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 in America, and toured in England and Denmark. The actress's touring repertoire included the performances "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, her 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 to write plays, published “Memoirs of a Single Chair” and a novelized autobiography “My double life", which reflected her mastery of words and subtle humor.
ABOUT personal life There were many legends and incredible myths about the actress. 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
Bernard Sarah
(b. 1844 - d. 1923)
The great French actress who said about herself: “I was one of the greatest mistresses of my century.”
The little girl was only nine years old when, accepting her cousin’s challenge, she tried to jump over a ditch that none of the children had been able to overcome. She smashed her face, broke her arm, was seriously hurt, but, overcoming the excruciating pain, she screamed: “I’ll do it anyway, you’ll see, no matter what, just let them try to tease me!” And all my life I will do whatever I want! This tirade, spoken in the heat of the moment, became the basis of her life and wild success, and the motto “At any cost” became her lifeline and beacon. Maybe it was thanks to this tragic event that the world received the “divine Sarah”, about whom V. Hugo said: “This is more than an actress, this is a woman...” Bernard became a legend of the theater, a sign of an entire era. And like every legend, it had its own beginning and roots.
On October 23, 1844, when Sarah was born, her mother Julie van Hard (Judith von Hard) was only sixteen. She was an incredibly beautiful Dutch Jew with golden hair. long hair. This woman was created for love. And soon after arriving in Paris, she gave birth to a frail girl. It is not known exactly who her father was. Some biographers call Morel Bernard - an officer of the French navy, others say that his name was Edward and he was either a law student or an engineer. Sarah saw her father only a few times during her childhood; he died early under unclear circumstances. And Julie van Harde turned into one of the most fashionable and highly paid kept women in Paris, a “demi-monde lady.” She had no time to take care of her child; she traveled with her lovers around Europe and shone at balls. Sarah lived with a nurse in Brittany. This nice woman had no children, and she gave all her unspent tenderness to “her Penochka.” The “Madonna-like” mother appeared only when her daughter, who was in poor health, became seriously ill. But Sarah only dreamed of being next to her. At the age of five, she jumped out of a window, broke her arm in two places and severely damaged her kneecap in order to tie her mother to her. She succeeded: for two whole years Madame Bernard and her lovers took care of the girl.
At the age of seven, Sarah was sent to Madame Fressard’s boarding school, which became for her, in her own words, “a comfortable children’s prison.” Then her home was the privileged Catholic monastery of Grand-Champ, located in Versailles. Sarah did not like to study, was not diligent, and was frail due to the tuberculosis that was destroying her lungs. Fever and fainting, accompanied by profuse hemoptysis, weakened the already weak body, but they often arose not from colds, but as a result of outbursts of “wild anger” that could not be appeased. The nuns, in order to bring the girl to her senses, threw a ladle of holy water on her head. However, Sarah was very easy-going and quickly calmed down. There was always some kind of strain in her behavior, an unconscious desire to stand out, a readiness for heroic actions. At the age of ten, she bravely pulled a four-year-old girl out of a pond overgrown with mud. She never thought about the consequences. Sarah's vivid imagination and heightened sensitivity, stuffed with Christian traditions, led her to the idea of becoming a nun. The mother believed that she and her two other illegitimate daughters (Regina died young, Zhanna became an actress) were destined for a pleasant life as highly paid courtesans. But the Duke de Morny, one of Madame Bernard's lovers, shocked by the grace of the wild cat and some external theatricality of the actions of 15-year-old Sarah, recommended sending her to the Conservatory - an acting school and took the girl to the theater for the first time.
“When the curtain slowly started to rise, I thought I was going to faint. After all, this was the curtain rising on my life,” Bernard wrote in her memoirs. It is not clear what helped the completely unprepared Sarah to pass the selection for the Conservatory - the patronage of her mother’s friends, or whether they recognized a hidden talent in her. Her external characteristics did not at all correspond to the standard of stage beauty of that time: thin as a sliver, angular, of small stature. But she had a lively face, wonderful sea-green eyes - moods and feelings played and shimmered in them, and her hands and fingers echoed them. It turned out that her fragile body could sound like music, and Dumas the Father compared her voice to “a crystal clear brook, babbling and jumping over golden pebbles.” But all this still needed to be considered, and the first thing that caught the eye was the golden mass of fluffy hair and the lack of restraint of emotions. However, now Sarah studied diligently and did not miss a single lesson. Soon the teachers started talking seriously about her tragic and comedic gifts. Sarah's only drawback throughout her theatrical career was her fear of going on stage. Even crowned with laurels, she often appeared on stage in such an excited state that she played almost subconsciously, and after the performance she fainted.
