A marble bust of Sarah Bernhardt, by Jean-Leon Gerome, 1895, is photographed during the"Sarah Bernhardt, and the woman created the star" exhibition at the Petit Palais museum in Paris, Friday, April 28, 2023. The pioneering French stage legend Sarah Bernhardt was one of the worlds most famous women by the time of her death in 1923.
“Sarah Bernhardt was more than a famous actress. She was one of the first celebrities. She was a businesswoman, a fashion icon, a sculptor, theater director, a visionary, a courtesan. She pushed gender boundaries. By self-publicizing, she paved the way for many, including Marilyn Monroe, Greta Garbo, Madonna, Lady Gaga and Beyoncé,” said Stephanie Cantarutti, curator of the exhibit “Sarah Bernhardt: And the woman created the star.
The exhibit snakes loosely through the chronology of her life: from her beginnings on stage after Alexandre Dumas took her to the Comedie Francaise, to her most famous roles such as Joan of Arc, Phaedra and Cleopatra — showcasing the dazzling costumes worn at the Theater Sarah Bernhardt that were for Americans then an emblem of Paris at the dawn of the modern fashion industry.
She was an early influencer, dazzling Oscar Wilde, who wrote the play Salome in French for her and called her “the incomparable one." She inspired Marcel Proust. She was visited in her dressing room by Gustave Flaubert, while Mark Twain wrote: “There are five kinds of actresses: bad actresses, fair actresses, good actresses, great actresses, and Sarah Bernhardt.”
Not all was rosy — she suffered from having one lung, one kidney and later in life only one leg, but was never downtrodden. The Gothic then became her brand when she acquired a pet baby alligator at home, whom she named Ali Gaga. Ali Gaga died of liver failure because Bernhardt nourished it only on champagne, according to Cantarutti.
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