French actress Henriette Rosin Bernard, whom fans called the Divine Sarah, is recognized as the first star of the international stage. She has played approximately 70 roles in 125 productions in Europe, the USA, Canada, South America, Australia and the Middle East. Sarah Bernhardt's notable roles in the theater were Jean-Baptiste Racine's Phaedre, Sardou's Tosca and Theodora Victorien, Eugene Scribe's Adrienne Lecouvreur, Doña Sol from Victor Hugo's Hernani and Marguerite Gautier from Alexandre Dumas fils's Lady of the Camellias. She managed several theaters in Paris before renting the Théâtre des Nations, later renamed the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt (today the Théâtre de la Ville). Bernard acted as a public figure whose stage novels and tragedies filled her own life.

Early biography

Sarah Bernhardt was the daughter of a Dutch courtesan of Jewish origin, Julia Bernard. Born October 23, 1844. Her birth certificate was lost, and biographers often give the date as October 22. Sarah was the eldest of Julia's three illegitimate daughters. The second was Jeanne (1851-1900), and the third was Regina (1853-1884). It is unclear who the father of the great actress was. It is believed that he was a young student named Morel, who went on to a career as a naval officer. When Sarah was 13 years old, instead of her father, her uncle Edward signed her baptismal certificate.

The girl spent her childhood in a boarding school, where she was cared for by a nanny, and then in a boarding school near Versailles. Most of the time the mother was absent. Given her religious education, the girl wanted to become a nun. And yet, when she turned 16, her mother's lover Charles Duc de Morny, the illegitimate half-brother of Napoleon III, got her into the theater.

Studies and stage name

For two years, Bernard studied acting at the Paris Conservatory, where her ideal was the famous actress Rachel, a graduate of this educational institution, who was also Jewish. Throughout her career, Sarah had a portrait of herself that she constantly compared herself to. Rachel became a celebrity in Paris and London for her performances as Phaedra in 1843 and Adrienne Lecouvreur in 1847.

In choosing her stage name, Bernard knew that Rachel's fame and her own future reputation would be tied to her romantic and anti-Semitic interest in Jewish women. Their origins gave rise to discriminatory anti-Semitic cartoons that attacked them, for example, for their supposed greed. The nationality of actresses was emphasized in anti-Semitic novels and pseudo-biographies, such as “Dina Samuel” by Felicien Champseau, “Memoirs of Sarah Barnum” by Marie Colombier, etc.

After the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, Bernard was forced to defend herself against accusations that she was Jewish and German, proudly admitting the former and denying the latter. In a letter written in response to these accusations, she reaffirmed her Jewish identity. Bernard called the foreign accent, which she very much regretted, cosmopolitan, but not Teutonic. She claimed to be the daughter of the great Jewish race, and her unbridled tongue was the result of her forced wanderings.

As Sarah achieved fame and independence, she took her troupe around the world, transforming from a rejected wanderer into a revered international star.

Carier start

In 1862, actress Sarah Bernhardt made her first appearance at the national theater Comédie Française as the heroine of Racine's play Iphigenie. But within months she was fired after slapping a senior actress who had insulted her. Dissatisfied with the small roles she was given at the fashionable Gymnase-Dramatique theater, she fled to Brussels. On December 22, 1864, Bernard gave birth to her only son, Maurice. It was the fruit of her love with Henri Prince de Ligne.

In 1866 she began working at the Odeon. In 1868, Bernard achieved her first public success playing the seductive Anna Demby in Alexandre Dumas's "Kin." Critics noted her eccentric costume and warm voice. That same year, she played Cordelia in Shakespeare's King Lear. In 1869, her role as the minstrel boy Zanetto, courting an elderly courtesan in the one-act play “The Passerby” by François Coppet, enjoyed great success.

During the Franco-Prussian War, Bernard opened a hospital at the Odeon. When Victor Hugo returned from exile, she brilliantly played Queen Mary in his Ruy Blaise. The audience was captivated by her gestures, expressive voice and excellent recitation.

In 1872, the actress's success convinced the Comédie Française to invite her again. In subsequent years, she fully developed and became a celebrity thanks to her performances as Phaedra and Doña Sol.

Actress talents

Bernard developed her own emotional romantic acting style based on a lyrical voice, emotional acting, subverting audience expectations for her characters, revealing strength in weakness and weakness in strength. She impressively played drag queens such as Zanetto in The Passerby and Shakespeare's Hamlet. However, the essence of the performance was pictorial.

Sarah Bernhardt's memory was amazing. She memorized the roles very quickly, reading the text 2-3 times. But after she stopped performing, she completely forgot the text. Early in her career, Bernard suffered from bouts of memory loss and stage fright.

In addition to the stage, Sarah sculpted and achieved some success, exhibiting at the Paris Salon between 1876 and 1881. In 1880 she exhibited her painting there. However, her greatest talent was projecting emotional poses into unforgettable scenes. She was concerned that her appearance would blend in with the masterpieces (for example, when playing Theodora, she dressed like the empress in the Ravenna mosaic paintings), or be promoted as such through portraits, posters, and photographs that showed her in key scenes. The photo of Bernard in the role of Melandri, in which she is depicted lying with eyes closed in a coffin, repeating the painting “Ophelia” by Sir John Evert Mill and “The Young Martyr” by Paul Delaroche. The image served as an advertisement for her favorite scenes of dying characters such as Marguerite, Fedora and Adrienne falling lifelessly into the arms of their lovers.

Bohemian life

In 1876, a tragedy occurred in Sarah Bernhardt's personal life: her mother died. That same year, her reputation as a femme fatale sparked a scandal when two journalists were challenged to a duel in defense of her honor.

At the same time, she left her apartment on the Rue de Rome and moved to her newly built stately home on the corner of the Rue Fortuny and the Avenue de Villiers. Her friends are famous artists Gustave Doré, Georges Clérin, Louise Abbema and Philippe Parrot painted the walls of her house with allegorical paintings. The artistic bastion symbolized her new bohemian lifestyle.

Unlike other famous European salons of the second half of the 19th century, the main attraction of her house was not the guests, but the hostess herself. Bernard's friends included the authors George Sand and Victor Hugo, the artist Gustave Moreau, the novelist Pierre Loti, and playwrights such as Jean Richepin and Jules La Maitre, who were also her lovers.