Bernard graduated from the conservatory successfully. Under the patronage of Dumas the Father and the Duke de Morny, she was accepted into the famous Comedie Française troupe. The first performance of the 18-year-old debutante in the role of Iphigenia in the play of the same name went unnoticed. This, of course, upset her, she hoped for triumph, but for herself, Sarah “irrevocably decided to become an individual at all costs,” as well as to stay in this theater forever. The last wish could not be fulfilled. Unbridled feelings and the ability to create trouble for herself were at the core of her nature. At the ceremony celebrating Moliere's birthday, Bernard, defending her sister, gave several ringing slaps to the fat diva. The debutante refused to apologize and left the theater.
Sarah worked a little in other troupes. Fame was in no hurry to come to her, but lovers began to appear, who, unlike her mother, had never supported her. There were many of them, and Bernard remained on excellent terms with all her fans even after breaking up. The first (known) man in her life was the Comte de Catri - a young, handsome, elegant lieutenant, who later held high positions in the government.
Sarah found her first love in 1864. Dumas, who patronized the actress, gave her letters of recommendation for a trip to Belgium. At one of the costume balls she met Duke Henri de Ligne. The handsome prince was so fascinated by the actress that he declared his readiness to marry her, but on the condition that she leave the theater. Sarah was in love and agreed to everything. But how could they accept a rootless actress into one of the most famous families in Brussels! She was persuaded not to ruin the life of her loved one. She named her son, born a few months after the trip, Maurice. This was the only male representative whom she loved selflessly and was sacredly faithful to him. Returning from a tour, Sarah always thought of only one thing: “My happiness awaits me there! My joy! My life! Everything, everything and even more!” Years later, Henri de Ligne invited his son to recognize him and give him his name. Maurice refused. His loving mother gave him the loudest surname of the century - Bernard.
Sarah could not be sad for a long time... Now she had one goal in front of her - a career. And again, through patronage, she was accepted into a less prestigious theater, but famous for its traditions, about which she later recalled: “Ah, Odeon! I loved this theater more than others. Yes, I could live there. Moreover, it was only there that I felt truly good. Life seemed to me endless happiness.”
Bernard worked hard on herself. On stage, a “beautifully polished skeleton”, a “stick with a sponge at the end”, with hands like “toothpicks”, turned either into a mad baroness in “Marquise de Villiers”, or into the minstrel Zanetto in “Passerby” by F. Coppe. Students admired her, gave her bouquets and dedicated long poems, but her wonderful ascent to Olympus was interrupted by the war with Germany. Having sent the entire family away from hostilities, Sarah decided to stay in besieged Paris. She turned the empty Odeon into a hospital, where she courageously played the role of a nurse. Procurement of food and firewood for the wounded during the cold winter of 1870–1871. became a test for her strength of character. Bernard kept herself in control, did not faint - the lives of other people depended on her stamina. She became a real patriot. Later, having toured half the world, Sarah carefully skirted Germany.
In October 1871, the Odeon opened a new theater season. Bernard “galloped after dreams” and expected the appearance of the Messiah. For her, it was V. Hugo and his play “Ruy Blas”. On January 26, 1872, Sarah Bernhardt stepped from the role of queen to the title of “star.” The great playwright knelt before her talent. The success was deafening. “The foggy veil that had hitherto obscured my future fell away, and I felt that I was born for glory. Until now, I was only the favorite of the students, from now on I have become the Chosen One of the Public... You can argue about me, but you cannot neglect me.”
Bernard had never had enough admirers before, but now Gustave Dore, Victor Hugo, Edmond Rostand, and Emile Zola became her admirers. How far their relationship extended, history is silent. Sarah was not left indifferent by talented men. She was a passionate lover, but she never spent herself completely. Bernard possessed a mixture of erotic and spiritual power over men and at the same time did not allow the slightest encroachment on her freedom. It was an explosive mixture that excited the stronger sex. Contemporaries claimed that she had thousands of lovers. One of the books made a bold statement that Bernard had seduced all the heads of state of Europe, including the Pope. Sarah neither confirmed nor denied anything. She really had a “special relationship” with the Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII of England, and with the nephew of Napoleon I. It is possible that only for her unprecedented talent she was showered with jewelry by the Emperor of Austria Franz Joseph, the King of Spain Alfonso and the King of Italy Umberto. The Danish monarch Christian IX gave her a yacht at her disposal, and Duke Frederik provided his family castle.
In her memoirs “My Double Life,” Sarah bypassed her personal life so as not to offend any of her fans. But word of mouth is omnipotent. Contemporaries considered Bernard to be the lover of all his theatrical partners. Each such romance lasted until the performance left the stage, and then the lover humbly migrated to the category of friends. The names most often mentioned are the wonderful actors Philippe Garnier and Pierre Berton. They wrote about Sarah and Pierre that they were so charged with their passion that they “could have lit up the streets of London” during the triumphant tour of the Comédie Française. Yes, ten years later Bernard returned to the theater where she started. Only now she was a star with whims, and the directors were forced to take them into account.
