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Years in film
1870s
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1890 • 1891 • 1892 • 1893 • 1894 1895 • 1896 • 1897 • 1898 • 1899
1900s
1900 • 1901 • 1902 • 1903 • 1904 1905 • 1906 • 1907 • 1908 • 1909
1910s
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1980s
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1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999
2000s
2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009
2010s
2010 • 2011 • 2012 2013 and beyond

The year 1912 in film involved some significant events.

Events[link]

• Mack Sennett, who had previously worked as an actor and comedy director with D. W. Griffith, formed a new company with New York City entrepreneur Adam Kessel called Keystone Studios. It would play an important role in developing slapstick comedy as the home to the Keystone Cops, English actor Charlie Chaplin, and others.
• July 26 - Edison Studios releases What Happened to Mary, the first ever motion picture serial.
• October 31 - The Musketeers of Pig Alley, directed by D.W. Griffith, debuts as the first gangster film.
• Edison introduces the Home Kinetoscope, a home film-projector which uses a 22 mm print consisting of three rows of frames.
• Pathé releases Pathe Kok, their first entry into the amateur market, with a gauge of 28 mm.
• Alexander F. Victor improves on the 17.5 mm format with his Duoscope, which uses two center perforations instead of the typical one.

Films released in 1912[link]

• All for a Girl
• At the Foot of the Ladder
• Aurora Floyd
• Baby Hands
• The Bandit of Tropico
• A Battle of Wits
• Beautiful Leukanida
• The Belle of Bar-Z Ranch
• A Business Buccaneer
• The Cameraman's Revenge
• Cleopatra
• Conductor 786
• The County Fair
• Conquest of the Pole
• Custer's Last Fight
• A Dash Through the Clouds
• The Deserter
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• For His Son
• Frankfurters and Quail
• From the Manger to the Cross
• Geronimo's Last Raid
• The Half-Breed's Way
• The Honor of the Family
• How a Mosquito Operates
• In Nacht und Eis
• The Independence of Romania The first Romanian feature film to run for two hours.
• The Invaders
• It Happened Thus
• Keystone Comedy
• The Land Beyond the Sunset
• The Little Girl Next Door
• Mabel's Lovers
• Maud Muller
• Das Mirakel
• The Musketeers of Pig Alley
• A New Cure for Divorce
• The New York Hat
• The Old Actor
• Oliver Twist The first American feature film to run over an hour.
• Petticoat Camp
• Pilgrim's Progress
• Please Help the Pore
• The Power of Melody
• A Primitive Man's Career to Civilization
• Put Yourself in His Place
• Quo Vadis ?
• Richard III
• Robin Hood
• Saved From the Titanic
• A Six Cylinder Elopement
• Standing Room Only
• The Star of Bethlehem
• The Street Singer
• The Tell-Tale Message
• The Thunderbolt
• An Unseen Enemy
• The Voice of Conscience
• What Happened to Mary?, starring Mary Fuller.
• When the Fire Bells Rang
• When the Heart Calls starring Lee Moran, Russell Bassett and Louise Glaum
• With Our King and Queen Through India
• With the Mounted Police
• The Young Millionaire

Births[link]