International success

In June and July 1879, Sarah Bernhardt made a triumphant debut at the Gaiety Theater in London as part of the Comédie Française. And at the beginning of 1880, she left the theater and went on a tour of Europe and the USA with her troupe. For the American tour, Bernard chose the plays in which her talents were best demonstrated: “Phaedra,” “Adrienne Lecouvreur,” “Ernanita,” “Frou-Frou” by Henri Meillac and Ludovic Halévy and the not yet played “Lady of the Camellias” by Dumas the Son . Her tour was a huge financial success.

In early 1882, Sarah met Aristidis Damala, a Greek army officer who was 12 years her junior. They married in St Andrew in a Protestant ceremony in London at the end of a successful tour of Italy, Greece, Hungary, Austria, Sweden, England, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland and Russia. Revered on par with members of the royal families, Sarah was recognized by the highest nobility. King Umberto of Italy gave her a delightful Venetian fan, King Alfonso XII of Spain gave her a diamond brooch. After her performance in Phaedrus, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria placed an antique necklace on her. In St. Petersburg, Tsar Alexander III was deeply moved by her art.

Purchase of the theater

In July 1882, after returning to France, Sarah Bernhardt, inspired by the success of her troupe, bought the theater de l'Ambigu in the name of her son Maurice. This decision became her first managerial disaster, which, however, was accompanied by her triumph as an actress of the boulevard theater.

Playwright Victorien Sardou offered her his melodramatic scripts, which emphasized her talents. With Bernard's consent, he wrote plays such as Fedora, Theodora and Tosca. Because she received the highest pay as an actress, her theater fell into enormous debt. Son Maurice resigned from management, and Bernard rented the large 1,800-seat Porte Saint-Martin theater.

After the success of "Frou-Frou" and "Lady of the Camellias", Richepin's new play "Nana Sahib", written especially for her, was a fiasco. Bernard returned to The Lady of the Camellias to save the theater from financial disaster.

Work at the Port of Saint-Martin Theater

In September 1884, Sarah Bernhardt began a successful collaboration with Felix Duquesnel as the new director of the Port of Saint-Martin and Sardou as playwright. Their main sensation was the play “Theodora,” which premiered on December 26, 1884. In 1885-86. it was played 300 times in Paris and more than 100 times in London. In 1886, Bernard went on a tour of South and North America, starting in Brazil. In the summer of 1887, she returned to Paris and proudly boasted to friends that the tour had made her rich. Bernard bought a house at 56 Boulevard Pereire, where she lived until her death. In the same year, her son Maurice married the Polish princess Maria Teresa Jablonowska. Bernard's partnership with Duquesnel and Sardou achieved even greater triumph with the production of Tosca.

In 1889, her husband died of a morphine overdose.

A few months after actress Sarah Bernhardt gave birth to her granddaughter Simone, she asked Duquesnel to direct the production of Emile Moreau’s new play “The Trial of Joan of Arc.” By playing a 19-year-old maiden, the 45-year-old actress restored her honor, since she had previously been identified starring the roles of a vicious queen, a prostitute and a lady of questionable behavior. Although the play was spectacular and successful, it closed after 16 weeks because Bernard was physically suffering from having to constantly fall to her knees. The successful partnership was suspended with the failure of Sardou's Cleopatra in 1890. year.

World Tour

In 1891, Bernard went on another world tour. In June 1892, she went to London to rehearse Oscar Wilde's Salome, written especially for her in French. Rehearsals were interrupted due to Lord Chamberlain's refusal to grant permission to show it in England. A year later, she sold the Porte Saint-Martin theater and her agent arranged the purchase of the Théâtre de la Renaissance, designed for small productions and intimate evenings, decorated in the Rococo style. Bernard returned to France from her world tour the richest and most popular actress of the time. Its capital amounted to 3.5 million francs.

Creative search

The five years that Sarah Bernhardt devoted to honing every aspect of rehearsal were the most innovative. She was willing to experiment with young writers such as Jules Lemaître and Octave Mirbeau. The latter's handling of the topic of striking factory workers caused a scandal that forced her to temporarily close the theater. The play The Princess of Dreams (1895) by Edmond Rostand was her attempt to join the modern Symbolist theater. But she failed to capitalize on mysticism and religiosity, playing in performances of Sardou's Spiritualism and Rostand's Samaritan. Competing with the sensational 1897 season of Eleanor Duse, the following year Bernard presented “The Dead City” by Duse’s lover Gabriele D’Annunzio. However, the debts of her theater amounted to 2 million francs.

"Theater of Nations"

In January 1899, deciding to avoid further financial losses, Bernard took a 25-year lease on the Theater of Nations in Chatel, which belonged to Paris. The theater was monumental, allowing her, at the age of 55, to remain at a safe distance from the audience. She renovated the space to suit her celebrity status. The foyer became her own little Louvre. Large canvases by Abbema, Clairin, Louis Bernard and Alphonse Mucha were presented here, depicting the actress in the role of the Samaritan, Gismonda, Theodora, Marguerite Gautier ("Lady of the Camellias"), Princess Dreams and Napoleon's son.

The theater opened with a revival of Tosca and continued its controversial performance of the role of Hamlet. Sarah Bernhardt achieved triumph with her drag role in Rostand's The Eaglet in March 1900. Dressed in military uniform, she portrayed Napoleon's 17-year-old son. The production was timed to coincide with the Paris Exhibition, which attracted large crowds and encouraged patriotic spirit. Sarah gave 250 performances of The Eaglet, earned respect and became a national heroine.

In 1903, further success was achieved with Sardou's seventh and final historical melodrama, The Enchantress, set in Toledo during the Inquisition. Sarah played the role of a passionate gypsy pursued by a villain. In 1904, she played Pelléas in the London production of Pelléas et Mélisande by Maurice Maeterlinck.

Trips to America

In 1905, Bernard went on a long tour of America. During her last performance in Tosca in Rio de Janeiro, she suffered an accident that resulted in her right leg being amputated a decade later.

In March 1906, she performed in a huge tent seating 5 thousand spectators in Kansas City, Dallas and Waco. In 1906, after her return to Paris, she played Saint Teresa in the controversial play The Virgin of Avila by Catulet Mendes.

