Bernhardt, Sarah (1844-1923)

Bernhardt, Sarah

ACTOR (FRANCE)

BORN 22 Oct 1844, Paris - DIED 26 Mar 1923, Paris
BIRTH NAME Bernardt, Henriette Rosine
CAUSE OF DEATH uremia following kidney failure
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Père Lachaise, Rue du Repos 16 (division 44, ligne 01, N, 20)

Sarah Bernhardt was probably the most famous actress of her time. She was born in Paris as the daughter of the Jewish Julie Bernhardt and an unknown father. Her birth certificate was lost during a fire in 1871 but it is believed that she was born in 1844.

She was educated at Grandchamp, a convent school near Versailles. There she found herself in trouble at several occasions: she laughed at a bishop, she threw a stone at soldiers and she went out with a soldier after dark. In 1860 she enrolled at the Conservatoire de Musique at Déclamation in Paris and after that she became a student at the Comédie Française.

She debuted as an actress at the Comédie Française in 1862 as Iphigénie in Racine's play. It was a success but soon afterwards she was forced to resign because she had slapped another actress. She left for Belgium where she became the mistress of Henri, Prince de Ligne. They had a son, Maurice, in 1864 (he died in 1928). The Prince wanted to marry her but his family prevented this. She lived as a courtesan for a while before she returned to the theatre.

She started her performances at the Odéon in 1866 and during the Franco-Prussian war of 1871 she took care of wounded soldiers inside the theatre. During the 1870s she became famous all over Europe and was able to extend her fame to New York. Between 1893 to 1899 she managed the Théâtre de la Renaissance where she produced plays and performed in them as well.

In 1882 she had married the actor Aristides Damala (stage name Jaques Damala) but he was addicted to morphine and he openly criticised her before her friends. The marriage soon failed and officially ended when Damala died in 1889. In 1883 the playwright Jean Richepin was her lover. Around 1910 she had an affair with Lou Tellegan who was 37 years her junior.

She was obsessed by death and at an early age she had bought a coffin in which she liked to sleep. She often took the coffin with her during her tours and she claimed that it helped her to understand her tragic roles.

In 1900 she was Hamlet in a silent movie and she performed in several more motion pictures. In 1905 she seriously hurt her right knee during a performance in Rio de Janeiro and it never healed properly. In 1914 gangrene set in and her leg had to be amputed. But she continued her career and successfully toured in North-America in 1915. She mostly used an artificial limb and the amputation was hardly visible during her performance. She still won over the audiences with the charm of her voice that had hardly altered.

Family
• Son: Bernhardt, Maurice

Related persons
• was rival of Agar
• was a friend of Croizette, Sophie
• knew D'Annunzio, Gabriele
• cooperated with Dufrêne, Blanche
• was the lover of Haas, Charles
• knew Landor, Arnold Henry Savage
• was painted by Makart, Hans
• was sculpted by Meusnier, Mathieu Roland
• was photographed by Nadar
• was the lover of Pozzi, Samuel Jean de
• was pupil of Provost, Jean-Baptiste
• was pupil of Samson, Joseph Isidore
• was written about by Sarcey, Francisque
• was pupil of Stevens, Alfred
• has a connection with Ventura, Marie

Events

10/8/1862	Sarah Bernhardt debuts at the Comédie-Française in Racine's "Iphigénie". She had the Duc de Morny to thank for an engagement with the Comédie-Française as a pensionnaire at a minimum salary. The drama critic Sarcey had recommended her for the role. She played the title part, but she suffered from stage fright and didn't perform well. [Morny, Charles Auguste Louis Joseph, Duc de][Sarcey, Francisque]
9/12/1896	Banquet in honour of Sarah Bernhardt in Paris. She had returned from a long tour in the USA. Six hundred people were invited, among them Poincaré and Antoine Rothschild. She was honoured by Coppée, Mendes and Rostand. [Mendès, Catulle]
29/11/1922	Sarah Bernhardt closes her last tour in Turin. She appeared in "Régine Armand", a play by Louis Verneuil at the Politeama Chiarella, via principe Tomasso 6. It was her last performance before an audience.

Images
The grave of Sarah Bernhardt at Père Lachaise, Paris. Picture by Androom (24 Oct 2014)	IXème Symphonie (portrait de Sarah Bernhardt) by Jean-Désiré Ringel d'Illzach. Picture by Androom (31 Jul 2018)