Nothing could stop her passion for acting, not even a leg amputation. Until her death, she played the fatal main characters in the theater without getting up from her chair during the entire play.
Scandals have always been circulating around her. There was always applause and applause in front of her. She became a theater legend with whom generations of actors have been compared for decades.
She was quite unique. A proud woman with a lot of passion and zero shame.
Some were not surprised by her shamelessness and unscrupulousness. They said that she was of shameless origin, because she was one of the illegitimate daughters of the seamstress and courtesan Julie Bernard.
At first, she bore the epithet "little ugly fool", which did not promise a great career, but the wheel of fortune turned in her favor.
Sarah was born on October 22, 1844. Julie did her best not to follow in Sarah's footsteps, so she sent her to a Catholic school from the age of five. At the age of 13, Sara returned to Paris and got a job as a teacher in several rich houses that could afford it. After working for several years, Sara enrolled in high school music. There she enjoyed learning to sing, play and act.
Although she loved music, in the nineteenth century artists were socially completely unprotected and in fact courtesans belonged to a higher class than them. They had a chance to go down in history because they got the lead roles, so it became clear to Sarah how to become popular and famous.
Sara was also very lucky - her mother had many influential acquaintances. Among her clients were the famous writer Alexander Dima the Father and the Duke de Morney. It was they who helped Sarah start her career by securing her a place at the Comedie Francaise, a legendary theater also known as the House of Moliere.
The eighteen-year-old girl immediately debuted in the lead role in one of Racine's classic plays and fully justified the trust of her protectors. Sarah was very much liked by the audience. Beautiful, tall, impeccable diction, enchanting voice.
Contemporaries claimed that her voice enchants, excites and drives people crazy. After the praise of the famous writer Victor Hugo, she soon became "immortal and divine", the genius of the French stage.
She acted in various theaters in Paris, as well as in her own, which she later opened. She is celebrated as the greatest dramatic artist of her time.
She first appeared in the film in "Hamlet's Duel", playing a male role - Hamlet himself, and later many more film achievements followed, because her very appearance ensured commercial success, so the directors fought for her. One of the first successful feature films, "Queen Elizabeth" from 1912, was played by Sara in the lead role.
After beginning her theatrical career in 1862, Sarah left France and went to Belgium, where she became the mistress of Prince Henry, to whom she gave birth to an illegitimate child - son Maurice (1864). After the birth of his son, the prince wanted to marry her, but his family forbade it and forced Sara to disappear from their lives forever.
She was successful in painting and sculpting. She studied painting with famous masters, and exhibited at numerous exhibitions. About 25 of her sculptures have been preserved.
Sarah Bernard despised journalists, but she loved animals very much. She owned dogs, cats, birds, turtles, and even a lion, as well as six chameleons. She begged her personal doctor to sew a real tiger tail for her and was disappointed when he explained to her that it was impossible.
After the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, she stopped performing and turned the theater into a hospital, where she worked as a nurse and cared for wounded soldiers.
In 1899, it took over the Théâtre des Nations and renamed it the "Sara Bernard Theater". She inaugurated it with one of her best performances ever, starring in the play "La Tosca" by Victorien Sardo.
On May 20, the premiere of her most controversial role, Shakespeare's "Hamlet" adapted in prose, written by Eugene Morand and Marcel Schwab, was held. The play delighted critics despite lasting four hours. Then, Sara gained the reputation of a serious dramatic artist and became one of the most famous actresses of the 19th century. She managed her theater until her death, when it was taken over by her son Maurice. After his death in 1928, the theater kept its name until the German occupation in World War II when it was changed to the Théâtre de la Cité, due to Sarah's Jewish origins.
Sarah as a muse of a time
Sara also enchanted the famous Czech painter and the most important artist of the Art Nuvo movement, Alfons Muhu, who immortalized her in 1894 on a poster for the Lady with Camellias.
When she visited New York, the famous scientist Thomas Edison noticed her and was interested in her, but Sara became interested in Nikola Tesla. Accustomed to no one refusing her invitations and the opportunity to see her, she was surprised when Tesla said that the actress' presence disturbed him and separated him from work, so it was better not to see each other.
She always carried a suitcase full of love letters with her and sometimes she would spill them on the bed and lie down to sleep over them. She had numerous admirers among celebrities such as Marcel Proust, Prince of Wales, former King Edward VII. Among the biggest fans, Aleksandar Dima Sin stood out, who, torn between love and hate, called her a notorious liar. She also had numerous lovers, but in 1882 she decided to marry the actor Aristides Damalu, who was eleven years younger, and who died at the age of 34 as a morphine addict. She delighted the Danish audience so much that, in addition to the standing ovations they prepared for her, they named one treat in her honor Sarah Bernard's cake.
It was so popular in Denmark that a delicacy called Sara Bernard's Cake was created in that country.
The end of her career did not exist for her
In 1905, performing at the theater in Rio de Janeiro, Sara seriously injured her right knee while performing the final scene of the play La Tosca, which involved jumping from the parapet. That wound was never completely healed, but Sara continued to suffer pain and continued to act. Ten years later, gangrene occurred and Sarah had her right leg amputated. That didn't stop her either - she continued her career using a prosthesis during the performance, she played fatal main characters in plays without getting up from her chair. She did so until her death in Paris on March 2, 1923, at the age of 78 from severe renal failure.
Sarah Bernard has her star on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the Belgrade neighborhood of Sremcica, there is a street that bears her name.
It's really terrible that people always makes fun and bullied to every people. Good thing is i didn’t know about sarah. Now i know a lots. Your every post always informative