In October 1910, after a successful performance in London with The Eaglet, Bernard, at the age of 66, again went to America. She chose 27-year-old handsome Lou Telegan as the host of the tour, who became her lover for the next 3 years.

Sarah Bernhardt's filmography includes several silent films, but the only successful one was the 1912 film in which she played Queen of England Elizabeth. After returning to Paris at the end of 1913, she performed the role of Sarah, the mother of a man who killed a rival who had kidnapped his bride, in Tristan Bernard's play Jeanne Doré.

In 1914, the actress became a Knight of the French Legion of Honor.

Army support

During the First World War, Bernard visited French soldiers at the front and starred in the propaganda film "French Mothers". This year, at age 70, she embarked on her final American tour, which lasted 18 months. She was received as a celebrity and spoke at public meetings urging Americans to join the Allies. Although Bernard was unable to move freely on stage, her voice alone was enough to send the audience into ecstasy.

last years of life

In 1920, Bernard played Racine's Athalie, presenting the monologue of an aging woman. She performed in "Daniel" by Louis Verneuil and in "Gloire" by Maurice Rostand. In the fall of 1922, Bernard gave a benefit to raise money for Madame Curie's laboratory, playing in Verneuil's Rhine-Armand.

In early March 1923, a Hollywood agent offered her the leading role in a film by Sasha Guitry. Shortly thereafter, on March 26, 1923, Bernard died of uremia. A massive funeral procession took place from the house on the Boulevard Pereire to the Church of St. Francis de Sales and from there to the Père Lachaise cemetery. This is where Sarah Bernhardt's grave is located.

Works

Bernard wrote poetry, prose and plays. In 1878, she published a prose sketch, “In the Clouds.” Bernard wrote two plays in which she herself acted: a one-act melodrama about adultery L "Aveu (1888) and a 4-act play The Heart of a Man (1911). In addition, she adapted the drama Adrienne Lecouvreur (1907). Bernard wrote an autobiography, My Double Life (1907), and two fictional episodes from her life, the novel The Little Idol (1920) and Jolie Sosy. Her retrospective review of acting and theater was published in The Art of the Theater in 1923.

During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Sarah Bernhardt remained in besieged Paris and set up a hospital in the Odeon theater, devoting herself entirely to the wounded and abandoning even her artistic room.

After the end of the war, Bernard returned to the stage. A real triumph was her performance on January 26, 1872 as the Queen in Victor Hugo's Ruy Blase.

After her triumph on the stage of the Odeon, Bernard returned to the Comédie Française. Here the actress shone in the tragedies of Racine and Voltaire, and with great success played Doña Sol in the drama Hernani by Victor Hugo, which premiered on November 21, 1877.

In 1879, the Comedy Francaise toured London. Sarah Bernhardt became the favorite of the English public. After "Phaedra" she received an ovation that had no analogues in the history of English theater.

After a triumphant season in London, in 1880 Bernard broke her contract with the Comédie Française, made six tours of America, and toured in England and Denmark. The actress's touring repertoire included the plays "Lady of the Camellias" by Alexandre Dumas the Son, "Frou-Frou" by Henri Meilac and Ludovic Halévy, "Adrienne Lecouvreur" by Eugene Scribe, and others. In 1891, Bernard made a triumphant tour of Australia. During her tours, she visited Russia three times (the last time in 1908).

The actress's talent, skill and great fame forced playwrights to write plays especially for her. Victorien Sardou wrote the plays Fedora (1882), Tosca (1887), and The Witch (1903) for Bernard. Since the 1890s, a significant place in the actress’s repertoire has been occupied by roles in neo-romantic dramas by Edmond Rostand, also written especially for her: “Princess of Dreams!” (1895), "Eaglet" (1900), "Samaritan Woman" (1897).

Sarah Bernhardt willingly performed in male roles (Zanetto in “The Passerby” by François Coppet, Lorenzaccio in “Lorenzaccio” by Alfred Musset, the Duke of Reichstadt in “The Eaglet” by Rostand, etc.). Among them was the role of Hamlet (1899). This role, which Sarah Bernhardt played when she was 53 years old, allowed the actress to demonstrate the high perfection of her technique and the eternal youth of her art.

Sarah Bernhardt repeatedly tried to create her own theater. In 1893, she acquired the Renaissance Theater, and in 1898, the Nation Theater (now the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre), which opened with Sardou's play Floria Tosca.

During the First World War, the actress performed at the front. In 1914 she was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor.

In 1905, during a tour in Rio de Janeiro, the actress injured her right leg; in 1915, the leg had to be amputated. Nevertheless, Bernard did not leave the stage. The last time she appeared on stage was in 1922.

Sarah Bernhardt became one of the first theater actresses who decided to act in films. This happened in 1900: a phonorama was demonstrated in Paris, providing synchronous projection of image and sound, and Sarah Bernhardt was filmed in the scene of Hamlet's Duel.

In 1912, she starred in the films "The Lady of the Camellias" and "Queen Elizabeth". The worldwide success of "Queen Elizabeth" created a name for the film's director, Louis Mercanton. Subsequently, the actress starred in several more of his films.

Bernard was engaged in sculpture and literary creativity. In her later years, she began writing plays, publishing Memoirs of a Single Chair and a novelized autobiography, My Double Life, which reflected her mastery of words and subtle humor.

There were many legends and incredible myths about the actress’s personal life. It was alleged that Bernard seduced almost all the heads of European states.

At the dawn of her career, she met the Belgian Prince Henri de Ligne, with whom she gave birth to a son, Maurice, in 1864. In 1882, Sarah Bernhardt married the Greek diplomat Aristidis (Jacques) Damal. Their marriage was extremely unsuccessful and they divorced a few months later. At the age of 66, the actress met American actor Lou Tellegen, who was 35 years younger than her. This love affair lasted four years.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

Sarah Bernhardt is a French theater actress, a legend of the world stage, and the first of the film actresses. A crater on the planet Venus, a variety of milky-flowered peony, is named in honor of Sarah Bernhardt. The future star of the theater stage was born on October 22, 1844 in Paris and received the name Henriette Rosin Bernard at birth. The girl's mother was Judith Bernard, the daughter of the Dutch merchant Moritz Baruch Bernardt, Jewish by birth.