Sarah was not only a passionate woman and a talented actress, but she was also constantly driven by her impulsive and unbridled ideas. Even the air around her was electrified. “Whenever unforeseen circumstances invade my life, I involuntarily step back... and then rush headlong into the unknown... In the blink of an eye, the momentary becomes the past for me, causing in me a feeling of touching tenderness as something irretrievably lost. But I also adore what will happen. The future attracts me with its mysterious unknown.” “Mademoiselle the Rebel” (as the actress was called by her contemporaries) in the midst of rehearsals for a new play could get carried away by sculpture and stay in her studio all night long, sculpting one sculpture after another with her characteristic fervor. The famous Rodin found her works somewhat archaic, but did not deny her talent. The sculptural group “After the Storm” received an award at the exhibition in 1878 and was purchased by the “king from Nice” for 10 thousand francs. By the way, the handsome sitter who served as Rodin’s model for “Eternal Spring” was at one time Sarah’s lover. Then she became interested in painting and, instead of the prescribed treatment for anemia in fertile Menton, she went to Brittany, climbed the mountains tirelessly and did not leave the sea for hours with an easel.
Curiosity and the pursuit of thrills once led her into the basket of a hot air balloon. Sarah flew at an altitude of 2600 m, completely forgetting that spectators were waiting for her. Dressed in work clothes, she ran along with the builders and artists through the scaffolding of the mansion being built for her in the center of Paris. She went down into an underground cave during a tour in the United States to see eyeless fish. And from the famous Niagara Falls she slid down the ice on her own coat, dragging the entire troupe with her.
How could such a woman not attract men? The critic Sarsay called it “a miracle of miracles.” Therefore, Bernard was probably forgiven for all his eccentricities. True, one of the lovers turned out to be very passionate and entered the role too deeply... The magnificent Sarah and the brilliant tragic actor Jean Mounet-Sully were partners on stage and in bed for a long time. They were simply called "the couple" without mentioning their names. Jean was also one of the most beautiful artists of that time. Tender and romantic, energetic and passionate, proud and independent - a man to the core. The entire “Paris Gossip” followed their romance with delight. Jean was sincere in his feelings, and Sarah, as always, was fickle. Her betrayal hurt the actor’s pride, and in the final scene of Othello he squeezed his Desdemona’s throat so tightly that Sarah felt the world float away. The worried director was forced to lower the curtain a few minutes earlier so that the tragic ending of Shakespeare's drama would not become reality.
Everything in Bernard’s personal life and in her work was strikingly eccentric, but the actress herself never consciously worked for the public. Even Sarah’s short stature and thinness, whose waist was 43 cm, left no one indifferent. This became the theme for countless cartoons and jokes. One of them sounded like this: “Yesterday an empty carriage arrived on the Champs Elysees. Sarah Bernhardt came out of it.” And her love affairs provided special food for gossip. The actress admitted: “This mess amused me terribly. I didn’t lift a finger to attract attention to myself, but my bizarre tastes, thinness and pallor, as well as my unique manner of dressing, contempt for fashion and complete disregard for all the rules of decency made me an exceptional being.”
And Bernard was an exceptional actress. The premiere of Phaedra was a real triumph for her. Her every gesture and intonation was polished and unique. Sarah had amazing success in the play “The Foreigner” by Dumas the Son. In Parodi's "Defeated Rome", the 32-year-old actress refused the role of a young vestal virgin and sought the image of 70-year-old Postumia - an old blind and noble Roman woman. Bernard finally won the hearts of the audience in 1877, playing Doña Sol in “Hernani” by V. Hugo. The author wrote after the triumphant premiere: “You were charming in your greatness... When the touched and enchanted spectators applauded you, I cried. I give you these tears that you have drawn from my chest, and I bow before you.” Attached to the letter was a chain bracelet with a teardrop-shaped diamond pendant.
Bernard has long become cramped within the confines of one theater. After the unsuccessful production of “The Adventuress,” she wrote to the director: “This is my first failure at Comedy, and it will be my last.” They tried to keep her, but, having paid a penalty of 100 thousand francs, she left the theater in 1880, immediately entering into a long contract to tour the USA and Canada. Before leaving, Sarah tested her strength with the troupe, in which her sister Jeanne also played, touring England, Belgium and Denmark. The tour was dubbed “28 days of Sarah Bernhardt.” Success accompanied her in America. With nine performances, she visited 50 cities and gave 156 performances. Her performance and endurance seemed limitless.