• February 3 - Mary Carlisle, actress
• February 19 - Saul Chaplin, film composer (died 1997)
• February 21 - Arline Judge, actress (died 1974)
• February 26 - Dane Clark, actor (died 1998)
• March 22 - Karl Malden, actor (died 2009)
• April 8 - Sonja Henie, Olympic ice-skater, actress (died 1969)
• April 18 - Wendy Barrie, actress (died 1978)
• May 9 - Pedro Armendáriz, actor (died 1963)
• May 18 - Perry Como, singer, actor (died 2001)
• May 23 - Marius Goring, actor (died 1998)
• May 23 - John Payne, actor (died 1989)
• May 29 - Iris Adrian, actress (died 1994)
• June 26 - Jay Silverheels, actor (Tonto) (died 1980)
• July 4 - Viviane Romance, actress (died 1991)
• July 5 - Ilona Massey, actress (died 1974)
• August 2 - Ann Dvorak, actress (died 1979)
• August 12 - Samuel Fuller, director (died 1997)
• August 15 - Wendy Hiller, actress (died 2003)
• August 23 - Gene Kelly, actor (died 1996)
• August 29 - Barry Sullivan, actor (died 1974)
• September 5 - Kristina Söderbaum, actress (died 2001)
• September 21 - Chuck Jones, animator (died 2002)
• September 23 - Martha Scott, actress (died 2003)
• September 29 - Michelangelo Antonioni, director (died 2007)
• October 11 - Betty Noyes singer/dubber
• October 31 - Dale Evans, actress (died 2001)
• November 21 - Eleanor Powell, dancer, actress (died 1982)
• November 24 - Garson Kanin, writer (died 1999)
• December 11 - Carlo Ponti, producer (died 2007)

Film Debuts[link]

• John Barrymore(?based on four unconfirmed shorts with Jack Barrymore)
• Frank Borzage - director
• Charlotte Burton
• Lon Chaney
• Lillian Gish
• Dorothy Gish
• Louise Glaum
• Mildred Harris
• Cleo Madison
• Mary Miles Minter
• Antonio Moreno
• Warner Oland
• Olga Petrova
• Victor Sjöström - director
• Frederick Warde

Deaths[link]

• April 15 – Jacques Futrelle, writer, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, (perished in the Titanic)
• April 20 – Bram Stoker, writer, Dracula
• May 14 – August Strindberg, writer, Miss Julie
• March 30 – Karl May, writer, Apache Gold
• May 19 – Boleslaw Prus, writer, Faraon
• June 1 – Philip Parmalee, actor(with Mabel Normand in A Dash Through the Clouds); pioneer aviator for the Wright Brothers
• July 1 – Harriet Quimby, writer(seven scenarios for D.W. Griffith); actress in one film; also she was a pioneer American aviatrix
• December 14 – Harry Cashman(b. June 20, 1870), comedy producer and actor for the Chicago based Essanay company

Sarah Bernhardt
Bernhardt around 1878, photograph by Paul Nadar (crop)
Born	Rosine Bernardt ca. (1844-10-22)22 October 1844[1] Paris, France
Died	26 March 1923(1923-03-26) (aged 78) Paris, France
Years active	1862–1922
Spouse	Ambroise Aristide Damala (m. 1882–1889) «start: (1882)–end+1: (1890)»"Marriage: Ambroise Aristide Damala to Sarah Bernhardt" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Sarah_Bernhardt)

Sarah Bernhardt ("French pronunciation: [sa.ʁa bɛʁ.nɑʁt]"^[2]; c. 22/23 October 1844 — 26 March 1923) was a French stage and early film actress, and has been referred to as "the most famous actress the world has ever known".^[3] Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of France in the 1870s, and was soon in demand in Europe and the Americas. She developed a reputation as a serious dramatic actress, earning the nickname "The Divine Sarah".

Early life[link]

Bernhardt was born in Paris as Rosine Bernardt,^[4] the daughter of Julie Bernardt (1821, Amsterdam – 1876, Paris) and an unknown father. Julie was one of six children of a widely traveling Jewish spectacle merchant, "vision specialist" and petty criminal, Moritz Baruch Bernardt, and Sara Hirsch (later known as Janetta Hartog; c. 1797–1829).^[5] Julie's father remarried Sara Kinsbergen (1809–1878) two weeks after his first wife's death, and abandoned his family in 1835.^[5] Julie left for Paris, where she made a living as a courtesan and was known by the name "Youle". Sara would add the letter "H" to both her first and last names. Sarah's birth records were lost in a fire in 1871, but in order to prove French citizenship, necessary for Légion d'honneur eligibility, she created false birth records, on which she was the daughter of "Judith van Hard" and "Edouard Bernardt" from Le Havre, in later stories either a law student, accountant, naval cadet or naval officer.^[5][6]