Judith worked as a milliner in Amsterdam in her youth, and after moving to Paris she became a kept woman. The name of the girl's father is unknown. Some sources indicate French naval officer Paul Morel, others indicate lawyer Edouard Bernard. Little Henriette was almost immediately sent to Brittany to the family of a nanny-nurse. After an accident during which the girl was burned by hot coals from a fireplace, her mother took her to Paris. For two years, the girl was sent to Madame Fressard's boarding school, where she studied writing, arithmetic, and attended a theater group.

In 1953, Sarah entered the Grandchamps gymnasium. In her youth, Sarah Bernhardt looked very thin; due to her constant cough, doctors assumed that the girl had tuberculosis, which should have led to quick death. The overly impressionable Sarah persuaded her mother to buy her a rosewood coffin, which became her place to sleep for the rest of her life. Sarah Bernhardt's constant fits prompted Judith to think that it was time for the girl to get married. At her mother’s suggestion, Henriette declared her desire to devote herself to God.

The scene looked so emotional that the mother’s friend, Count de Morny, half-brother of Napoleon III, who was present during the conversation, advised the girl to be sent to a conservatory, where they taught acting. Before the entrance audition, Sarah Bernhardt took several lessons on speech technique from the writer, who immediately appreciated the richness of the voice of the future stage star. In 1857, Henriette entered the drama school of the Paris Conservatory, from which she graduated five years later, receiving second place in academic performance among graduates of the year.

Theater

On September 1, 1862, the 18-year-old actress made her theatrical debut on the stage of the Comedie Française theater. Sarah appeared before the public in leading role Jean Racine's play "Iphigenia in Aulis". With her first performance, the actress did not impress the audience and theater critics. As the theater director noted, the girl was too thin; her only advantages were golden hair and a pleasant voice.

In 1869, Sarah Bernhardt first appeared on stage in the male role of the minstrel Zanetto in “The Passerby” by François Coppet, which created a sensation among the actress’s fans. Later, the actress portrayed the Duke of Reichstadt from the play of the same name and in Rostand’s “The Eaglet,” as well as Lorenzaccio from Musset’s play. Sarah Bernhardt played the role of Hamlet at the age of 53.

In 1870, when France was at war with Prussia, Sarah Bernhardt did not leave Paris and allowed the Odeon building to be used as a hospital for the wounded. The actress herself temporarily became a sister of mercy. Therefore, Sarah's return to the stage in 1872 as the queen in Ruy Blas was greeted by the public with great honor.

At the same time, the Comedie Française theater invited Sarah to resume cooperation. The actress's repertoire at the Molière theater consisted mainly of Racine's tragedies and Victor Hugo's dramas. In 1880, Sarah Bernhardt left the Comedie Française for the second time and went on her first big tour of America with her own troupe. Sarah Bernhardt toured a lot. The actress traveled all over Europe, visited the USA nine times, and Bernard visited Russia in 1881, 1898 and 1908. The actress visited the Mikhailovsky Theater, Moscow, Kyiv, Odessa and Kharkov.

In St. Petersburg, the actress attended a reception with the Emperor, met Prince Sergei Volkonsky. In London, Bernard's "Phaedra" enjoyed particular success, with which the actress toured in 1879. The theater star's tour caused an unprecedented stir among New Yorkers; the audience was not even bothered by the language barrier. Announcements of the Frenchwoman's performances were always published on the front pages of leading publications. In 1891, Sarah Bernhardt visited Australia with performances.

In Russia, Sarah Bernhardt was called “Napoleon in a skirt”; in France, she was considered the second Joan of Arc. In America, some public organizations blasphemed the actress’s name, calling her “an invasion of a damned snake, a fiend of French Babylon.” Perfume, soap, gloves, and powder were created in honor of Sarah Bernhardt. The actress's fees were unimaginable, but Sarah donated a lot of money to charity. In 1904, she organized a tour with Enrico Caruso to help Russian soldiers who were injured during the Russo-Japanese War.

For Sarah Bernhardt, contemporaries created plays of a tragic nature. Victorien Sardou wrote works for the stage: Fedora (1882), Floria Tosca (1887), and The Witch (1903). Edmond Rostand created three plays that were included in Sarah Bernhardt's repertoire - “The Princess of Dreams!” (1895), "Eaglet" (1900), "Samaritan Woman" (1897). D. Marell created the drama “The Laughter of the Lobsters”, the main character was Sarah Bernhardt herself.

In 1893, the actress opened the Renaissance Theater, five years later - the Nation Theater, on the stage of which the premiere of Sardou’s play “Floria Tosca” took place. In 1900, Sarah Bernhardt starred in one of the first silent films, playing in the scene of Hamlet's Duel. The actress appeared in a number of films, the most popular of which were the 1912 films “The Lady of the Camellias” and “Queen Elizabeth,” for which the actress was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The actress more than once became a model for portrait painters Bastien-Lepage, Boldini, Georges Clairin, Gandara, photos of the actress were repeatedly taken by Nodar. The founder of the Art Nouveau art movement, Czech illustrator Alphonse Mucha became the author of many advertising posters for Sarah Bernhardt's performances.

In 1905, during a tour in Brazil, the actress injured her leg, and 10 years later the limb had to be amputated. Physical injury did not break Sarah Bernhardt; she did not give up stage activities. The actress continued to appear in her favorite performances: Sarah played “The Lady with Camellias” while sitting and lying in bed. During the First World War, Bernard performed as part of a front-line brigade, for which she was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor.

In addition to the theater, Sarah Bernhardt was interested in creating sculptures and literary creativity. From the pen of the actress came the books “Memoirs of a Chair”, “My Double Life”, in which Sarah Bernhardt described the events of her biography, as well as several plays. According to one of the legends associated with the life of the actress, Sarah Bernhardt, at the age of 70, performed the role of Juliet in the play, but the fact is not confirmed by official sources of information.

The actress's creative career ended in 1922, shortly before the death of Sarah Bernhardt.

Personal life

Sarah Bernhardt hid the events of her personal life from the public. But contemporaries attributed to the actress numerous love affairs, including with representatives of European royal dynasties. In 1864, while in Belgium, Sarah Bernhardt gave birth to a son, Maurice. According to rumors, the boy's father was Prince Henry de Line, who even wanted to propose to the actress, but was unable to go against the will of his relatives.

