Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Bernhardt, Rosine
BERNHARDT, Rosine, called Sarah, a French actress, born at Paris, Oct. 22, 1844. She is a Jewess; her mother was Dutch; her father was a Frenchman. She spent the greater part of her early life in Holland, visiting at the house of her grandfather, an Amsterdam optician. In 1858 she entered the Paris Conservatoire, became a pupil of MM. Provost and Samson, professor of elocution, gained a second prize for tragedy in 1861, and a second prize for comedy in 1862. She made her first public appearance on the stage at the Théâtre Français in Racine's "Iphigénie" and the "Valérie" of Scribe. She attracted hardly any notice, and after a brief withdrawal from the stage she reappeared at the Gymnase and the Porte Saint-Martin, in burlesque parts. In Jan. 1867 she returned to high art at the Odéon, playing several minor parts with much applause till she achieved a notable success in that of "Marie de Neuborg" in "Ruy Blas." She was thereupon recalled to the Théâtre Français, and first showed her higher power in "Andromaque" and "Junie;" but it was as "Berthe de Savigny" in the play of "Le Sphinx," performed in March, 1874, that she won the greatest applause. In 1879 she visited London with the other members of the Comédie Française, who on June 2 in that year began a series of brilliant performances at the Gaiety Theatre, under the direction of Mr. John Hollingshead. In the following year Mdlle. Bernhardt returned alone to the Gaiety, M. Coquelin, who was expected to accompany her, being prevented from doing so by his tenure at the Théâtre Français. About this time Mdlle. Bernhardt severed her connection with the Comédie Française, and was condemned to pay £4000 costs and damages for the breach of her engagement. In June, 1881, she again appeared in London at the Gaiety Theatre in "La Dame aux Camélias" for a short series of performances, and she afterwards made a most successful tour, from a pecuniary point of view, in the United States. In April, 1882, she was married in the church of St. Andrew, Wells Street, London, to M. Damala, a Greek gentleman.