When Sarah was young her mother sent her to Grandchamp, an Augustine convent school near Versailles^[7] In 1860 she began attending The Conservatoire de Musique at Déclemation in Paris and eventually became a student at the Comédie Française where she would have her acting debut ( August 11, 1862) as the title role of Rancin’s Iphigéniie to lackluster reviews.^[8] Her time there was short lived, she was asked to resign after slapping another actress across the face for shoving her younger sister during a birthday celebration for Molière.^[9]

Much of the uncertainty about Bernhardt's life arises because of her tendency to exaggerate and distort. Alexandre Dumas, fils described her as a notorious liar.^[3]

Stage career[link]

Bernhardt photographed by Félix Nadar 1865

Bernhardt's stage career started in 1862 while she was a student at the Comédie-Française, France's most prestigious theater. She decided to leave France, and soon ended up in Belgium, where she became the mistress of Henri, Prince de Ligne, and gave birth to their son, Maurice, in 1864. After Maurice's birth, the Prince proposed marriage, but his family forbade it and persuaded Bernhardt to refuse and end their relationship.^[10]

She was not entirely successful at the conservatory, however, and left to become a courtesan by 1865. During this time she acquired her famous coffin, in which she often slept in lieu of a bed – claiming that doing so helped her understand her many tragic roles.

Sarah secured a contract at the Théâtre de L’Odéon where she began performing in 1866. Her most famous performance there was that of her travesty performance as the Florentine minstrel in François Coppé’s Le Passant (January 1869)^[11]With the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war performances were stopped and Sarah converted the theatre into a makeshift hospital where she took care of the soldiers wounded on the battlefield.^[12] She made her fame on the stages of Europe in the 1870s and was soon in demand all over Europe and in New York.^[13] In between tours Sarah took over the lease of the Théâtre de la Renaissance, which she ran as producer-director-star from 1893 to 1899.^[14] That same year Sarah played her most controversial role, a female Hamlet, in a prose version of the play she commissioned herself. The play was greeted with rave reviews despite its running time of four hours. ^[15] She developed a reputation as a serious dramatic actress, earning the title "The Divine Sarah"; arguably, she was the most famous actress of the 19th century.^[16] In 1872, she left the Odéon and returned to Comédie-Française. One of her remarkable successes there was in the title role of Voltaire's Zaïre (1874). She even traveled to Cuba and performed in the Sauto Theater, in Matanzas, in 1887. She coached many young women in the art of acting, including actress and courtesan Liane de Pougy.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[link]

Jules Bastien-Lepage, Portrait of Sarah Bernhardt, 1879

The Fool and Death, a bronze sculpture by Bernhardt depicting the character of Triboulet in Hugo's Le roi s'amuse

Sarah Bernhardt as the Queen in Victor Hugo's Ruy Blas

Bernhardt's grave at Père Lachaise cemetery

Bernhardt had an affair with a Belgian nobleman, Charles-Joseph Eugène Henri Georges Lamoral de Ligne (1837–1914), son of Eugène, 8th Prince of Ligne, with whom she had her only child, Maurice Bernhardt (1864–1928). Maurice did not become an actor but worked for most of his life as a manager and agent for various theaters and performers, frequently managing his mother's career in her later years, but rarely with great success. Maurice and his family were usually financially dependent, in full or in part, on his mother until her death. Maurice married a Polish princess, Maria Jablonowska (see Jablonowski), with whom he had two daughters, Simone (who married Edgar Gross, son of a wealthy Philadelphia soap manufacturer) and Lysiana (who married the playwright Louis Verneuil ).^[17]

Sarah's close friends included several artists, most notably Gustave Doré and Georges Clairin, and actors Mounet-Sully and Lou Tellegen, as well as the famous French author Victor Hugo. Alphonse Mucha based several of his iconic Art Nouveau works on her. Her friendship with Louise Abbéma (1853–1927), a French impressionist painter, some nine years her junior, was so close and passionate that the two women were rumored to be lovers. In 1990, a painting by Abbéma, depicting the two on a boat ride on the lake in the bois de Boulogne, was donated to the Comédie-Française. The accompanying letter stated that the painting was "Peint par Louise Abbéma, le jour anniversaire de leur liaison amoureuse"^[18] (loosely translated: "Painted by Louise Abbéma on the anniversary of their love affair.")