After breaking up with Henry, Sarah returned to Paris, where romances followed with colleagues Philippe Garnier, Pierre Berton, Jean Mounet-Sully. In the early 80s, while on tour in St. Petersburg, Sarah met the Greek diplomat Aristides (Jacques) Damala, born in 1855, whom she soon married.

Despite the ardent love, the union broke up after six months. The next romance overtook the actress at the age of 66. Her chosen one was the American actor Lou Tellegen, who was almost two times younger than Sarah Bernhardt. The relationship lasted almost four years.

Death

From the end of 1922, the actress’s kidneys began to fail. The disease turned out to be incurable. On March 26, 1923, Sarah Bernhardt died in a Parisian apartment on Boulevard Malesherbes.

The funeral ceremony was held in a solemn atmosphere, the coffin with the actress’s body was carried by the most beautiful theater actors, and the path to the Père Lachaise cemetery was strewn with camellias. The farewell procession numbered several thousand people.

Filmography

• 1900 – “Hamlet’s Duel”
• 1912 – “Queen Elizabeth”
• 1912 – “Lady with Camellias”
• 1913 – “Adriana Lecouvreur”
• 1915 – “Jeanne Doré”
• 1915 – “Dancer”
• 1917 – “French Mothers”
• 1923 – “Attractiveness”

Mark Twain once defined five types of actresses: “bad actresses, impartial actresses, good actresses, great actresses and... Sarah Bernhardt.” From her debut on stage at the age of eighteen (1862) in Racine’s play “Iphigenie” to the embodiment of the image of thirteen-year-old Juliet at seventy years old, Sarah Bernhardt was a stunning success.

Henriette Rosin Bernard - received this name at birth worldwide famous actress. She was born on October 22, 1844 in Paris. The future star's mother was a courtesan who cared little about her daughter's fate in childhood, so Sarah was raised in a monastery. But, despite the harsh laws of life here, the girl left its walls passionate and purposeful.

Thanks to one of his mother’s lovers, the Comte de Morny, who saw the young talent at first glance, Sarah Bernhardt assigned to the drama class of the Higher National Conservatory of Dramatic Art. Despite the patronage, the girl had to study a lot to enter this prestigious university. One of the teachers Sarah Bernhardt was Alexander Dumas, the father, who laid the first stone in the foundation of the magnificence of the future actress.

She graduated from the Conservatory in 1862. This year also marked her debut on the stage of the main theater in France, the Comédie Française. Knowing about Sarah Bernard so much, now it’s hard to believe that the theater director had doubts about accepting the actress into the troupe. “She’s too skinny to be an actress!” he said. But, as they say, you can’t escape fate.

On September 1, 1862, at the age of 18, she performed her first role in Racine’s tragedy “Iphigenia in Aulis.” In her autobiography, My Double Life, she recalls this moment: “As the curtain slowly rose, I felt myself losing consciousness. You could say that at that moment the curtain rose on my life.”

Surprisingly, critics did not appreciate Bernard’s acting abilities at all. One of the newspapers wrote: “The young actress was as beautiful as she was inexpressive...”. Everyone agreed that the only thing Bernard can be proud of is his magnificent golden hair and that’s it. Critics were absolutely sure that very soon everyone would forget about the young actress. Their prophecy came true, but only for a negligibly short time.

The actress leaves France and moves to Belgium, where she becomes the mistress of Prince Henry de Liney. In 1864 Sarah Bernhardt a boy, Maurice, was born. Many consider him the son of a prince, but this information has never been officially confirmed. According to rumors, after the birth of the child, Henry made Sarah Bernard offer, but The Royal Family was categorically against it, so they persuaded Sarah to refuse and leave Belgium.

She led the life of a courtesan for several years before returning to the stage. She was expelled from the Comédie Française, so she signed a contract with the second most important theater in France, the Odeon. But all this was done with the intention of returning to the first stage as the main theatrical diva of France. “At any cost,” was the motto of the Divine Sarah.

On the stage of the Odeon she embodied many classical images. Her repertoire included Zaira, Desdemona, Andromache and Phaedra. But the role that brought the actress to the attention of the public was Cordelia in King Lear.

Sarah Bernhardt as the Queen in Victor Hugo's play "Ruy Blas"

And over time in his acting career Sarah Bernhardt plays by her contemporaries also appeared. Dumas the father was incredibly proud of his student when he saw her in the role of Anna Dambi in his play “Kean, genius and dissipation.” And Victor Hugo was completely blown away by the young actress. After one of the performances, he approached Bernard: “Madame! “You were charming in your greatness,” said the writer. “You have excited me, an old fighter.” I started crying. I give you the tear that you pulled from my chest, and I bow before you.”

And these were not just words. In reality, Hugo's tear turned out to be a diamond, which was crowned with a chain bracelet. Perhaps it was from this moment that the prima developed a special passion for precious stones. They say that she took her numerous gifts with her everywhere. And so that her treasures remained safe, the actress always had a pistol with her. “Man is such a strange creature that this tiny and absurdly useless thing seems to me to be reliable protection,” said the actress.

In addition to the beautiful ladies in the repertoire Sarah Bernhardt there were many male roles, far more than any other actress. Among them were Werther, Lorenzaccio, Zanetto... At the age of 56, the actress played the 20-year-old Eaglet in the drama of the same name by Edmond Rostand. The premiere of this play ended with resounding success - 30 encores! One of the most controversial among male characters Sarah Bernhardt became the role of Hamlet. With her performance in this tragedy, the French actress touched the heart of Stanislavsky himself. The director considered her technique to be the perfection of acting. In his opinion, she combined everything: a beautiful voice, refined diction, plasticity and artistic taste. But Elizabeth Robins, on the contrary, has long criticized the embodiment Sarah Bernard image of Hamlet. “In this interpretation, the great tragedy of Hamlet was stripped of all its dignity and its mysterious charm,” the critic wrote.

Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet

Theater connoisseur Prince Sergei Volkonsky highly valued stagecraft Sarah Bernhardt: “She perfectly mastered the polarity of experiences - from joy to grief, from happiness to horror, from affection to rage - the finest nuance of human feelings. And then - “the famous talk, the famous whisper, the famous growl, the famous “golden voice” - la voix d’or,” noted Volkonsky. - The last stage of skill is her explosions... How she knew how to lower herself in order to jump up, gather herself in order to rush; how she knew how to take aim, crawl up to burst. The same thing is in her facial expressions: what a skill from barely noticeable inception to the highest scope..."

