bordeaux, where on 22 February 1915, a surgeon amputated her leg almost to the hip. The two leading actors both fell ill with yellow fever, and her long-time manager, Edward Jarrett, died of a heart attack. Then she embarked on her final American farewell tour. He continued to make posters of her for six years. Sarah Bernhardt was a French actress who died in 1923, the year my mother was born. She played Junie in Britannicus by Jean Racine, the male role of Cherubin in The Marriage of Figaro by Pierre Beaumarchais, and the lead in Voltaire's five-act tragedy Zaïre. She had neglected to purchase insurance. Fédora ran for just 50 performances and lost 400,000 francs. None of the lines that she spoke could surprise me; I believed immediately everything that she said. For realism, she painted the palms of her hands red, though they could hardly be seen from the audience. [64] When Perrin read in the press about the private performances, he was furious. Not content with finding her thin, or declaring her mad, they want to regulate her daily activities, ... Let a law be passed immediately to prevent the accumulation of talent! An all times favorite, award-winner Peony 'Sarah Bernhardt' is outrageously beautiful in bloom! The Duke's stage mother, Marie-Louise of Austria, was played by Maria Legault, an actress 14 years younger than Berhnardt. A plaque on the facade commemorates Bernhardt's earlier residence. He announced that the theater would reopen in October 1871, and he asked her to play the lead in a new play, Jean-Marie by André Theuriet. His posters became icons of the Art Nouveau style. [87] Just before the tour began, she met Jacques Damala, who went with her as leading man and then, for eight months, became her first and only husband. Describing her performance in his play, Ruy Blas in 1872, he wrote in his Carnets, "It is the first time this play has really been played! [27] Her hot temper also got her into trouble; when a theater doorkeeper addressed her as "Little Bernhardt", she broke her umbrella over his head. This fragile creature, ill, wounded and an immobile, could still, through the magic of the spoken word, re-instill heroism in those soldiers weary from battle. To earn more money, Bernhardt set aside a certain number of printed posters of each play to sell to collectors. On the eve of departure, she told a French reporter: "I passionately love this life of adventures. "[122] The play was extremely successful; it was especially popular with visitors to the 1900 Paris International Exposition, and ran for nearly a year, with standing-room places selling for as much as 600 gold francs. After a successful acting career in France she came to London in 1876 where she quickly established herself as the leading actress of the day. Bernhardt was able to buy an even larger residence, with two salons and a large dining room, at 4 rue de Rome. She carried a trunk for her perfumes, cosmetics and makeup, and another for her sheets and tablecloths and her five pillows. The critic Sarcey wrote, "She has the sovereign grace, the penetrating charm, the I don't know what. [153], Bernhardt was also the subject and star of two documentaries, including Sarah Bernhardt à Belle-Isle (1915), a film about her daily life at home. She cared for her younger sister who was ill with tuberculosis, and allowed her to sleep in her own bed, while she slept in the coffin. The mattress on which she was supposed to land was misplaced, and she landed on the boards. She recited the Marseillaise, dressed in a white robe with a tricolor banner, and at the end dramatically waved the French flag. Bernhardt was forced to give up the Renaissance, and was preparing to go on another world tour when she learned that a much larger Paris theater, the Théâtre des Nations on Place du Châtelet, was for lease. Elle fut aussi la première star internationale de la scène. [97] Bernhardt had built up large expenses, which included a 10,000 francs a month allowance paid to her son Maurice, a passionate gambler. [49], In 1868, a fire completely destroyed her apartment, along with all of her belongings. [73] In six of the eight plays in her repertoire, she died dramatically in the final act. She took along a new leading man, the Dutch-born Lou Tellegen, a very handsome actor who had served as a model for the sculpture Eternal Springtime by Auguste Rodin, and who became her co-star for the next two years, as well as her escort to all events, functions, and parties. The theater offered women an environment relatively free of social constraints. However, she was frequently in conflict with Perrin, the director of the theater. On 8 November in New York City, she performed Scribe's Adrienne Lecouvreur at Booth's Theatre before an audience which had paid a top price of $40 for a ticket, an enormous sum at the time. Hugo himself was in the audience. French