BERNHARDT, SARAH

Bernhardt, Sarah: translation

(1844-1923)

   Undoubtedly the most celebrated actress in the world for much of her career, the "divine" French actress with the "golden voice" made nine American tours between 1880 and 1918. She docked in New York on 27 October 1880 for her first nationwide tour under the management of Henry Abbey and Maurice Grau. The publicity had been phenomenal even before her arrival, with frequent news stories about her wardrobe, her skeletally thin silhouette, her frizzy red hair, her inscrutable French manners, her temper tantrums, and even some attempts to analyze her talent. Booking Bernhardt was initially regarded as financially risky for local theatre managers, as her tour managers asked $4,500 per performance, Bernhardt being personally guaranteed $1,500 per performance beyond expenses.However, her bookings quickly proved profitable and remained so, even after audiences discovered that they did not magically understand the French language in which Bernhardt and her company performed.

   Bernhardt's subsequent American tours were in 1886-1887, 1891, 1896, 1900-1901, 1905-1906, 1910, 1912-1913, and 1916-1918. The last four were billed as her "farewell" tours of America. From 1905 also she often performed in unconventional venues—tents, skating rinks, sports arenas—in order avoid playing theatres controlled by the Theatrical Syndicate. For the last two tours, she was booked by producer Martin Beck on the Orpheum vaudeville circuit, supposedly as a means of giving popular-price audiences an opportunity to see her. In 1915, she had to have a leg amputated as a result of a fall some years earlier, yet she soldiered on, treading the boards with one wooden leg. Her actual farewell tour, in 1916-1918, got her out of war-torn Europe, and yet she did her part for the cause in that the one-act play she performed on the vaudeville bill was a patriotic piece titled From the Theatre to the Field of Honor. Undoubtedly, Camille (The Lady of the Camelias) by Alexandre Dumas, fils, was her most popular play with American audiences, for the play had become familiar to them in English. But she usually brought several of her costume melodramas. In 1901, when she toured with Constant Coquelin, she played a breeches role, the title character in Edmond Rostand's L'Aiglon.

Bernhardt, Sarah: translation

(1844-1923)

   Actress. Born Henriette-Rosine Bernard, Sarah Bernhardt was probably the greatest stage actress of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Born of French and Dutch Jewish parents, she was sent to a convent school and converted to Christianity. She studied acting at the Paris Conservatoire d'art dramatique, where she excelled and won prizes for both tragedy and comedy. Bernhardt went on to debut at the Comédie Française at the age of seventeen. Despite her success at the Conservatoire, success on the stage did not come immediately. However, by 1880 or so, after very hard work and several great performances, most notably in Racine's Phèdre (1874) and in Victor Hugo's Hernani (1877), she had become recognized as the greatest actress of her time, so great that her reputation as a temperamental, hypochondriac diva did little to diminish her standing as an actress.

   Given Bernhardt's standing, she did not seek out the cinema.Rather, the cinema came to her in order to advance its own prestige. Bernhardt's first appearance on film came in 1900, when Clément Maurice filmed part of her performance in Shakespeare's Hamlet. She starred in 1908 in Charles le Bargy's ill-fated La Tosca, which was never formally released. She went on to star in André Calmettes and Henri Pouctal's La Dame aux camélias (1912), Henri Desfontaines and Louis Mercanton's Les Amours de la reine Elizabeth (1912) and Adrienne Lecouvreur (1913), and Mercanton and René Hervil's Jeanne Doré (1915) and Mères voyantes (1917). She died during the filming of Mercanton and Léon Abrams's La Voyante (1923), although her role was included in the final film.

   Historical Dictionary of French Cinema by Dayna Oscherwitz & Mary Ellen Higgins

Bernhardt, Sarah: translation

(1844-1923)

   Actress. Born Henriette-Rosine Bernard, Sarah Bernhardt was probably the greatest stage actress of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Born of French and Dutch Jewish parents, she was sent to a convent school and converted to Christianity. She studied acting at the Paris Conservatoire d'art dramatique, where she excelled and won prizes for both tragedy and comedy. Bernhardt went on to debut at the Comédie Française at the age of seventeen. Despite her success at the Conservatoire, success on the stage did not come immediately. However, by 1880 or so, after very hard work and several great performances, most notably in Racine's Phèdre (1874) and in Victor Hugo's Hernani (1877), she had become recognized as the greatest actress of her time, so great that her reputation as a temperamental, hypochondriac diva did little to diminish her standing as an actress.

   Given Bernhardt's standing, she did not seek out the cinema. Rather, the cinema came to her in order to advance its own prestige. Bernhardt's first appearance on film came in 1900, when Clément Maurice filmed part of her performance in Shakespeare's Hamlet. She starred in 1908 in Charles le Bargy's ill-fated La Tosca, which was never formally released. She went on to star in André Calmettes and Henri Pouctal's La Dame aux camélias (1912), Henri Desfontaines and Louis Mercanton's Les Amours de la reine Elizabeth (1912) and Adrienne Lecouvreur (1913), and Mercanton and René Hervil's Jeanne Doré (1915) and Mères voyantes (1917). She died during the filming of Mercanton and Léon Abrams's La Voyante (1923), although her role was included in the final film.

Bernhardt, Sarah: translation

(1844-1923)

   French actress. She was baptized at an early age. She began her career at the Comedie-Francaise in 1862; in 1866 she joined the Odeon theatre. In 1872 she returned to the Comedie-Francaise and later toured Europe, the United States, South America and Australia. Her writings include Petite idol and Ma double vie.