Bernhardt also expressed strong interest in inventor Nikola Tesla, only to be dismissed as a distraction to his work.

She later married Greek-born actor Aristides Damala (known in France by the stage name Jacques Damala) in London in 1882, but the marriage, which legally endured until Damala's death in 1889 at age 34, quickly collapsed, largely due to Damala's dependence on morphine. During the later years of this marriage, Bernhardt was said to have been involved in an affair with the future King Edward VII ^[19] while he was still the Prince of Wales.

Bernhardt once stated, "Me pray? Never! I'm an atheist."^[20] However, she had been baptised a Roman Catholic, and accepted the last rites shortly before her death.^[21]

Silent film career[link]

Bernhardt was one of the pioneer silent movie actresses, debuting as Hamlet in the two-minute long film Le Duel d'Hamlet in 1900. (Technically, this was not a silent film, and in fact, it is cited as one of the first examples of a sound and moving image syncing system created with the new phono-cinema-theatre system.)^[22] She went on to star in eight motion pictures and two biographical films in all. The latter included Sarah Bernhardt à Belle-Isle (1912), a film about her daily life at home.

Later career[link]

In 1905, while performing in Victorien Sardou's La Tosca in Teatro Lírico do Rio de Janeiro, Bernhardt injured her right knee when jumping off the parapet in the final scene. The leg never healed properly. By 1915, gangrene had set in and her entire right leg was amputated; she was required to use a wheelchair for several months. Bernhardt reportedly refused a $10,000 offer by a showman to display her amputated leg as a medical curiosity (while P.T. Barnum is usually cited as the one to have made the offer, he had been dead since 1891). She continued her career often without using a wooden prosthetic limb; she had tried to use one but didn't like it. She carried out a successful tour of America in 1915, and on returning to France she played in her own productions almost continuously until her death. Her later successes included Daniel (1920), La Gloire (1921), and Régine Armand (1922). According to Arthur Croxton, the manager of London's Coliseum, the amputation was not apparent during her performances, which were done with the use of an artificial limb.^[23] Her physical condition may have limited her mobility on the stage, but the charm of her voice, which had altered little with age, ensured her triumphs.^[24]

Sarah Bernhardt died from uremia following kidney failure in 1923; she is believed to have been 78 years old.^[25] She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1751 Vine Street.

Books[link]

• Dans les nuages, Impressions d'une chaise (1878)
• L'Aveu, drame en un acte en prose (1888)
• Adrienne Lecouvreur, drame en six actes (1907)
• Ma Double Vie (1907), & as My Double Life: Memoirs of Sarah Bernhardt, (1907) William Heinemann
• Un Coeur d'Homme, pièce en quatre actes (1911)
• Petite Idole (1920; as The Idol of Paris, 1921)
• L'Art du Théâtre: la voix, le geste, la prononciation, etc. (1923; as The Art of the Theatre, 1924)

Trivia[link]

Sarah Bernardt lent her name to a famous meringue-like chocolate cake. ^[26]

A popular scented pink double flowering cultivar of the peony is also named after her.^[27]

Selected roles[link]

