20+ Facts about Sarah Bernhardt — considered the world’s first superstar and the most famous actress of all time

“There are five types of actresses: the bad, the tolerable, the good, the great—and there is Sarah Bernhardt,” said Mark Twain. “A Divina Sarah” — as she was known by her contemporaries, she did not have a classic beauty, but she captivated the imagination of all men at that time. And representatives of high society refused to attend her performances, considering them immoral, but the actress only laughed at her opponents.

Sarah Bernhardt is considered the first superstar and the most famous actress in the world, because in addition to being a person who liked to shock, she had an enormous talent combined with a sharp mind and a kind heart. We, from awesome.club🇧🇷 we are in love with Divina Sarah and, therefore, we cannot resist telling you more about her. Check out!

Sarah Bernhardt was born in Paris in 1844. She is the oldest person to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The actress is followed by Thomas Edison, who was born in 1847. Sarah Bernhardt’s real name is Henriette-Rosine Bernard. Little Henriette’s mother was a very attractive woman and led her life as a concubine who always wanted rich men. Among her admirers was Napoleon III’s cousin, Charles de Morny. He paid for his daughter’s education at a prestigious school in a monastery. Initially, young Sarah wanted to become a nun, but from time to time she violated the rules of the place. For example, when the girl’s beloved pet lizard died, she had it buried in accordance with Christian tradition, which aroused the ire of the nuns.

The idea of ​​becoming an actress came thanks to the Duke of Morny, who invited Sarah to watch a play. Coincidentally, Alexandre Dumas, a friend of the Duke, was also present at the show. She was so moved by the play that she burst into tears. This angered her mother and Charles de Morny, but Dumas reassured the child and predicted a great future for her as an actress. The debut of the young actress cannot be called successful. The girl panicked and found that she had stage fright. And some viewers laughed at her because of her thinness. Sarah’s early life on stage was not easy. Once, she invited her younger sister to one of the theater staff’s parties. The girl, however, accidentally stepped on the train of the lead actress’s dress. Because of this, the star pushed the child hard. Sarah, upon seeing this, slapped her sister’s assailant. And the artist demanded that she be removed from the performances.

Away from the theater, Sarah traveled to Brussels in 1864. There, she met Charles-Joseph Eugène Henri, Prince of Ligne, with whom she had a fleeting romance and ended up becoming pregnant. The aristocrat wanted to marry her, but they threatened to disinherit him if he did. As a result, the couple ended up breaking up. Sarah had her only child, Maurice, whom she gave her stage surname. Many years later, the prince offered to officially recognize his son. This meant that Maurice could be given a surname and a noble title, but the young man refused, explaining that he was already very happy to be Sarah Bernhardt’s son. In order to support herself and her son, Sarah returned to the stage. The young actress landed roles in stylized, light-hearted comedies, though she identified more with drama, even if her slender figure didn’t look as good in the opulent historical costumes. Even Alexandre Dumas, who was a big fan of the star, commented after a performance: “She has the head of a virgin and the body of a broom”. As soon as the actress changed her field of action, it was not long before she achieved overwhelming success. She was really good at playing male characters. For the role of a young troubadour in a play, Napoleon III presented Sarah Bernhardt with a diamond brooch with her initials. There are rumors that Sarah seduced every head of state in Europe, including the Pope. The actress never commented on such rumors. However, it is known that she had a warm relationship with the Prince of Wales, who later became the King of England, Edward VII; that the Danish monarch Christian IX placed a yacht at her disposal; and that Duke Frederick bequeathed him his family’s ancestral castle.

In 1873, Sarah played the lead role in the play Phedre🇧🇷 She learned and rehearsed her part in just 74 hours. Sarcey, a leading French critic of the time, wrote: “This is the most melodic voice human ears have ever heard. This woman plays with your heart, with all your guts.” The most remarkable and famous role of Sarah Bernhardt’s life was that of Margarita Gautier in the play based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas, The Lady of the Camellias🇧🇷 She acted over a thousand times in that role for the rest of her life. The audience always cried at the famous scene of Margarita’s death. The actress adored animals, and as soon as her fee increased, she began to set up a real zoo. At first she had 2 dogs and 2 turtles. During a trip through Russia, the brother of Emperor Alexander III presented her with an owl. And, returning from the tour, she bought herself a lion cub with the proceeds, whom she named Justinian. One bitterly cold winter, Sarah spent her last 2,000 francs buying bread for the town’s sparrows.