There were no language barriers for Bernard. She would have been understood even if she spoke Chinese. The best actress in France had to be protected from an enthusiastic public. Sarah toured Australia, South America, nine times in the USA and three times in Russia (1881, 1892, 1908). Theater critics were wary of her refined acting style, and the audience was shocked by the depth of the feelings spilling out. In St. Petersburg in 1881, Sarah met a diplomat of Greek origin, Aristidis (Jacques) Damala. This conqueror of women's hearts, as his acquaintances aptly put it, was a cross between Casanova and the Marquis de Sade. Sarah was captured by his charm. Damala was nine years younger than her, very handsome, capricious, self-confident and too corrupted by the attention of women. Bernard was so in love that she even married him (1882). Aristides “for her sake” left his service and joined his wife’s troupe. He had zero stage abilities, other than external ones, but Sarah believed in his genius. Her husband shamelessly cheated on her with young actresses, incurred huge gambling debts, which she meekly paid, and then became addicted to drugs. Sarah stubbornly tried to save her lover and somehow, in a fit of anger, even broke an umbrella on the head of the insatiable pharmacist who was selling this potion. Everything was to no avail. Having spent only a few months in marriage, Bernard carefully looked after her ex-husband until the end of his days - he died from cocaine and morphine in 1889. This unsuccessful marriage brought such mental discord into the actress’s life that she was able to normalize her condition only through work and, of course, new fans.
Now playwrights wrote plays under Bernard. The first was A. Dumas the son with his famous “Lady of the Camellias”. V. Sardou created for her “Fedora”, “Tosca”, “The Witch”, “Cleopatra”; Rostand - “Princess Dreaming”, “Eaglet”, “Samaritan Woman”. Sarah willingly appeared on stage in male roles: Zanetto in The Passerby, Lorenzaccio in Musset's play of the same name. With her characteristic chic and elegance, she played Shakespeare's Hamlet, and at the age of 56 she appeared on stage as the twenty-year-old prince, Napoleon's son in The Eaglet.
During foreign tours, the actress earned fabulous fees, but her extremely extravagant lifestyle and sympathetic heart reduced her income to nothing. Social receptions, chic outfits (including stage ones), banquets with the most exquisite dishes for guests (she herself ate very little) alternated with comradely help to distressed artists. In 1904, Sara, together with Enrico Caruso, gave a number of charity concerts to help Russian soldiers wounded during the war with Japan. During the First World War, Bernard, after amputation of her leg, performed at the front, and on the trip she was accompanied by the famous French general Ferdinand Foch. Her mercy extended to our smaller brothers. One cold winter, Sarah bought two thousand francs of bread to feed the hungry Parisian sparrows.
Bernard loved animals immensely; there was a real zoo in the house and garden. Dumas the son recalled how one day a puma met him instead of his mistress and chewed his straw hat, and then a large cockatoo parrot flew in, sat on his shoulder and began pecking at buttons. Sarah returned from her first tour in England with a “very funny cheetah,” a snow-white wolfhound, six lizards and a chameleon. She really wanted to use the money she received from selling her sculptures and paintings to buy two lion cubs. But I had to settle for the cheetah. Considering that the house was inhabited by four dogs, a boa constrictor, falcons and a monkey, this menagerie could successfully sell tickets. But Sarah was not mercantile - friends and neighbors received this pleasure for free.
The energy from the actress’s fragile body was in full swing. Her own troupe was not enough for her; she dreamed of her own theater. In 1898, the Sarah Bernhardt Theater opened on Place Chatelet, which she headed until 1922. The years could not pacify her youthful passion and thirst for life. During one tour of America, 66-year-old Sarah met an American of Dutch origin, Lou Tellegen. He was 35 years younger than his beloved. Their relationship lasted four years, and Tellegen admitted that it was “the most best years"in his life.
Bernard, despite her age, remained the same flirtatious woman, confident in her charm. In one play, her heroine was 38 years old, and her brother was over 40. When she learned that the actor playing him was 50, she exclaimed in horror: “My God, he will be mistaken for my father.” Sarah herself has already turned 76 years old. The great Bernard was young at heart and believed that she looked the part. She was sick so often as a child that doctors said the girl would not live long. After hearing the verdict, Sarah persuaded her mother to buy her a coffin so that she would not be put “in some freak.” This famous mahogany coffin accompanied her even on tour. In it, she learned roles, took pictures, slept, and sometimes invited her fans to make love in this narrow nest. True, not everyone in such a situation was able to prove their masculine strength.
