23 October: Sarah Bernhardt

Sarah Bernhardt, the French stage and later film actress known as "The Divine Sarah" might have been born on this date in 1844. It's not entirely certain today is her birthday - it could have been yesterday; but there's a good enough chance to feature her today.

1. She was born Henriette-Rosine Bernard. Her mother Judith Bernard was a Dutch Jewish courtesan, who wasn't very interested in raising a child, so the young Sarah was palmed off with a nurse and later sent to a convent boarding school.
2. It may seem surprising, given how her life turned out later, that while at school she aspired to become a nun. However, even then, she was a rule-breaker. When her pet lizard died, she arranged a Christian funeral for it, and was accused of sacrilege.
3. Although it isn't recorded who Sarah's father was, Sarah herself may well have known, since he paid for her education. When he died, however, her mother had to think of another way to get her teenage daughter off her hands. One of her lovers was Charles de Morny, half-brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, and it was his idea that she should go into acting. Sarah wasn't keen at first – she'd never even been inside a theatre although she had taken lead roles in school plays. Morny's influence made sure she got a place with a company.
4. Her debut in the title role of Racine's Iphigénie didn't go down well with critics. Provost said to her, "I can forgive you, and you'll eventually forgive yourself, but Racine in his grave never will." Others made fun of her thin figure. She ended up losing her first job. She was sacked for slapping another actress who'd bullied Sarah's sister after she'd trodden on the older actress's costume.
5. Sarah persevered in the profession however, and eventually became known for her “golden” voice. Audiences loved her, even though she was highly promiscuous for the time. Her lovers included many of her leading men, and also Victor Hugo, Edward Prince of Wales, and Charles Haas. She would have had an affair with Nikola Tesla, given the chance, but he turned her down, afraid she'd distract him from his work. Belgian aristocrat Prince de Ligne was the father of her son, Maurice, and she eventually married Aristides Damala – the model for Dracula.
6. Talking of Dracula – Sarah was in the habit of taking a coffin on tour with her and sleeping in it. She said the reminder of mortality helped her to enter the psyches of her characters.
7. As well as the pet lizard she had at school, she had a number of exotic pets as an adult - Cheetahs, Tiger and Lion cubs, a monkey named Darwin and an alligator named Ali Gaga. She'd take Ali Gaga to bed with her, but eventually killed him with kindness – his diet of Milk and Champagne eventually killed him.
8. She was the first woman to play Hamlet on film.
9. During the Franco-Prussian war she turned the Odeon theatre into a refuge for wounded soldiers, and hounded rich people and celebrities of the day to donate to it.
10. And yes, Sarah Bernhardt was the one who had her leg amputated. She injured her leg during a performance in 1906, when a stunt went wrong and she fell on the floor instead of on the mattress put there to break the fall. She never fully recovered from the injury and in 1915, the leg was amputated due to gangrene. It didn't stop her working, though. She still performed, although she was carried around in a white palanquin and gave her performances standing behind stage props which hid her leg. Even collapsing and being in a coma for an hour in 1922 didn't stop her – her first words when she woke up were, "when do I go on?"

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