She overshadowed everything. Posters for her performances were written by Alphonse Mucha himself, and when new information about the tour appeared in the newspapers Sarah Bernhardt, then they harbored any political conflicts and economic crises. On all her travels, the star was invariably accompanied by faithful reporters who covered her life almost every minute. The public idolized Sarah Bernhardt.

Posters painted by Alphonse Mucha for performances starring Sarah Bernhardt

But not everyone had such a favorable attitude towards the actress. For example, one of public organizations in the United States, the press called her tour “an invasion of a damned snake, the fiend of French Babylon, which arrived with the goal of pouring poison into pure American morals.” Despite this, in the audience at performances Sarah Bernhardt there was never a shortage.

But in Russian Empire Her arrival was eagerly awaited. Glory Sarah Bernhardt spread very quickly throughout the world. “Moskovskie Vedomosti” wrote: “The greats of the world showered this fairy-tale princess with honors that neither Michelangelo nor Beethoven probably ever dreamed of...” Thus, she became the first real world star. There is a legend that when meeting with Emperor Alexander III, when the actress was about to bow to him, the sovereign replied: “No, it is I who must bow to you.”

Although in this country there were people who criticized the actress. Ivan Turgenev was one of them. In a letter to Polonskaya in December 1881, he wrote: “I can’t say how angry I am with all the madness being committed about Sarah Bernhardt, this arrogant and distorted poufist, this mediocrity, who only has a charming voice. Is it really possible that no one will tell her the truth in print?” This opinion was also shared by Anton Chekhov, arguing that the acting of an actress is nothing more than a well-honed skill, and not a divine gift.

As a true actress, she truly lived only on stage, but in real life it was a complete game. Thus, the Russian critic Sergei Volkonsky believed that outside the stage: “it’s an antics, it’s all artificial... A tuft of red hair in front, a tuft of red hair in the back, unnaturally red lips, a powdered face, all lined up like a mask; amazing flexibility of figure, dressed like no one else - she was all “in her own way”, she herself was Sarah, and everything on her, around her smacked of Sarah. She created more than just roles - she created herself, her image, her silhouette, her type.”

Yes, she loved herself, she loved to create a kind of magical aura around herself. Even in her autobiography “My Double Life,” the actress intentionally slightly veiled some parts of her biography in order to always remain a mystery. And during her life, everything in her apartment was always upside down: numerous poufs, armchairs, barks arranged and scattered here and there. Bernard adored exotic animals, so in her apartment, in addition to dogs and cats, one could find monkeys, parrots and even snakes. They say that skeletons were even seen in the actress’s bedroom. And the prima donna herself liked to lie in a coffin from time to time. This passion, however, has been preserved since childhood. In her youth she was sick a lot, and doctors predicted her imminent death, so the girl was somehow able to persuade her mother to buy her a coffin. In the world, some called her a witch and often compared her to Joan of Arc.

Sarah Bernhardt in her famous coffin

However, she did not hide anything about herself. She wrote: “I really love it when people visit me, but I hate visiting. I love receiving letters, reading them, commenting on them; but I don’t like answering them. I hate places where people walk and love deserted roads and secluded corners. I like to give advice and I really don’t like it when they give it to me.”

Sarah Bernhardt as Joan of Arc

The only husband of the actress was an actor from Greece, Aristidis Jacques Damal. However, he could not keep the hurricane named Sarah next to him. Their marriage lasted only a few months. The actress's true love has always been the theater. And she remained faithful to him almost until last days life. Rich admirers and, almost always, stage partners became numerous lovers, the affair with whom ended immediately after the premiere.

She was one of the first theater divas who dared to try their hand at the screen. starred in several silent films. She even had the great happiness of embodying Marguerite Gautier not only on stage, but also in the film adaptation of “The Lady of the Camellias.” However, after this role, the actress decided never to act again. The fact is that in the theater she could easily hide her age in the depths of the stage, but in the cinema this was impossible, and the camera mercilessly emphasized the actress’s already advanced years.

Sarah Bernhardt in the film "Lady of the Camellias"

In 1905, during a tour in Rio de Janeiro with Sarah Bernard an unpleasant incident occurred. When she played in the play Tosca, she injured her right knee while jumping from the parapet in the final scene. The consequences of this injury for the actress were fatal: 10 years later, the leg had to be amputated. One of the showmen even offered the actress $10,000 to use her leg as a medical curiosity, but the actress refused.

And even this did not mean the end of his career Sarah Bernhardt. She still shone on stage. During the First World War, she performed at the front in order to somehow support the soldiers. And at the age of 70, the actress appeared on stage in the image of 13-year-old Juliet from William Shakespeare’s tragedy, and an ovation once again swept through the hall.

Sarah Bernhardt, 1916

Sarah Bernhardt, 1920

Jules Renard recalled the diva this way: “Sarah has a rule: never think about tomorrow. Tomorrow - come what may, even death. She takes advantage of every moment... She swallows life.”

She died on March 26, 1923 at the age of 78. When news of death Sarah Bernhardt reached the theater that bore her name, during the first act of “The Eaglet,” the curtain fell, the audience quietly left the hall, and the actors, still in costume and makeup, went to her house to say goodbye to the great Sarah Bernhardt. This was the only time for "Divine Sarah" that the show could not go on.

But even in her death she wanted to be beautiful. The actress planned her funeral ceremony in advance. She chose young and beautiful actors who would carry her coffin, and let the entire path of the funeral procession be strewn with camellias.

Funeral of Sarah Bernhardt

played about 79 roles on 125 stages in Europe, the USA, Canada, South America, Australia and the Middle East. She won the hearts of millions, although she always played only French. Her unique voice power allowed the actress to embody literally any role. was a real celebrity and for a long time

Sarah Bernhardt

It is difficult to find in the annals of women's biographies a more scandalous, more eccentric personality than Sarah Bernhardt. She brought her “acting” to its full logical conclusion, not only on stage, but also in life, she performed this incredibly difficult role from beginning to end with such purity and impeccability, with such an effort of will that you simply wonder: what was more in this posture - a natural inclination or acquired ambition, innate strength or a trained habit of crushing everything around. And although the actress herself in her memoirs slyly, pretending to be a “poor lamb,” writes off incredible rumors about herself to the “yellow” press and malicious journalists bribed by enemies, no one more than Sarah tried to deliberately surround her own existence
an impenetrable cloud of rumors. And the freedom of morals, barely covered by an invented virtue, arouses even greater curiosity of the average person, just as the “pink” innocence of a courtesan attracts more than obvious vulgarity. Probably, Sarah Bernhardt can be recognized as the first “star” of the stage who “made” her name through a scandal.