And Bernard had enough strength for everything. After the flight to hot air balloon she wrote a charming short story “Among the Clouds”, then two manual novels for artists - “The Little Idol” and “The Red Double” and four plays for the theater (Andrienne Lecouvreur, Confession, The Heart of a Man, Theater on the Field honor"). At the age of 54, Bernard became the first great actress who dared to appear on the screens of Paris in the scene of Hamlet's Duel. She didn't like the way she looked on screen. Even skillfully applied makeup in close-up revealed her years (it was not so visible from the stage), and the synchronized sound distorted her still marvelous voice beyond recognition. The next attempt - a film adaptation of the play "Tosca" - was so terrible that Sarah, together with the playwright
V. Sardou got the Film d’art film studio to stop showing the film. After the first failures, Bernard did not want to act in films. But she was forced to do this in order to pay the gambling debts of her beloved son. Creditors kept her in a cruel grip for the rest of her life. And she starred in The Lady of the Camellias and Queen Elizabeth (both 1912). After the worldwide success of these films with her participation, Andrienne Lecouvreur, The French Mothers (1915) and His Best Deed (1916) were released.
The courage of this actress and woman is admirable. While still on tour in 1905, she injured her knee, which was already injured in childhood. The pain tormented her. In 1915, she begs her doctor to amputate her leg: “...If you refuse, I will shoot myself in the knee and then I will force you to do it.” The operation was difficult. The leg was amputated well above the knee. Sarah refused crutches and burned her prosthesis in the fireplace. She was carried onto the stage in an elegant stretcher. Bernard played while sitting, and the viewer saw that there was no limit to her talent and vital forces... The motionless body was replaced by hands and expressive, as always, carefully made-up fingers. The voice flowed, captivating with its timbre and rhythm. Sarah subconsciously either speeded up or slowed down the pace. It seemed that the audience was breathing in time with her speech. This small, fragile heroic woman was more worthy of the Legion of Honor (1914) than any man. It has become the national pride of France and its symbol, like the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe.
In 1923, Sarah agreed to play in the film “The Seer,” but a severe attack of uremia interrupted rehearsals. It seemed as if all of Paris had crowded around her house. And the unpredictable Bernard, sensing the approach of death, which the doctors predicted for her almost from birth, in her last hours on earth was busy selecting six young beautiful artists. They had to accompany this eternally young, passionate and uniquely talented woman on her final journey. She arranged her departure from life with her characteristic eccentricity and chic. On March 26, 1923, at 8 o’clock in the evening, the doctor opened the window and announced: “Madame Sarah Bernhardt has died…”
Shortly before the First World War, the writer Octave Mirbeau asked the actress when she would stop illuminating her life with the flame of love. Sarah, without hesitation, answered that when she stops breathing. What else could a woman who called herself “one of the greatest mistresses of her century” say?
This text is an introductory fragment.SARAH We are approaching an era filled with harsh lessons and painful memories. Nicolas is no longer the first dancer of Auxerre, the favorite of Madame Parangon, the beloved of eleven thousand virgins and - to one degree or another - martyrs called Jeannette Rousseau, Marguerite Paris,
Sarah Bernhardt. The goddess blinded by love Sarah Bernhardt was born into a poor Jewish family. Her mother, the beautiful Judith von Hard, fled from Rotterdam, where she lived with her family, to Paris. The woman did not take any savings with her, thinking that it was great
BERNARD, MY COMRADE Camp IV. April 30. Today, as usual, we wake up at 6 o’clock. We take turns getting dressed. Breakfast is perhaps more substantial, to the extent that we can swallow something other than liquids. Radio communication at 8 o'clock, exit scheduled for 8 o'clock 30 minutes. On our shoulders
Henri Bernard Duclos Chekhov, whom his compatriots consider one of the most Russian among Russian writers, seems to us, the French, the closest, the most Western of them. A sense of dignity without a shadow of arrogance, a courageous acceptance of life without a shadow of nihilism,
CHAPTER 2. MARINA AND SARAH BERNARD. TRANSLATOR OF HERACLITUS NILENDER. MEETING WITH ANDREY BELY. MARINA'S LETTER. GOLENISHCHEV'S EGYPTIAN COLLECTION. MARINA AND DAD I studied at home. I don’t remember the teacher for school subjects; an elderly French woman gave me literature lessons: I got carried away
Friend Bernard “You need to meet my friend from the Sorbonne,” Florence Malraux told François Nurisier, whom she met in propaedeutics classes. In 1951, when he was twenty-three, he published his first novel, Gray water", Name
2006/09/16 Saint Bernard In the Church of Saint Louis, I try to sit so as not to catch the eye of the statue of Bernard of Clairvaux. But I still get caught. Wherever I sit, Saint Bernard finds me everywhere and begins to glare at me from under his brows, squinting slightly
2007/05/04 Saint Bernard - And who is this guy next to the king? Is this his grandfather? Vladka likes to go to church with me. I don’t know what attracts her more - the abundance of children with whom she can meet after the service; the quiet, festive solemnity reigning inside, humbling
Bernard Sarah (b. 1844 - d. 1923) The great French actress who said about herself: “I was one of the greatest mistresses of my century.” The little girl was only nine years old when she, having accepted the challenge of her cousin, tried to jump over a ditch that no one could overcome
