The First Actress
Page 40
In 1907, she was awarded the Légion d’honneur for her work as a theater director, not as an actress. The acting award depended on the recipient’s moral character, and Sarah was deemed unfit due to her numerous love affairs and controversial roles. Regardless of the criticism leveled against her, French journalists often depicted her as the heroic embodiment of patriotism, and she remained beloved in her native country.
Sarah was one of the first actresses to star in motion pictures. For her film debut, she performed a scene from her famous London stage production as Hamlet. Her son, Maurice, made a phonograph recording, making the film one of our first sound movies. In 1908, she filmed La Tosca, which has sadly been lost. She also filmed her signature role as La Dame aux Camélias, a financial and critical success. In 1912, she filmed scenes from a play about Queen Elizabeth I, in which she performed the role of the Earl of Essex; the hand-tinted print made it one of history’s first colorized films. Sarah’s ability to embody both male and female roles, coupled with her fascination with emerging media, exemplified her pioneering spirit and fearless quest for challenge, as well as her lifelong disdain for time-honored tradition.
She also starred in two documentaries, including one about her daily life. Many years before reality television became an entertainment staple, Sarah was the first celebrity to invite the public into her home. In 1914, she made a propaganda film to encourage the United States to enter World War I.
Sarah’s memoir Ma Double Vie (My Double Life) was published in 1907. While given to dramatic license, her writing exudes her charismatic flair. She authored six other books, among them her children’s story of the talking chair and a treatise on the art of the theater. She continued to sculpt and paint throughout her life, holding exhibitions at the Paris Salon and in London, New York, and Philadelphia. Many of her artworks are still on display in museums in France, England, and the United States.
She also performed in her self-named theater in Paris, which was managed by Maurice until he died in 1928 at the age of sixty-three, five years after his mother. During the German occupation in the Second World War, the Nazis renamed her theater the Théâtre de la Cité because of her Jewish ancestry. Known today as the Théâtre de la Ville, its façade bears a plaque honoring Sarah’s contributions.
In the weeks before her death on March 26, 1923, Sarah was preparing for another motion picture. She passed away from kidney failure before filming began, at the age of seventy-eight. Laid to rest with the honors of a dignitary in the Père Lachaise Cemetery, she was mourned worldwide. In 1960, she was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Much of Sarah Bernhardt’s oeuvre is still performed today, while other of her signature roles have become less known. Zaïre inspired several operas. La Tosca and La Dame aux Camélias, known popularly as Camille, were both made into operas by Puccini and Verdi, respectively. Verdi’s opera, titled La Traviata, renamed Marguerite Gautier as Violetta Valéry. Since its premiere in 1853, it has remained one of our most beloved operas. La Dame aux Camélias has also been adapted for nineteen films, with the titular character played by Sarah herself, as well as María Félix, Theda Bara, Greta Garbo, and Isabelle Hubbert, and by Teresa Stratas in a sumptuous rendition of the operatic version, directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Sarah’s monumental role as Phaedra continues to be a staple in classical theater.
Although extant fragments of her filmed performances appear mannered by today’s standards, Sarah’s naturalistic approach to acting was considered nothing short of revolutionary, enrapturing audiences accustomed to artificiality on the stage. As a standard-bearer for women’s rights before the movement had a name, her daring entrepreneurship challenged systemic control over an artist’s career, as did her single motherhood, which defied social ostracization by her willing admission that she had borne her son out of wedlock. Despite her conversion to Catholicism, she always took pride in her Jewish blood and never denied it.
At the height of her fame, Sarah was earning a higher salary than her male counterparts, demanding to be paid what she was worth; she recognized her value and upheld it, anticipating our contemporary movement for equal pay and inclusion for women. During her international tours, she performed in both high-end theaters and on improvised stages in way stations along her travels, determined to make the theater accessible to everyone. Sarah detested elitism; to her, acting was an art form, and the public’s ability to enjoy it shouldn’t be reserved solely for the well-to-do.
Her searing talent and ambition, coupled with her eccentricity and joie de vivre, have cemented her legacy and her lasting influence on history and the world of acting.
* * *
—
I relied on many sources to research this novel. While the list below is not intended as a full bibliography, it comprises the works I consulted most often to portray Sarah and her world:
Agate, May. Madame Sarah. London: Benjamin Blom, 1969.