newspapers encouraged schoolchildren to view her personification of French patriotism. She wrote whenever she had time, usually between productions, and when she was on vacation at Belle-Île. Everyone was gay. At those rates, I'm ready to appear in any films they make. The family of the Prince sent his uncle, General de Ligne, to break up the romance, threatening to disinherit him if he married Bernhardt. Late Midseason Peony. He was not a particularly good actor, and had a strong Dutch accent, but he was successful in roles such as Hippolyte in Phedre, where he could take off his shirt and show off his physique. She told journalists, "They're paying me ten thousand francs a day, and plan to film for seven days. Her lover in the play was her lover off-stage, as well, Mounet-Sully. [155] To make the film more appealing, Zukor had the film print hand-tinted, making it one of the first color films. She later discovered that he was using the money she gave him to buy presents for other women. However, on 21 March 1923, she collapsed again, and never recovered. [99] Her 1891–92 tour was her most extensive, including much of Europe, Russia, North and South America, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and Samoa. At the Odéon, I was happy. This was one of the earliest films by a celebrity inviting us into the home, and is again significant for the use it makes of contemporary art references in the mis-en-scene of the film. Her close friends included the painters Georges Clairin and Louise Abbéma (1853–1927), a French impressionist painter, some nine years her junior. "[167], In her final years, Bernhardt wrote a textbook on the art of acting. "[176], She also had her critics, particularly in her later years among the new generation of playwrights who advocated a more naturalistic style of acting. [213] The idea of Jewish femininity shifted away from the maternal and womanly features and instead led in the direction of the slender, lean, and girlish figure. The Loves of Queen Elizabeth premiered at the Lyceum Theater in New York City on 12 July 1912, and was a financial success; Zukor invested $18,000 in the film and earned $80,000, enabling him to found the Famous Players Film Company, which later became Paramount Pictures. [44], Her next success was her performance in François Coppée's Le Passant, which premiered at the Odéon on 14 January 1868,[45] playing the part of the boy troubadour, Zanetto, in a romantic renaissance tale. The news of the defeat of the French Army, the surrender of Napoleon III at Sedan, and the proclamation of the Third French Republic on 4 September 1870 was followed by a siege of the city by the Prussian Army. Here are 42 divine facts about Sarah Bernhardt. [83] Many years later, she gave a private performance of the play for the Queen while she was on holiday in Nice. She placed Bernhardt with a nurse in Brittany, then in a cottage in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine. "[67] In addition to her performances of Zaire, Phèdre, Hernani, and other plays with her troupe, she gave the private recitals in the homes of British aristocrats arranged by Jarrett, who also arranged an exhibition of her sculptures and paintings in Piccadilly, which was attended by both the prince of Wales and Prime Minister Gladstone. "[177] Ivan Turgenev wrote: "All she has is a marvelous voice. The accompanying letter stated that the painting was "Peint par Louise Abbéma, le jour anniversaire de leur liaison amoureuse"[202] (loosely translated: "Painted by Louise Abbéma on the anniversary of their love affair") Clairin and Abbéma spent their holidays with Bernhardt and her family at her summer residence at Belle-Île, and remained close with Bernhardt until her death. [109], In five years, Bernhardt produced nine plays, three of which were financially successful. He had little acting experience, but Bernhardt signed him as a leading man just before she departed on the tour, assigned him a compartment in her private railway car, and took him as her escort to all events, functions, and parties. Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of Europe in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas. [221], “The Eternal Feminine” was published January 16, 1886 by Revista Illstrada in Brazil six months prior to the first visiting of Sarah Bernhardt. The extreme love, the extreme agony, the extreme suffering. In 1892 she asked Oscar Wilde to write her a play. [131], Her tour continued into South America, where it was marred by a more serious event: at the conclusion of La Tosca in Rio de Janeiro, she leaped, as always, from the wall of the fortress to plunge to her death in the Tiber. Bernhardt played the role for 29 consecutive sold-out performances. Despite the threat of German submarines, she crossed the Atlantic and toured the United States, performing in major cities including