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Video: The gorgeous Sarah: four leading roles in the life of a brilliant actress
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
The whole life of the brilliant Sarah Bernhardt can be called a series of roles played. And it's not just about the stage. Sarah loved to play the roles of seductresses, rebel, brawler. The audience idolized her, taking the actress in any guise. The four main roles in the life of the great prima of the late 19th and early 20th centuries are discussed further in the review.
Role 1: daughter of a courtesan
At birth, the mother named the future theater star Rosin - like a cute dog that always gets underfoot. But something like that was. Judith Hart did not want to have children. Her daughter was born from a casual affair between a courtesan and one of her many lovers.
The charming cutie from Rosin-Sara did not work. She gave a lot of trouble to her nannies. The girl was constantly ill, which is why she was often capricious, expressing her feelings expressively. When the doctors said that Sarah might soon die, the girl begged her mother to buy her a coffin, because she was afraid that she would be buried in some ugly box. Then the coffin will become a kind of mascot for the actress, which she will carry around with her, learning the roles in it and posing for photographers.
When the girl grew up, her mother, wanting to get rid of her, sent her to a boarding house at the Gran Shan monastery. The nuns loved the eccentric and disobedient Sarah, but they could not withstand her antics for a long time, fearing that the girl's behavior would have a detrimental effect on the other pupils.
Upon her daughter's return home, Judith decided to marry her off. Sarah immediately threw a tantrum, declaring that it was better to go to the monastery. Mother's lover, the Duke de Morny, who watched this scene, burst out laughing and offered to send the girl to study acting.
Role 2: actress
Sarah Bernhardt dreamed of shining on the stage of the Comedie Française theater. A graduate of the Paris Conservatory and with good references, she was invited to play one-off roles in the theater. At the appointed time, Sarah came to the director to discuss the details of the work. Regina's younger sister walked into the office with her. Sarah took care of her, remembering how she herself was deprived of maternal love. Once a 6-year-old girl began to jump around the room, make noise and scatter paper. In an attempt to pacify the child, the theater director received an unexpected answer:
Sarah had to forget about the Comedie Française for a whole year. After a while, she nevertheless appeared on the stage of the theater. Her first performance did not make a splash. Then, full-bodied actresses were in fashion, and Sarah Bernhardt did not fit these standards at all. The audience immediately dubbed her "a well-polished skeleton." And only the critic Francisc Sarse wrote that a great future awaits this actress.
In "Comedie Francaise" Sarah only lasted until the end of the contract. This was again "facilitated" by the younger sister. Regina, as always, got underfoot and stepped on the train of the aged prima of the theater. She pushed the child away, and the girl broke her face. In response, Sarah Bernhardt pounced on the actress with her fists. After that, she was no longer offered to stay.
The next 4 years were difficult years in the life of the actress. She changed theaters, countries, men. Not wanting to become a courtesan, the actress got a job in the second most popular Parisian theater "Odeon". It was there that Sarah Bernhardt became a real star. Famous writers, sculptors and painters worshiped her. Wealthy officials showered Sarah with jewelry.
After 10 years, the actress returned to the Comedie Française again. Now she played only leading dramatic roles. The audience was delighted. In addition, Sarah Bernhardt did everything to make people talk about her. In the newspapers, news constantly appeared about the next trick of the shocking star, whether it was buying a panther, traveling in a balloon, or interviewing in a coffin.
From fame and universal adoration, Sarah Bernhardt's behavior became more and more unpredictable. The audience continued to storm the theater, wanting to contemplate their favorite actress, but the management could no longer endure her antics. Eventually Sarah decides to leave the Comedie Francaise and opens her own theater.
Role 3: mistress
Sarah Bernhardt literally drove men crazy with her game. They wrote that the actress managed to seduce almost all the monarchs of Europe and even the Pope. Sara herself loved to tell reporters about her next "victory".
Sarah Bernhardt truly fell in love with the Belgian prince Henri de Ligne. The feeling was mutual. The prince was even ready to give up his royal privileges, just to marry Sarah. He set her only one condition: his beloved must leave the stage. The actress was already ready to take this step, but suddenly realized that the prince was refusing much more and in the future he might be disappointed in her. Sarah made a difficult decision and sent the prince away from her. A few months after parting with the prince, she gave birth to a son, Maurice. It was he who became the main love of her life.
Sarah Bernhardt had affairs all the time, but she did not fall in love, but rather indulged her vanity, reveling in her power over men. The star herself recalled the time when she lived with a courtesan mother: "My mother's house was always full of men, and the more I saw them, the less I liked them."
Role 4: aging prima
When Sarah Bernhardt turned 60, her leg was amputated. As a child, Sarah jumped out of the window, begging her mother to take her away from the nanny. Then the girl injured her knee. For the second time, the actress fell off the set without insurance. After that, she endured excruciating pain and eventually begged the doctors to amputate her leg. But this did not stop the actress from continuing to perform.
At 65, Sarah Bernhardt played a 20-year-old boy in the play "Eaglet". It was already a plump woman with a terrible prosthesis, but the audience continued to applaud her. “I will continue to live as I have lived. Until I stop breathing,”said the aging actress. Even at 78, she managed to play 13-year-old Juliet.
Anticipating her demise, Sarah Bernhardt ordered the selection of six of the most beautiful young actors in France to carry her coffin. When Sarah Bernhardt was sent on her last journey, the whole road was strewn with camellias, which the actress loved so much.
Sarah Bernhardt loved to play the roles of not only women, but also men. Her rival in this role was an American Maud Adams, who shone in the role of Napoleon.
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