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Sarah Bernhardt
Early Life

- Bernhardt was born in Paris as Rosine Bernardt.

She later changed her name to Sarah and added the H to her last name.
- Her mother sent her to a convent school near Versailles
- She later attended the Paris Conservatory, and then the Comdie-Franaise.
This is where her acting training and her stage debut came on Aug 11 1862
- She played the title role in Racines Iphigenie. (Lackluster reviews)
- She was asked to leave the Codemie-Francaise after she slapped another actress
across the face for shoving her younger sister during a birthday party for Moliere.

- Much of her early life is unknown because she often exaggerated stories, and
Alexandr Dumas even called her a notorious liar.

- After being expelled she went to work as a courtesan she acquired a coffin in which
she often slept because she claimed that doing so helped her understand her many
tragic roles.

- She left France and went to Beligium where she met Prince de Ligne, and became
pregnant with there son Maurice. After the birth of their son, he proposed marriage,
but his family wouldnt let it happen, and so the relationship ended.

Career

- After her short break from the theatre, she got a contract with Thtre de LOdon in
1866.

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- When the Franco-Prussian War broke out, she converted the theatre into a makeshift
hospital and treated the wounded inside.

- In the 1870s she really began to make her career in Europe.

- She went on a US and Cananda tour in 1880-1881. She later toured South America,
and the South Pacific. By 1914 she was making her 9th American tour.

- While she wasnt traveling she took over the Theatre de la Renaissance
producer-director-star from 1893 to 1899.
- In 1899 she took over the Theatre Des Nations and renamed it the Theatre Sarah
Bernhardt

On May 20th of this year she premiered in the title role of Hamlet, a controversial
decision, but she was ultimately met with rave reviews.

- in 1910 she appeared as Judas in John Wesley De Kay's Judas. It was a

scandalous look at Jesus, Judas, and the prophets, and was banned after its opening
performance in New York.
- In 1905 Bernhardt injured her right knee when jumping off the parapet in the final
scene in Rio de Janeiro. The leg never healed properly. By 1915, gangrene set in and
her entire right leg was amputated;
- She continued her career, sometimes without using a wooden prosthetic limb, which
she did not like. She carried out a successful tour of America in 1915, and on
returning to France she played in her own productions almost continuously until her
death.

Film Career
- Bernhardt was one of the pioneer silent movie actresses, debuting as Hamlet in the
two-minute long film Le Duel d'Hamlet in 1900.
- She went on to star in 10 films in all.
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These included Sarah Bernhardt Belle-Isle (1912), a film about her daily life at
home.
- She died from uremia after kidney failure in 1923,

Legacy

- Foremost actress of the Victorian Era.

- First International Icon, known all over the world.
- Admirers like Makr Twain, Russian Czars and Sigmund Freud, who kept a picture of
her on his desk.

Works Cited

biography.com Editors. Sarah Bernhardt Biography. A&E Television Networks. 24 Feb.

2016
Ellenzweig, Allen. "Sarah Bernhardt At The Jewish Museum." Studies In Gender &
Sexuality 8.1 (2007): 27-36. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Feb.
2016.
Gold, Arthur and Fizdale, Robert. The Divine Sarah: A Life of Sarah Bernhardt. New
York: Knopf.

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Pauk, Barbara. "Sarah Bernhardt And The London Stage: Fame And Ideology."
Nineteenth Century Theatre & Film 37.2 (2010): 45-65. Humanities
Source. Web.
24 Feb. 2016.
"Sarah Bernhardt's Leg." History Today 65.2 (2015): 9. Academic Search Complete.
Web. 24 Feb. 2016.