New York and San Francisco. I'm an atheist" to an earlier question by composer and compatriot Charles Gounod if she ever prayed. [150], Bernhardt in the film Camille (La Dame aux camélias) with André Calmettes (1911), As Queen Elizabeth in the film Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth (The Loves of Queen Elizabeth) with Lou Tellegen (1912), Bernhardt was one of the first actresses to star in moving pictures. For this scene, she kept two live garter snakes, which played the role of the poisonous asp which bites Cleopatra. "[99] The play was unsuccessful; it ran for just 38 performances. Mark Twain wrote, "There are five kinds of actresses. We thought only of putting on plays. The result was Salome but while in rehearsal the Lord Chamberlain had the play banned. The very large, 8 in. She later sailed by ship from Rio to New York. The audience gave her a standing ovation, showered her with flowers, and demanded that she recite the song two more times. [91] She renewed her relationship with the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII. tall (90 cm). She was defended by Emile Zola, who wrote, "How droll! Since neither would yield, and Madame Nathalie was a senior member of the company, Thierry was forced to ask Bernhardt to leave. She developed a close friendship with the writer George Sand, and performed in two plays that she authored. [213] As such, the effect is to foreground and frame an entirely different model of female beauty than that on offer in Orientalist representations of the Jewish woman. It was lavish and expensive, but was a monetary failure, lasting only 12 performances. However, the award at that time required a review of the recipients' moral standards, and Bernhardt's behavior was still considered scandalous. Bernhardt instantly forgave him, and offered him the role of Armand Duval in a new production of Dame aux Camélias at the Variétés. Sarah Bernhardt is the most famous actress of the late nineteenth century stage. Sardou wrote a nonhistoric but dramatic new death scene for Bernhardt; in his version, the empress was publicly strangled, whereas the historical empress died of cancer. Her first performances with the theater were not successful. [8] While she was in the boarding school, her mother rose to the top ranks of Parisian courtesans, consorting with politicians, bankers, generals, and writers. This story of tolerance, coming soon after the Dreyfus affair, was financially successful, with Bernhardt often giving both a matinee and evening performance. [160] She quickly picked up the techniques; she exhibited and sold a high-relief plaque of the death of Ophelia and, for the architect Charles Garnier, she created the allegorical figure of Song for the group Music on the façade of the Opera House of Monte Carlo. By this time she had eight servants, and she built her first house, an imposing mansion on rue Fortuny, not far from the Parc Monceau. I can only imagine that she could play mothers..." Bernhardt was deeply offended and immediately broke off negotiations. It was Sarah Bernhardt who arguably first truly rinsed it for its fame-stoking, headline-winning potential. Rodin dismissed her sculptures as "old-fashioned tripe", and she was attacked in the press for pursuing an activity inappropriate for an actress. She was one of six children, five daughters and one son, of a Dutch-Jewish itinerant eyeglass merchant, Moritz Baruch Bernardt, and a German laundress,[193] Sara Hirsch (later known as Janetta Hartog or Jeanne Hard). She also stressed the importance for artists to train their breathing for long passages. In 1968, it was renamed the Théâtre de la Ville, which is the name it has today. [24], Bernhardt made her debut with the company on 31 August 1862 in the title role of Racine's Iphigénie. She continued to entertain guests at her home. Her original birth certificate was destroyed when the Paris Commune burned the Hotel de Ville and city archives in May 1871. [. Bernhardt was so moved by the emotion of the play, she began to sob loudly, disturbing the rest of the audience. [65], On 4 June 1879, just before the opening curtain of her premiere in Phèdre, she suffered an attack of stage fright. [220], The new women's movement that took place in late nineteenth century and early twentieth century Brazil, was a movement built around a woman's ability to gain access to public spaces in Brazil. Sarah Bernhardt was known for many things besides her onstage talents. [120] Her performance received largely positive reviews in Paris, but mixed reviews in London. A few months after it opened, Bernhardt received an invitation from Emile Perrin, Director of the Comédie Française, asking if she would return, and offering her 12,000 francs a year, compared with less than 10,000 at the Odéon. Saaaaaaaarah Bernhardt. The German eagle has fallen into the Rhine! Sarah