It is difficult to say how much of her originality came directly from her nature, but the actress very early understood how advantageously this very difference from anyone else could be used. Even as a child, Sarah suffered from bouts of wild anger, which she cleverly explained by her health condition. But it was precisely the violent fits that the girl had from time to time that allowed Sarah to get her way with adults who were always busy with business. Perhaps, if Sarah had caring, moral parents, the world would have lost the pleasure of seeing a great artist and delving into gossip about her, but, fortunately, society’s ideas about integrity are never embodied literally.

Sarina’s parents did not fit well into the usual paternal ideals. Her mother, the Dutch Jew Judith Hart, is usually listed in biographies of the great artist as a music teacher, but in reality she was a beautiful, high-ranking, elite kept woman, who, by the nature of her work, was required to primarily cherish her own person. The illegitimate daughter Sarah was born sickly, predisposed to tuberculosis, and although the mother had some feelings for the child, they did not extend beyond the tenderness of Penochka (this was the only name to which five-year-old Sarah responded). Researchers generally have doubts about the father's identity. It is usually customary to call engineer Edouard Bernard the father of the artist, but to this day there is no exact evidence of this.

In the end, after some unsuccessful attempts to place his daughter in a decent educational institution, the father allegedly (according to Sarah herself) decided to send the girl to a boarding school at the Grand Chan monastery. Thus, the first paradoxical page appeared in the biography of the great actress, which Sarah would later use with pleasure - as if she passionately wanted to become a nun, but chance did not allow it. The institution where our heroine ended up was distinguished by its humane methods and care for its students. The sisters of the monastery replaced little Sarah with a non-existent family. The rebellious, sickly girl was sincerely loved and pampered by the abbess, Mother Sophia. However, this kind woman had difficulty restraining Sarino’s unbridled rage, which made itself felt from time to time. Bernard left Grand Chan with a scandal, due to her fantastic stubbornness and defiant desire for publicity.

Sarah grabbed the shako of a soldier who had thrown his headdress over the monastery fence, and climbed onto the high sports ground, teasing the joker. Having achieved the delight of her “comrades,” Sarah realized that the game had gone far only when she tried to drag the ladder she had climbed onto the platform, but the heavy wooden structure fell and split with a roar. As a result, the girl found herself cut off from the ground. Considerable troubles disrupted the measured life of the monastery. After this adventure, Sarah fell ill, and in addition, the inappropriateness of being “such a beast” among the beautiful nuns became clearly visible, and the girl was sent home.

Her further fate was determined at the family council. Since a rich inheritance was not expected for Sarah, and marrying a wealthy leather merchant, in the opinion of her mother, was something shameful and since Sarah was not destined to become a nun, Judith’s then lover - Comte de Morny, half-brother of Napoleon III - decided that the girl should be sent to a conservatory; fortunately, a high-ranking family friend had plenty of connections. Today no one knows for sure what helped the count so correctly determine Sarah’s future, but the girl’s fanatical narcissism and rare inner freedom probably played an important role.

Having successfully passed the entrance exams, Sarah immediately attracted the attention of teachers. At the annual competition of the conservatory, the girl received two prizes - the second for a tragic role and the first for a comic role. An unusually beautiful voice, the plasticity of a cat, an expressive appearance - all these features made one take a closer look at the young actress, and soon Sarah received an offer to play one-off performances at the most prestigious French theater, the Comédie Française. However, going to an appointment with the director to discuss her first contract, Sarah took with her her younger sister, who by that time was five years old. A girl, as “well-bred” as Sarah, in the director’s office began to climb on chairs, jump over stools, and throw papers out of the trash can. When the respected monsieur made a remark to the artist’s sister, the little prankster, without thinking much, blurted out: “And about you, sir, if you pester me, I will tell everyone that you are a master of making empty promises. This is my aunt speaking!

Sarah almost had a stroke. She dragged her stupid sister along the corridor, who howled heart-rendingly, and in the fiacre she began that terrible attack of anger, which almost led to the murder of the simple-minded child. But despite the failure of the first negotiations, a year later, in 1862, Sarah Bernhardt successfully debuted at the Comédie Française in the role of Iphigenie in Racine’s tragedy “Iphigenie in Aulis.” One of the critics, Francis Sarce, later even became famous for being the first to notice the young talent, predicting a brilliant future for him.

But Sarah did not stay long in the famous theater. Her little sister was again to blame for the scandal that happened this time. Well, just an “evil angel” of poor Sarah! Bernard herself said that on Moliere’s birthday (and the Comédie Française is called the home of this great playwright), according to tradition, all the theater artists approached the bust of their patron with greetings. At the ceremony, Sarah’s little sister allegedly stepped on the train of the stage prima, the so-called “sauceter,” Natalie. The old, angry, grumpy woman sharply pushed the culprit away, and the girl allegedly smashed her face into a bloody column on a column. With a cry: “Evil creature!” - Bernard attacked her colleague. The fight took place with a clear preponderance of forces in favor of youth. Sarah was soon forced to leave the famous stage in disgrace. Agree, aren’t there too many scandals due to the fault of the poor little sister...

It seemed that the actress would not recover from such an embarrassment soon, but the very next day after the contract was broken, Sarah visited the Gymnaz theater and was accepted into the troupe.

A difficult period has come in her life - everyday life similar to one another, rehearsals, readings of plays, mediocre performances. For Sarah's active nature, such peace and quiet became unbearable torture. No one wanted to recognize her as a brilliant actress, no one admired her, and in such an environment she could wither like a flower without water. Frightened by the gloomy prospects, Sarah, in a moment of despair, decided to go into business and for this she found a suitable confectionery store. Only the irresistible boredom that wafted over her from the counters filled with roasted almonds, sweets and sweet cakes kept Bernard from taking a rash step.