Baring, Maurice. Sarah Bernhardt. London: D. Appleton–Century, 1934.
Brandon, Ruth. Being Divine. London: Secker & Warburg, 1991.
Gold, Arthur, and Robert Fizdale. The Divine Sarah. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991.
Gottlieb, Robert. Sarah. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010.
Hough, Richard. Edward and Alexandra. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992.
Ockman, Carol, and Kenneth E. Silver. Sarah Bernhardt: The Art of High Drama. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
Richardson, Joanna. Sarah Bernhardt and Her World. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1977.
Skinner, Cornelia Otis. Madame Sarah. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1966.
Weber, Eugen. France, Fin de Siècle. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986.
IN MEMORY OF
my beloved aunt Meme
Acknowledgments
As I was revising this novel, my beautiful aunt Meme, whom I adored while growing up in Spain, passed away of lung cancer. Whenever I smell night jasmine, I think of her, as it festooned her home during my childhood. Despite many challenges in her life, Meme always had a warm smile and a loving heart for others. My aunt had always wanted to be a writer; I dedicate this novel to her indelible memory.
I also lost my ex-feral feline companion, Mommy Cat, whom I’d rescued from a park seven years ago along with her son, Boy. She died of the same ailment as Sarah. Mommy’s gentle spirit and noble courage in the face of adversity will never be forgotten. She was deeply loved and she is deeply missed.
My interest in Sarah Bernhardt first began in Spain, with my maternal grandmother, Pilar Beinart, a theatrical actress who chided me for my dramatic tendencies with the adage “Don’t be a Bernhardt.” I later learned that “being a Bernhardt” was a popular admonishment of Jewish mothers everywhere. My mother’s father, Tomás Blanco, was also a successful film and television actor, so I was naturally drawn to Sarah Bernhardt’s appeal because of my familial connection to the performing arts.
Documentation about Sarah Bernhardt is plentiful, but can be contrary. Her memoir is more fictional than autobiographical—she was notorious for embellishing the truth, especially about herself—and even her birthday is subject to debate, as her personal records were destroyed in a fire at the Hôtel de Ville. The identity of her son Maurice’s father has also never been established. While I’ve strived to stay faithful to the facts and documented personalities, I admit to certain liberties, such as shifts in time or place to facilitate the narrative, as well as the omission of certain people and events to maintain a cohesive pacing. My insight into these characters is my personal interpretation, based on what is known. Any errors I may have made are inadvertent.
My intent wasn’t to depict Sarah’s life in its entirety, as that would require two volumes or more, but rather to create a fictional portrait—based as closely as possible on the facts—of her rise to fame as one of the era’s most exceptional figures.
My editor, Susanna Porter, was the first to take a chance on me, and remains gracious and insightful in her ongoing support. My assistant editor, Emily Hartley, and copy editor Deborah Dwyer also contributed to this novel in many ways. I’m privileged to have Ballantine Books as my publisher in our very challenging marketplace.
I owe special thanks to booksellers everywhere who continue to invite me to speak at events and recommend my books.
Most of all, I thank you, my reader. Your purchases of my novels, comments on social media, emails, and appearances at my events help me to continue to pursue this oft-lonely profession. I hope I can continue to entertain you for many years to come.
Sarah’s love of animals is a motif that I share with many of my leading characters. Please do whatever you can to help save our beleaguered planet and the unique species that depend on its survival. We must never cease fighting for every animal’s right to live and thrive; without them, our Mother Earth will be a desolate place.
Thank you!
BY C. W. GORTNER
The First Actress
The Romanov Empress
Marlene
The Vatican Princess
Mademoiselle Chanel
The Queen’s Vow
The Confessions of Catherine de Medici
The Last Queen
The Tudor Vendetta
The Tudor Conspiracy
The Tudor Secret
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
C. W. GORTNER holds an MFA in writing, with an emphasis on historical studies, from the New College of California. He is the internationally acclaimed and bestselling author of The Romanov Empress, Mademoiselle Chanel, The Queen’s Vow, The Confessions of Catherine de Medici, The Last Queen, The Vatican Princess, and Marlene, among other books. He lives in Northern California. To learn more about his work and to schedule a book group chat with him, please visit his website.
cwgortner.com
Facebook and Twitter: @CWGortner and @CWGortner
Pinterest.com/cwgortner
What’s next on
your reading list?
Discover your next
great read!
Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author.
Sign up now.