Gilbert Sarah Sarah Gilbert plays Dr. Leslie Winkle, an optical physicist and Sheldon's punishment woman who had affairs with both Leonard and Howard. Sarah Gilbert herself has maintained a romantic relationship for many years with the creator of the series, Chuck Lorre, with whom she started
“Sarah” of the McPike Mansion was built by Henry McPike, a house that from 1869 to this day has never ceased to excite paranormal enthusiasts and all residents of Alton, Illinois. However, despite the fact that the building was supposed to be guarded
SARAH MALCOLM The first signs of this success appeared even when the paintings were painted and the engravings were just beginning to be cut. At that time, William Hogarth's relationship with Thornhill remained very uncertain and strained, and young Mrs. Hogarth, along with her
17 April 2012, 13:27The great French actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) always surrounded herself with secrets. Even in her memories there are so many unsaid things that true story The life of the famous actress, who became, in fact, the first superstar, can be traced with great difficulty. Sarah Bernhardt was happy with this situation, it was not for nothing that she even said: “I don’t know everything about myself.” During the period of her stage fame, and it was extremely long, performances with the participation of Sarah Bernhardt were always sold out. Sarah Bernhardt was the idol of the audience, the queen of the theater and a recognized master of shocking. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, a kind of bohemian chaos reigned in Sarah Bernhardt's apartment. The actress took an extraordinary approach to decorating the interiors of her home. She “decorated” her apartment with stuffed birds holding skulls in their beaks. Even the choice of pets was ambiguous: in addition to traditional cats and dogs, the actress acquired a monkey; a cheetah, a white Irish wolfhound and chameleons lived in the garden. In Sarah Bernhardt's bedroom there was a real coffin with a thick mattress made from love letters. The story of this “interior detail” is as follows”... Sarah Bernhardt’s mother was a courtesan and prepared her daughter for this profession, but the girl refused this role, although she considered it very profitable. Doctors gave little Sarah a terrible verdict - tuberculosis. Then the girl persuaded her mother buy her a beautiful coffin so that she wouldn’t be put in some “ugly place.” It was this coffin that accompanied her, now an adult woman, on all her trips. 
However, despite the pessimistic forecasts of doctors, Sarah lived a very long and eventful life. In the coffin, Sarah Bernhardt rested, read, and learned new roles. She posed for photographers in this coffin, making sinister jokes during the photo shoot. 
There were rumors in Paris that Sarah Bernhardt indulged in lovemaking in her coffin. It was rumored that not all of her lovers were satisfied with such a strange bed. When her sister visited her, Sarah gave her her bed, and she moved into the coffin for the night. As the actress explained, two beds would not fit in her bedroom anyway. Of course, the ominous bed became a reason for gossip. Seeing the actress in the coffin, her manicurist ran out of the room in horror. The actress called another episode related to the coffin “tragicomic.” After the death of her sister, the coffin with the deceased stood in the bedroom until the undertakers arrived. When they finally appeared and saw the two coffins, they were embarrassed and were about to send for the second hearse, but Sarah, who at that moment was reviving her mother, overtook them and defended her beloved deathbed. Her eccentric antics were the enduring “spite of the day.” During the 1878 World's Fair, Sarah ventured into a hot air balloon, breakfasting on goose pate and champagne at an altitude of 2,300 m. This is how caricaturists captured her flight - Sarah Bernhardt reclines in a languid pose in the famous coffin, replacing the basket of a hot air balloon. They said that Bernard seduced almost all the heads of European states. Among her admirers were the heir to the English throne, who later became King Edward VII, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, King Alfonso of Spain, King Umberto of Italy, and King Christian IX of Denmark. And when they asked who the father of her son Maurice was, she answered light-heartedly: “Who knows, maybe Hugo, or maybe Mirbeau.” 
What kind of poisoned arrows did rumor send her! What a rumor, I.S. himself. Turgenev wrote about her: “I cannot 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 lovely voice. Is it really possible that no one will tell her the truth in print?..” Sarah Bernhardt generally toured a lot. She was in the USA only 9 times. There was no language barrier for her. American journalists wrote that if Bernard had played in Chinese, the public would still have flocked to her performances. 
before the start of Sarah's performance... They say that, having met Theodore Roosevelt (she dined with him during a tour in America in 1892), Sarah summed up: “Oh, this man and I could rule the world perfectly!” And she was not far from the truth, since she never followed accepted laws - she established them. Sarah Bernhardt came to Russia three times. The public greeted her enthusiastically. The actress was invited to the Winter Palace. After the performance, she was introduced to Alexander III. Sarah Bernhardt was about to curtsy. The king stopped her: “It is I, madam, who must bow to your high art.” She was independent, ambitious and absolutely fearless. She didn't care about the opinions of others. To all the “don’ts” of her time, she asked the only question: “Why?” Sarah claimed that if she were a man, she would fight duels all the time. She shot a pistol accurately, fenced well, and rode a horse superbly. 