Bernhardt as Hamlet, ca. early 1880s

Bernhardt, in a portrait, 1890s

Gismonda by Alphonse Mucha

• 1862: Racine's Iphigénie in the title role, her debut.
• 1862: Eugène Scribe's Valérie
• 1862: Molière's Les Femmes Savantes
• 1864: Labiche & Deslandes, Un Mari qui Lance sa Femme
• 1866: T & H Cognard's La Biche aux Bois
• 1866: Racine's Phèdre (as Aricie)
• 1866: Pierre de Marivaux's Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard (as Silvia)
• 1867: Molière's Les Femmes Savantes (as Armande)
• 1867: George Sand's Le Marquis de Villemer
• 1867: Georges Sand's "François le Champi" (as Mariette)
• 1868: Dumas père's Kean (as Anna Damby)
• 1869: Coppée's La Passant, as a male troubadour (Zanetto); her first major stage success
• 1870: George Sand's L'Autre
• 1871: Theuriet's Jeanne-Marie
• 1871: Coppée's Fais ce que Dois
• 1871: Foussier and Edmond La Baronne
• 1872: Bouilhet's Mademoiselle Aïssé
• 1872: Hugo's Ruy Blas (as Doña Maria de Neubourg, Queen of Spain)
• 1872: Dumas père Mademoiselle de Belle-Isle (as Gabrielle)
• 1872: Racine's Britannicus (as Junie)
• 1872: Beaumarchais's Le Mariage de Figaro
• 1872: Sandeau's Mademoiselle de la Seiglière
• 1873: Feuillet's Dalila (as Princess Falconieri)
• 1873: Ferrier's Chez l'Avocat
• 1873: Racine's Andromaque
• 1873: Racine's Phèdre (as Aricie)
• 1873: Feuillet's Le Sphinx''
• 1874: Voltaire's Zaire
• 1874: Racine's Phèdre (as Phèdre)
• 1875: Bornier's La Fille de Roland
  • Dumas fils' L'Étrangère (as Mrs. Clarkson)
  • Parodi's Rome Vaincue
• 1877: Hugo's Hernani (as Doña Sol)
• 1879: Racine's Phèdre (as Phèdre)
• 1880: Émile Augier's L'Aventurière
• 1880: Legouvé & Scribe's Adrienne Lecouvreur
• 1880: Meilhac & Halévy's Froufrou
• 1880: Dumas fils' La Dame aux Camélias (as Maguerite)
• 1882: Sardou's Fédora''
  • Sardou's Théodora (as Theodora, Empress of Byzantium)
• 1887 : Victorien Sardou's La Tosca
  • Dumas fils' La Princesse Georges
• 1890: Sardou's Cléopâtre, as Cleopatra
• 1893: Lemaître's Les Rois
• 1894: Sardou's Gismonda (pictured)
• 1895: Molière's Amphytrion
• 1895: Magda(translation of Sudermann's Heimat)
• 1896: La Dame aux Camélias
• 1896: Musset's Lorenzaccio (as Lorenzino de' Medici)
• 1897: Sardou's Spiritisme
• 1897: Rostand's La Samaritaine
• 1897: Octave Mirbeau's Les Mauvais bergers
• 1898: Catulle Mendès Medée
• 1898: La Dame aux Camélias (as Marguerite Gautier)
  • Barbier's Jeanne d'Arc (as Joan of Arc)
  • Morand & Sylvestre's Izéïl (as Izéïl)
  • Shakespeare's King Lear (as Cordelia)
• 1899: Shakespeare's Hamlet (as Hamlet)
  • Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (as Cleopatra)
  • Shakespeare's Macbeth (as Lady Macbeth) (in French)
  • Richepin's Pierrot Assassin (as Pierrot)
• 1900: Rostand's L'Aiglon as L'Aiglon
• 1903: Sardou's La Sorcière
• 1904: Maeterlinck's Pelléas et Mélisande (as Pelléas)
• 1906: Ibsen's The Lady From the Sea
• 1906: Mendès' La Vierge d'Avila (as Saint Theresa)
• 1911: Moreau's Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth (as Queen Elizabeth)
• 1913: Bernard's Jeanne Doré (as Jeanne Doré)

Filmography[link]