Bernhardt pendant, Divine Sarah, Actress Muse, French Diva jewelry, Drama Queen pendant, Queen of Drama Barbezell. [18], Morny used his influence with the composer Daniel Auber, the head of the Paris Conservatory, to arrange for Bernhardt to audition. Dumas, her strongest supporter, commented after one performance, "she has the head of a virgin and the body of a broomstick. Bernhardt was linked with a quality of thinness. "[19] Dumas coached her. [61], She maintained a highly theatrical lifestyle in her house on the rue de Rome. Oscar Wilde called her "the Incomparable One", scattered lilies in her path, and wrote a play in French, Salomé, especially for her; it was banned by British censors before it could be performed. She did not know her father, a Parisian who never married her Dutch Jewish mother, a woman who had little time or inclination to raise a young child in the social whirl of the Paris salon set. I planted the French verb in the heart of a foreign literature, and it is that of which I am most proud. Oh, to see her, and to hear her, a wild creature, a gazelle with a beautiful panther's fascination and fury, laughing in musical French, screaming with true panther cry, sobbing and sighing like a deer sobs, wounded to the death... She is not pretty, her voice is not sweet, but there is the incarnation of wild emotion that we share with all living things..."[184], The identity of Bernhardt's father is not known for certain. I place it at your feet." According to these versions, he learned her address from the theater, arrived in Paris, and moved into the apartment with Bernhardt. Gustave Moreau and Oscar Wilde created a mass of artistic decadence, and Sarah Bernhardt used this to influences a new model of Jewish female beauty. Gottlieb's Sarah is a fine introduction to a fascinating woman, giving the reader a lively sense of why, so many decades after her death, the name of Sarah Bernhardt, above all others, still stands for actress." [citation needed] In June 1867, she played two roles in Athalie by Jean Racine; the part of a young woman and a young boy, Zacharie, the first of many male parts she played in her career. He scheduled Bernhardt to perform one act of Phèdre on the opening night, between two traditional French comedies, Le Misanthrope and Les Précieuses. Following the first poem, the Emperor and Empress rose and walked out, followed by the court and the other guests. [79] She performed Phèdre six times and La Dame Aux Camélias 65 times (which Jarrett had renamed "Camille" to make it easier for Americans to pronounce, despite the fact that no character in the play has that name). Sarah Bernhardt was a grand theatrical diva of all times who graced the French stage even before Hollywood was born. "[55] Reviewing her performance of Ruy Blas in 1872, the critic Théodore de Banville wrote that Bernhardt "declaimed like a bluebird sings, like the wind sighs, like the water murmurs. She entertained many visitors at Belle-Île, including King Edward VII, who stopped by the island on a cruise aboard the royal yacht. As a result, in Texas and Kansas City, Bernhardt and her company performed under an enormous circus tent, seating 4,500 spectators, and in skating rinks in Atlanta, Savannah, Tampa, and other cities. Glamorous, mysterious, provocative, and eccentric, Bernhardt was the prototype for a generation of Hollywood starlets. [98], From then on, whenever she ran short of money (which generally happened every three or four years), she went on tour, performing both her classics and new plays. He insisted that she perform the lead in a new play, L'Aventurière by Emile Augier, a play which she thought was mediocre. Appleton 1907 English-language edition: This page was last edited on 14 April 2021, at 06:31. She died from uremia on the evening of 26 March 1923. The critic Francisque Sarcey wrote simply, "he makes us feel sick." [40] The Odéon was second in prestige only to the Comédie Française, and unlike that very traditional theater, specialized in more modern productions. [8], When Bernhardt was seven, her mother sent her to a boarding school for young ladies in the Paris suburb of Auteuil, paid with funds from her father's family. Fifty works by Bernhardt have been documented, of which 25 are known to still exist. However, looking at Sarah Bernhardt's role as Salome, there is a relevant shift in the way Jewish women are portrayed, and viewed throughout theatrical performances and art. Bernhardt addressed the audience directly: "Friends, you wish to defend the cause of justice. She also starred in a new play, Daniel, written by her grandson-in-law, playwright Louis Verneuil. She bought a coffin in which she would sometimes sleep; she claimed that the reminder of mortality helped her to enter the psyches of the dramatic characters she portrayed.

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