The huge earnings that Sarah Bernhardt's foreign tours brought gave her the opportunity to lead a luxurious lifestyle. Banquets and social receptions followed literally one after another. Guests were treated to exquisite and, accordingly, expensive food. Sarah Bernhardt strictly punished the cooks for the slightest omission. And her cooks didn’t stay long. The servants also got it. Sarah could hit a maid she didn't like with the first thing she could get her hands on. However, she was quick-witted. And, having calmed down, she compensated for the moral, and even physical damage, with a valuable gift. Sarah Bernhardt was a multi-talented and enthusiastic person. She wrote novels, stories, plays, and critical articles. She studied painting and sculpting. Her sculptures were exhibited at the annual Paris Salon. The audience was delighted. True, the great Rodin called the sculptural works of Sarah Bernhardt outright hackwork. And the public is a fool. Sarah Bernhardt was not offended. In everything else that did not relate to the theater, she considered herself an amateur. She just did what she liked. Nothing more. 
She visited an anatomical specialist, worked on the construction site of her own house, tamed a tiger, euthanized herself with chloroform, personally cared for the wounded in her hospital... “I have to survive this. “By all means,” Sarah repeated her catchphrase. Sarah Bernhardt was not inclined to hide anything. Including years. She believed that even her advanced age did not prevent her from looking young. They say that in one of the plays Sarah was supposed to play a woman of 38 years old. A fifty-year-old actor was invited to play the role of her brother. “He might be mistaken for my father,” 76-year-old Sarah was sincerely indignant. When the actress was in her eighties, her leg was amputated due to an injury during a tour in Rio de Janeiro. But the very next year she went on tour to the USA again. At her request, the posters read: “Come see the oldest woman in the world!” Sarah Bernhardt not only rehearsed her funeral in advance, in every detail, but also informed the press about all the preparations. When the great actress died (she was 78 years old), her last order was to choose the six most beautiful young actors who would carry her coffin. When asked when she was going to stop lighting her life with the flame of love, Bernard replied: “When I stop breathing.” She set off on her last journey, spectacularly and elegantly, on March 26, 1923. Tens of thousands of admirers of Sarah Bernhardt's talent followed her famous pink coffin across the city - from Boulevard Malesherbes to the Père Lachaise cemetery. 
The French said that they have three attractions in their country - the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower and Sarah Bernhardt.
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French actress of Jewish origin. She graduated from the drama class of the Paris Conservatory (1862). She worked in the theaters “Comédie Française”, “Gimnaz”, “Port Saint-Martin”, “Odeon”. In 1893 it acquired the Renaissance Theater, and in 1898 the theater on Place du Châtelet, which was named the Sarah Bernhardt Theater (now the French Theater de la Ville). Many outstanding theater figures, for example K. S. Stanislavsky, considered Bernard's art a model of technical excellence. However, Bernard combined virtuoso skill, sophisticated technique, and artistic taste with deliberate showiness and a certain artificiality of play. Among the best roles: Doña Sol (“Ernani” by Hugo), Marguerite Gautier (“The Lady of the Camellias” by Dumas the Son), Theodora (Sardou’s play of the same name), Princess Greuse, Duke of Reichstadt (in the play of the same name and “The Little Eaglet” by Rostand), Hamlet (Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name), Lorenzaccio (Musset's play of the same name). Since the 1880s Bernard toured many countries in Europe and America, performed in Russia (1881, 1892, 1908-09) within the walls of the Mikhailovsky Theater and in the provinces. In 1922 she left stage activities. |
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 a fictitious 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. 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. She left Grand Chan Bernard 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. Extraordinary beautiful voice, the cat's plasticity, expressive appearance - all these features forced people to 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 at 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 Comedy Francaise 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 did have a “special relationship” with the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) and with Prince Napoleon, the nephew of Napoleon I, whom George 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” in a hot air balloon, then, finally, she receives the interviewer while 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 limited square footage. 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 of a woman’s 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, indeed, 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.
The entire life of the brilliant Sarah Bernhardt can be called a series of roles played. And we're not just talking about the theater stage. Sarah loved to play the roles of temptresses, rebels, brawler. The public idolized her, accepting the actress in any guise. Read on in the review about the four main roles in the life of the great prima of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Role 1: daughter of a courtesan 
Sarah Bernhardt with her mother Judith Bernard.
