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BERNHARDT, SARAH (ROSINE BERNARD) (18...

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 802 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BERNHARDT, SARAH (ROSINE See also:BERNARD) (1845- ) , See also:French actress, was See also:born in See also:Paris on the 22nd of See also:October 1845, of mixed French and Dutch parentage, and of Jewish descent. She was, however, baptized at the See also:age of twelve and brought up in a See also:convent. At thirteen she entered the See also:Conservatoire, where she gained the second See also:prize for tragedy in 1861 and for See also:comedy in 1862. Her debut was made at the Comedic Francaise on the 11th of See also:August 1862, in a See also:minor See also:part in See also:Racine's Iphigenie en Aulide, without any marked success, nor did she do much better in See also:burlesque at the See also:Porte St-See also:Martin and Gymnase. In 1867 she became a member of the See also:company at the Odeon, where she made her first definite successes as Cordelia in a French See also:translation of See also:King See also:Lear, as the See also:queen in See also:Victor See also:Hugo's Ruy Blas, and, above all, as Zanetto in See also:Francois See also:Coppee's Le Passant (1869). When See also:peace was restored after the Franco-See also:German See also:War she See also:left the Odeon for the Comedic Francaise, thereby incurring a considerable monetary forfeit. From that See also:time she steadily increased her reputation, two of the most definite steps in her progress being her performances of Phedre in Racine's See also:play (1874) and of Dona Sol in Victor Hugo's Hernani (1877). In 1879 she had a famous See also:season at the Gaiety in See also:London. By this time her position as the greatest actress of her See also:day was securely established. Her amazing See also:power of emotional acting, the extraordinary See also:realism and pathos of her See also:death-scenes, the See also:magnetism of her See also:personality, and the beauty of her "voix d'or," made the public tolerant of her occasional caprices. She had See also:developed some skill as a sculptor, and exhibited at the See also:Salon at various times between 1876 (See also:honourable mention) and 1881. She also exhibited a See also:painting there in 1880.

In 1878 she published a See also:

prose See also:sketch, Dons See also:les nuages; les impressions d'une See also:chaise. Her comedy L'Aveu was produced in 1888 at the Odeon without much success. Her relations with the other societaires of the Comedic Francaise having become somewhat strained, a crisis arrived in 188o, when, enraged by an unfavourable See also:criticism of her acting, she threw up her position on the day following the first performance of Emile See also:Augier's L'Aventuriere. This obliged her to pay a forfeit of £4000 for See also:breach of See also:contract. Immediately after the rupture she gave a See also:series of performances in London, relying chiefly upon See also:Scribe and See also:Legouve's Adrienne See also:Lecouvreur and See also:Meilhac and See also:Halevy's Frou Frou. These were followed by See also:tours in See also:Denmark, See also:America and See also:Russia, during 188o and 188r, with La See also:Dame aux camelias as the See also:principal attraction. In 1882 she married Jacques Damala, a See also:Greek, in London, but separated from him at the end of the following See also:year. After a fresh See also:triumph in Paris with See also:Sardou's Fedora at the See also:Vaudeville she became proprietress of the Porte St-Martin. See also:Jean See also:Richepin's Nana See also:Sahib (1883), Sardou's See also:Theodora (1884) and La Tosca (1887), Jules See also:Barbier's Jeanne d'Arc (189o) and Sardou and See also:Moreau's Cleopolre (189o) were among her most conspicuous successes here, where she remained till she became proprietress of the See also:Renaissance See also:theatre in 1893. During those ten years she made several extended tours, including visits to America in 1886–1887 and 1888–1889. Between 1891 and 1893 she again visited America (See also:North and See also:South), See also:Australia, and the See also:chief See also:European capitals. In See also:November 1893 she opened the Renaissance with Les Rois by Jules See also:Lemaitre, which was followed by Sylvestre and Morand's Izeyl (1894), Sardou's Gismonda (1894) and Edmond See also:Rostand's La Princesse lointaine (1895).

In 1895 she also appeared with conspicuous success as Magda in a French translation of See also:

Sudermann's Heimat. For the next few years she visited London almost annually, and America in 1896. In that year she made a success with an See also:adaptation of See also:Alfred de See also:Musset's Lorenzaccio. In See also:Easter See also:week of 1897 she played in a religious See also:drama, La Samaritaine, by Rostand. In See also:December 1896 an elaborate fete was organized in Paris in her See also:honour; and the value of this public recognition of her position at the See also:head of her profession was enhanced by cordial greetings from all parts of the See also:world. By this time she had played one See also:hundred and twelve parts, See also:thirty-eight of which she had created. See also:Early in 1899 she removed from the Renaissance to the Theatre See also:des Nations, a larger See also:house, which she opened with a revival of La Tosca. In the same year she made the bold experiment of a French See also:production of See also:Hamlet, in which she played the See also:title part. She repeated the impersonation in London not See also:long afterwards, where she also appeared (1901) as the See also:fate-ridden son of See also:Napoleon I., in Rostand's L'Aiglon, which had been produced in Paris the year before. Of the successful productions of her later years perhaps none was more remarkable than her impersonation of La Tisbe in Victor Hugo's romantic drama Angelo (1905). See Jules Huret, Sarah Bernhardt (1889) ; and her own See also:volume of autobiography (1907).

End of Article: BERNHARDT, SARAH (ROSINE BERNARD) (1845- )

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