Portrait by William Downey

• 1900: Le Duel d'Hamlet (Hamlet, as Hamlet) An excerpt from the play, featuring Bernhardt in a duel to the death with Laertes.
• 1908: La Tosca (Tosca, as Tosca) A one-reel condensation of the play by the same name by Victorien Sardou.
• 1911: La Dame aux Camélias (Lady of the Camelias – Camille, in the U.S. release, as Camille) A two-reel condensation of the play by the same name, and co-starring Lou Tellegen.
• 1912: Adrienne Lecouvreur (An Actress's Romance; as Adrienne Lecouvreur) A two-reel condensation of the play by the same name. Co-starring Lou Tellegen.
• 1912: Les Amours d'Elisabeth, Reine d'Angleterre (Queen Elizabeth; a major success) A four-reel condensation of the play of the same name. Co-starring Lou Tellegen.
• 1912: Sarah Bernhardt à Belle-Isle (Sarah Bernhardt at Home, as herself) This documentary features Sarah at home with her family and friends, fishing for shrimp, and cuddling indoors with her pet dogs.
• 1915: Mères Françaises (Mothers of France, as Madame Jeanne D'Urbex, a war widow in World War I. When she learns that her son has also been wounded, she searches the battlefields, crawls through trenches, and finally reaches him at a medical station only to have him die in her arms. After this tragedy, she dedicates her life to helping others survive the ravages of war.
• 1915: Ceux de Chez Nous (Those at Home: biographical, home movies) Among other celebrated persons of the era, there is a brief scene featuring Sarah sitting on a park bench and reading from a book.
• 1916: Jeanne Doré (as Jeanne Doré). Based on a play of the same name. Sarah appears as a widowed mother, who lavishes attention on her son, Jacques. When he is seduced by a temptress and accidentally murders a man, she visits him in his cell on the night before his execution, pretending to be his fiancée.
• 1921: Daniel (5-minute death scene from the play of the same name.) Sarah appears as a morphine addict in the hour before death.
• 1923: La Voyante (The Fortune Teller,) Sarah appears as a clairvoyant, who makes predictions that influence the outcome of national events. This film was Sarah's final performance, and was made while she was mortally ill. It was eventually completed with scenes made with a stand-in performing Bernhardt's character with her back turned to the camera.

Recordings[link]

Georges Clairin (1843–1919): Sarah Bernhardt. Oil on canvas

• Phèdre (1902)
• Le Lac (The Lake) (1902)
• La Fiancée du Timbalier (1902)
• Lucie (1902)
• Le Lac (1903)
• La Samaritaine (1903)
• Les Vieux (The Old Ones) (1903)
• Un Évangile (A Gospel) (1903)
• Phèdre (1903)
• La Mort d'Izéil (The Death of Izéil) (1903)
• La Rêverie de Théroigne de Méricourt (The Dream of Théroigne de Méricourt) (1903)
• Un Peu de Musique (A Little Music) (1903)
• L'Aiglon (The Eaglet) (1910)
• Phèdre (1910)
• Les Buffons (The Buffoons) (1908)
• La Samaritaine (1910)
• L'Étoile dans la Nuit (The Star in the Night) (1918)
• Prière pour nos Ennemis (A Prayer for our Enemies) (1918)

Gallery[link]

• 

  Sarah Bernhardt offstage.

• 

  Bernhardt early in her career in Theodora.

• 

  Wearing an elaborate headdress.

• 

  Bernhardt as a Sorceress.

• 

  In the role of Joan of Arc.

• 

  Bernhardt as Cleopatra.

• 

  Starring in Gismonda.

• 

  Bernhardt posing for an informal portrait.

• 

  Bernhardt during her later years.