At birth, the future theater star was named Rosin by her mother, like a cute dog that always gets underfoot. But that’s pretty much how it was. Judith Hart did not want to have children. Her daughter was born from an accidental relationship between a courtesan and one of her many lovers.
The charming cutie from Rosin-Sara did not work out. She caused a lot of trouble for her nannies. The girl was constantly ill, which is why she was often capricious, expressively expressing her feelings. 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 talisman for the actress, which she will carry with her everywhere, learning roles in it and posing for photographers. 
Sarah Bernhardt. Marie Desire Bourgoin, 1869.
When the girl grew up, her mother, wanting to get rid of her, sent her to a boarding school at the Grand-Champs monastery. The nuns loved the eccentric and disobedient Sarah, but they could not withstand her antics for long, fearing that the girl’s behavior would have a detrimental effect on the rest of the 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 a monastery. The mother's lover, the Duke de Morny, who observed this scene, burst out laughing and offered to send the girl to study acting.
Role 2: actress 
Sarah Bernhardt after her debut in the theater (1863).
Sarah Bernhardt dreamed of shining on the stage of the Comedie Française theater. Being a graduate of the Paris Conservatory and having good recommendations, she was invited to play one-time roles in the theater. At the agreed time, Sarah came to the director to discuss the details of the work. I went into the office with her younger sister Regina. Sarah took care of her, remembering how she herself was deprived of maternal love. One day, a 6-year-old girl began jumping around the room, making noise and throwing paper around. In an attempt to pacify the child, the theater director received an unexpected answer: “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 Bernhardt as Grismonda. Hood. Clarine Georg Jules Victor.
Sarah had to forget about Comedy Francaise for a whole year. After a while, she finally appeared on the stage of the theater. Her first performance did not create a sensation. At that time, plump actresses were in fashion, and Sarah Bernhardt did not fit these standards at all. The public immediately dubbed her a “well-polished skeleton.” And only the critic Francis Sarce wrote that a great future awaits this actress.
At Comedy Française, Sarah lasted only until the end of her contract. The younger sister “contributed” to this again. Regina, as always, got underfoot and stepped on the train of the theater's elderly prima. She pushed the child away, and the girl broke her face. In response to this, Sarah Bernhardt attacked the actress with her fists. After that, she was no longer offered to stay. 
Sarah Bernhardt - famous actress late XIX - early XX centuries.
The next 4 years were difficult in the life of the actress. She changed theaters, countries, men. Not wanting to become a courtesan, the actress got a job at the second most popular Parisian theater, the Odeon. It was there that Sarah Bernhardt became a real star. They bowed before her famous writers, sculptors, artists. Wealthy officials showered Sarah with jewelry.
After 10 years, the actress returned to the Comedy Française. Now she played only leading dramatic roles. The audience was delighted. In addition, Sarah Bernhardt did everything to get people talking about her. Newspapers constantly published news about the latest escapade of the outrageous star, be it the purchase of a panther, a trip in a hot air balloon, or an interview in a coffin. 
Sarah Bernhardt is a French actress.
From fame and universal adoration, Sarah Bernhardt's behavior became more and more unpredictable. The public continued to storm the theater, wanting to see their favorite actress, but the management could no longer tolerate her antics. In the end, Sarah decides to leave the Comédie Française and opens her own theater.
Role 3: mistress 
Portrait of Sarah Bernhardt. Clarine Georg Jules Victor, 1871.
Sarah Bernhardt literally drove men crazy with her acting. They wrote that the actress managed to seduce almost all the monarchs of Europe and even the Pope. Sarah 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 giving up 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 breaking up with the prince, she gave birth to a son, Maurice. It was he who became main love her life. 
Sarah Bernhardt is a French actress.
Sarah Bernhardt had affairs all the time, but she did not fall in love, but rather stroked her vanity, reveling in her power over men. The star herself recalled the time when she lived with her courtesan mother: “My mother’s house was always full of men, and the more I saw of them, the less I liked them.”
Role 4: aging prima 
Sarah Bernhardt as Pierrot.
When Sarah Bernhardt turned 60, her leg was amputated. As a child, Sarah jumped out of a window, begging her mother to take her away from her nanny. Then the girl injured her knee. The second time the actress fell from the set without a safety net. After that, she endured excruciating pain and eventually begged doctors to amputate her leg. But this did not stop the actress from continuing to perform.
At the age of 65, Sarah Bernhardt played a 20-year-old boy in the play “The Eaglet.” She was already a plump woman with a terrible prosthesis, but the audience continued to applaud her. “I will continue to live the way I lived. Until I stop breathing,” that’s what the aging actress said. Even at 78 years old, she managed to play 13-year-old Juliet. 
Sarah Bernhardt in a coffin.
Anticipating her death, 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 entire road was strewn with camellias, which the actress loved so much.