But she would not have become a great artist if she had not been prone to unexpected, adventurous actions. After another terrible performance, Sarah secretly disappeared from Paris at the height of the season. They searched for her with the police almost throughout France. And she went to Spain, ate tangerines there and enjoyed her vacation. Having provoked another scandal, our heroine parted with the hated theater with a light heart and immediately received a new invitation to the Odeon.

It was this imperial theater that opened Bernard's path to fame. Sarah believed that she felt the first happy rapture of the stage on the stage of the Odeon, and the first delight of the audience from her performance pierced the hall of the Odeon. U
Sarah gained many fans, especially among students, she became popular, young people fell in love with her for her courage and relaxedness, for the fact that the actress declared the ideals of the new France. Sarah Bernhardt becomes an actress of the emerging romantic movement in the theater. Her showiness and ardor captivate the viewer; she is a divine symbol of the romantic beauty of Rostand, Hugo, and Dumas son. One Russian critic compared the French actress’s performance to lovely figurines that one would love to put on one’s fireplace.

Sarah, who loved luxury and pleasure, herself became the item that was included in the mandatory list of luxurious social entertainment. During her lifetime, the artist made herself an object of cult. The delighted Victor Hugo knelt before Sarah Bernhardt right on stage after the premiere of one of his tragedies. But not only exalted artists prostrated themselves before the actress. The powers that be vying with each other demonstrated their love for the celebrity. Sarah had a magical effect on men and women, and all high society adored her. The brochure “The Loves of Sarah Bernhardt” boldly suggested that she had seduced all the heads of state of Europe, including the Pope. Of course, this is mere hyperbole, but there is evidence that she actually had " special relationship"with the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) and with Prince Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon I, whom Georges Sand introduced her to. As for the other leaders, if she did not occupy their beds, she won their hearts. She was showered with gifts by Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, King Alfonso of Spain and King Umberto of Italy. King Christian IX of Denmark put his yacht at her disposal, and Duke Frederick allowed her to use his family castle.

Probably, objectively, Sarah Bernhardt was not the most talented actress of her time, but she became the most prominent stage personality of that era. The performance of the role of Marguerite Gautier in “The Lady of the Camellias” by Alexandre Dumas son led the audience into hysterical ecstasy. It is unlikely that any of the enthusiastic admirers thought about true art; rather, in the fanatical worship of the “star” the usual instinct of the crowd was discerned, the desire to be involved in the “deity”.

Sarah tried to stand out in everything. And the only thing that really distinguished Bernard from everyone else was her unusually powerful energy. She knew how to do a hundred things at once. Nobody knew when she slept. Rostand recalled the actress this way: “Running onto the dark stage; revives with his appearance a whole crowd of people yawning and languishing here in the twilight; walks, moves, lights up everyone and everything she touches; sits down in front of the prompter's booth; begins to stage the play, indicates gestures, intonations; jumps up as if stung, demands to be repeated, growls with rage, sits down, drinks tea again; starts rehearsing herself..."

Bernard was one of the first among celebrities to understand that charity and a small amount of sympathy for the disadvantaged would add additional flair to her name. During the war of 1870, the artist remained in besieged Paris and even set up (fortunately, her name also works flawlessly on officials) in the Odeon theater a hospital for the wounded. In this act of Sarah there was both a desire to help and an irresistible narcissism.

In the hospital, admirers flocked to the artist, despite the martial law. Bernard happily signed autographs. One day she gave a photograph of herself to an ardent nineteen-year-old boy named Ferdinand Foch. In 1915, Sarah Bernhardt was accompanied by Marshal Ferdinand Foch on a trip to the fronts of the First World War.

“Forgetting” about the contract with Odeon, the artist, seduced by astronomical fees, returned to the Comedy Francaise, where she successfully worked until 1880. There was probably not a single day when the newspapers did not write about another sensation associated with Sarah Bernhardt. Either the actress buys a panther “for personal use”, then she “flies” on hot-air balloon, then finally receives the interviewer, reclining in a coffin. There was a lot of gossip about the “star’s” latest oddity. One of the spiteful critics even claimed that Sarah prefers to make love on this funeral bed, which drives men crazy.
The culprit herself, with childish spontaneity, explained the existence of the coffin in her room due to the cramped space square meters. They say that my little sister was dying, and there was nowhere to put the coffin - so they “stuffed” it into Sarina’s room. Well, you obviously can’t sleep in the same bed with a sick woman, so the poor artist had to make a bed for herself in a coffin. Sometimes she learned the roles right away. In general, Sarah did not want to shock anyone; the journalists, who were simply trying to make money on her name, made such a prosaic fact downright ominous.

Having finally fallen out with the management of the House of Molière, in 1893 Bernard acquired the Renaissance Theater, and in 1898 the theater on Place du Châtelet, which was called the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre.

The artist did not leave this beloved creation until her death. Even when her leg was amputated in 1914, Sarah continued to play with the prosthesis. This spectacle, apparently, was not for the faint of heart. Bernard, who always boasted of her “skeletal” thinness, flaunted her fragile figure and successfully used fainting to defuse the situation, in her old age became fat and flabby, and her health was by no means weak. She resolutely despised pragmatic opinions that it was time for her to leave the stage, that nothing remained of her former charm. She considered herself above sympathetic whispers, above generally accepted norms, above, finally, above nature itself. Sarah continued to play.
Marina Tsvetaeva, who rushed to Paris in her early youth to see the legendary Sarah with her own eyes, was shocked. Bernard played the role of a twenty-year-old youth in Rostand's The Eaglet. The actress turned 65 and walked on a prosthesis. “She played in the era of whalebone corsets, which emphasized all the roundness female figure, a twenty-year-old youth in a tight-fitting white uniform and officer's leggings; no matter how majestic it was... the spectacle of unbending old age, it smacked of the grotesque and also turned out to be a kind of tomb erected by Sarah and Rostand, and Rostanov’s “Eaglet”; as well as a monument to blind acting heroism. If only the audience were also blind...” Tsvetaeva called this “egocentric courage.”

And yet she achieved her goal - exorbitant ambition and unprecedented energy melted into genuine recognition. Sarah went down in theater history and cultural history as the greatest actress of the 19th century.