• 

  Bernhardt's Chateau near Conde, France.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Brandon, Ruth. Being Divine: A Biography of Sarah Bernhardt. London: Mandarin, 1992.
• Gold, Arthur and Robert Fitzdale. The Divine Sarah: A Life of Sarah Bernhardt. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991.
• Léturgie, Jean and Xavier Fauche: Sarah Bernhardt, Lucky Luke (49). Dupuis, 1982.
• Lorcey, Jacques. Sarah Bernhardt, l'art et la vie, Paris : Éditions Séguier, 2005. 160 pages. Avec une préface d'Alain Feydeau. ISBN 2-84049-417-5.
• Menefee, David W. Sarah Bernhardt in the Theater of Films and Sound Recordings. North Carolina: McFarland, 2003.
• Menefee, David W. The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era. Connecticut: Praeger, 2004.
• Ockmann, Carol and Kenneth E. Silver. Sarah Bernhardt: The Art of High Drama New York: Yale University Press, 2005
• Skinner, Cornelia Otis. Madame Sarah. Paragon House, 1966.
• Snel, Harmen. "The ancestry of Sarah Bernhardt; a myth unravelled", Amsterdam, Joods Historisch Museum, 2007, ISBN 978-90-802029-3-1
• Gottlieb, Robert "Sarah: The Life of Sarah Bernhardt" New Haven, Yale University Press, 2010
• Aston, Elaine. Sarah Bernhardt: A French Actress on the English Stage. Oxford: Berg Publisher’s Limited, 1989

See also[link]

• Academy of Music/Riviera Theatre

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Sarah Bernhardt

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sarah Bernhardt

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Bernhardt, Sarah.

• The Sarah Bernhardt Pages

• Works by Sarah Bernhardt at Project Gutenberg
• Sarah Bernhardt at the Internet Broadway Database
• The "La Samaritaine" controversy and other performances in London
• Performances in Theatre Archive University of Bristol
• Sarah Bernhardt at the Internet Movie Database
• Sarah Bernhardt at AllRovi
• Sarah Bernhardt cylinder recordings, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.
• Sarah Bernhardt Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
• Bernhardt's sculpture
• Bibliography
• Sarah Bernhardt photo gallery series 1 New York Public Library (NYPL)
• Sarah Bernhardt photo gallery series 2 NYPL
• [2] "Sarah Bernhardt." Jewish Women's Archive

lez:Бернар, Сара

Lillian Gish
Lillian Gish, 1921
Born	Lillian Diana Gish (1893-10-14)October 14, 1893 Springfield, Ohio
Died	February 27, 1993(1993-02-27) (aged 99) New York City, New York
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1912–1987
Website
http://www.lilliangish.com/index.php

Lillian Diana Gish (October 14, 1893 – February 27, 1993^[1]) was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987. She was called "The First Lady of American Cinema".

She was a prominent film star of the 1910s and 1920s, particularly associated with the films of director D.W. Griffith, including her leading role in Griffith's seminal Birth of a Nation (1915). Her sound-era film appearances were sporadic, but included memorable roles in the controversial western Duel in the Sun (1946) and the offbeat thriller Night of the Hunter (1955). She did considerable television work from the early 1950s into the 1980s, and closed her career playing, for the first time, opposite Bette Davis in the 1987 film The Whales of August.

The American Film Institute (AFI) named Gish 17th among the greatest female stars of all time.^[2] She was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 1971, and in 1984 she received an AFI Life Achievement Award.^[3]

Early life[link]

Lillian Diana Gish was born in 1893 in Springfield, Ohio. She was the daughter of Mary Robinson McConnell (an Episcopalian) and James Leigh Gish (who was of German Lutheran descent).^[4] Gish's father left the family before she was old enough to remember him; her mother then took up acting to support the family. She had a younger sister, Dorothy. The family moved to East St. Louis, Illinois, where they lived for several years with Lillian's aunt and uncle, Henry and Rose McConnell. Their mother opened the Majestic Candy Kitchen and the girls helped sell popcorn and candy to patrons of the old Majestic Theater, located next door. The girls attended St. Henry's School, where they acted in school plays. When the theater burned down the family moved to New York where the girls became good friends with a next door neighbor, Gladys Smith. Gladys was a child actress who did some work for director D.W. Griffith. She later took the stage name, Mary Pickford. When Lillian and Dorothy were old enough, they joined the theatre, often traveling separately in different productions. They also took modeling jobs.

