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By George Newnes (1851-1910) (Players of the Day) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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Ever heard of Sarah Bernhardt? She was a French/Dutch/Jewish actress born on this date in 1845. She was a very emotional actress known for the pathos of her death scenes. At the age of 15, she bought a coffin, and sometimes she slept in it! Goodness, that really is unusual! She was often referred to as Divine Sarah. An injury forced her to have her leg amputated, and she replaced it with a wooden leg in 1915. She kept acting in roles where she was mainly seated. This French actress was known worldwide, and died in 1923.
For more information, please check out:
http://www.answers.com/topic/sarah-bernhardt
http://www.theatrehistory.com/french/bernhardt001.html
http://www.famousbirthdays.com/people/sarah-bernhardt.html
The Divine Sarah also made silent movies, which you can see on YouTube. Here's a bit from one of them. You can see she is using the old melodrama style with the large gestures, used because the theaters of her day were huge, so the actors of the time used specific poses to communicate the characters' emotions to the folks sitting way at the back of the auditorium.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=RbYnGJQ-ku0&feature=endscreen