Increasingly famous and successful, Sarah also became more controversial. She had a satin casket in her house, in which she sometimes slept or just rested and rehearsed her roles. A photo of the actress in that coffin has been preserved to this day. He became part of her controversial image. Sarah Bernhardt was a very kind person. During the Franco-Prussian War, she transformed the Odéon Theatre, where she worked, into a hospital for soldiers defending Paris, which was under siege. Sarah persuaded her wealthy friends to donate supplies to the hospital, and she worked as a nurse herself. The actress also managed to get the noble ladies to remove their hats during the play so as not to obstruct the view of other spectators.

Contemporaries of the actress called her “The Divine Sarah”, and critics loved her voice and her elegance on stage. However, she didn’t just have admirers. Russian writer and playwright Anton Chekhov thought that the actress’s acting was not a gift from God, but just a perfected skill, while colleague Ivan Turgenev was convinced that her only talent was her voice. Sarah Bernhardt instantly won over the English-speaking public, who didn’t necessarily know French but understood everything thanks to the actress’s gestures and intonations. Tickets for performances with the participation of the artist in the cast cost around 40 dollars in New York, which was a great value at the time. Tickets sold out in a short time and not only the elite attended the theater. When Sarah returned from the US tour, she brought with her a trunk with $194,000 worth of gold coins. Age was a totally irrelevant factor for Sarah when it came to acting. At 56, she played the son of Napoleon Bonaparte, who was 20 years old in the plot (the actress who played the boy’s mother was 14 years younger than Sarah, by the way) and at 70 she played Juliet, who was 13 years old. in the play. Sarah Bernhardt has starred in several silent films. She played Margarita Gautier in the film adaptation of The Lady of the Camellias🇧🇷 It is said that after watching her performance on the big screen, the actress fainted and demanded that the tape be removed from the scroll. The fact is that in the theater she could easily hide her age, but in the cinema it was impossible. The star was 68 at the time.

In addition to acting talent, Sarah had an aptitude for painting. She mainly painted landscapes, especially of beaches, and in 1878, at the Paris Salon, a two-meter canvas made by the actress called “Young Woman and Death” was exposed. Sarah Bernhardt was also a sculptor, but many did not believe that she could sculpt such talented compositions. In 1876, his work Après la Tempête (After the Storm, in free translation from French) was exhibited at the Paris Salon, critics praised it, but doubted the authorship of the actress. In 1879, the sculptures were exhibited in London and were a great success.

While on tour in Germany, Sarah Bernhardt seriously injured her leg. Doctors recommended that she urgently undergo surgery, but the actress decided to continue performing as scheduled. And it cost him a leg. After the amputation, Sarah refused to wear a prosthesis and instead carried the artist in a palanquin. However, she continued acting. The scenes were set up so that the star could lie down or lean on an invisible support. During the bow at the end of the play, the actress was balancing on only one leg. And during the First World War, Sarah Bernhardt, despite her serious injury, served on the front lines. Towards the end of her life, Sarah wrote a book about acting. In it, she drew special attention to the use of the voice — which, in her opinion, is “the most important instrument for a drama actor”. She advised artists to speak through their nose a little more and train their lungs to read large passages at once.

In 1922, Sarah Bernhardt agreed to record for a film directed by Sacha Guitry. The actress, however, was weak and could no longer attend the studio, so the recordings were made directly at her home, where a whole scenario was set up. However, despite all the efforts, the production simply was not destined to go out: on March 26, 1923 “The Divine Sarah” passed away. The press reported that the actress died peacefully, in the arms of her son. When news of Sarah Bernhardt’s death reached the theater that bore her name, the stage curtains were immediately closed, bringing the play to an end. The Eagle Cub even in the first act. The public left silently and the actors, in makeup and dressed in costumes, headed to Sarah’s house to say goodbye to their great colleague.

Did you know the story of this great actress? What fact about her life caught your attention the most? Tell us in the comments section.