The first several generations of Gishes were Dunkard ministers. Her great-great-great grandfather came to America on the ship Pennsylvania Merchant in 1733 and received a land grant from William Penn. Her great-great grandfather was in the American Revolutionary War and is buried in a cemetery in Pennsylvania for such soldiers, a bit of an oddity because Dunkards are supposed to be more pacifist than Amish or Quakers. Letters between her and a Pennsylvania college professor indicate that her knowledge of her family background was limited.

In 1912, their friend Mary Pickford introduced the sisters to D. W. Griffith, and helped get them contracts with Biograph Studios. Lillian Gish would soon become one of America's best-loved actresses. Although she was already nineteen, she gave her age as 16 to the studio.^[5]

Career[link]

The sisters debuted in Griffith's short film An Unseen Enemy (1912). Lillian went on to star in many of Griffith's most acclaimed films, including The Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance (1916), Broken Blossoms (1919), Way Down East (1920) and Orphans of the Storm (1921). One of the enduring images of Gish's silent film years is the climax of the melodramatic Way Down East, in which Gish's character floats unconscious on an ice floe towards a raging waterfall, her long hair trailing in the water.

Lillian Gish in Broken Blossoms

1921 fan magazine cover by Rolf Armstrong

Having appeared in over 25 short films and features in her first two years as a movie actress, Lillian became a major star, becoming known as "The First Lady of the Silent Screen" and appearing in lavish productions, frequently of literary works such as The Scarlet Letter. MGM released her from her contract in 1928 after the failure of The Wind (1928), now recognized by many as among her finest performances and one of the most distinguished works of the late silent period.

She directed one film, Remodeling Her Husband (1920), when D. W. Griffith took his unit on location—he told Gish that he thought the crew would work harder for a girl. Gish never directed again, telling reporters at the time that directing was a man's job.^[6]

With her debut in talkies only moderately successful, she acted on the stage for the most part in the 1930s and early 1940s, appearing in roles as varied as Ophelia in Guthrie McClintic's landmark 1936 production of Hamlet (with John Gielgud and Judith Anderson) and Marguerite in a limited run of La Dame aux Camélias. Of the former, she said, with pride, "I played a lewd Ophelia!".

Lillian Gish as Anna Moore in D. W. Griffith's film Way Down East (1920)

Returning to movies, Gish was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1946 for Duel in the Sun. The scenes of her character's illness and death late in that film seemed intended to evoke the memory of some of her silent film performances. She appeared in films from time to time for the rest of her life, notably in Night of the Hunter (1955) as a rural guardian angel protecting her charges from a murderous preacher played by Robert Mitchum. She was considered for various roles in Gone with the Wind ranging from Ellen O'Hara, Scarlett's mother, which went to Barbara O'Neil,^[7] to prostitute Belle Watling, which went to Ona Munson.

Gish made numerous television appearances from the early 1950s into the late 1980s. Her most acclaimed television work was starring in the original production of The Trip to Bountiful in 1953. She appeared as Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna in the short-lived 1965 Broadway musical Anya. In addition to her later acting appearances, Gish became one of the leading advocates on the lost art of the silent film, often giving speeches and touring to screenings of classic works. In 1975, she hosted The Silent Years, a PBS film program of silent films.

Gish in 1973

Gish received a Special Academy Award in 1971 "For superlative artistry and for distinguished contribution to the progress of motion pictures." In 1979, she was awarded the Women in film Crystal Award in Los Angeles^[8] In 1984, she received an American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award, becoming only the second female recipient (preceded by Bette Davis in 1977), and the only recipient who was a major figure in the silent era. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1720 Vine Street.

Her last film role was in The Whales of August in 1987 at the age of 93, with Vincent Price, Bette Davis and Ann Sothern, in which she and Davis starred as elderly sisters in Maine. Her final professional appearance was a cameo on the 1988 studio recording of Jerome Kern's Show Boat, starring Frederica von Stade and Jerry Hadley, in which she affectingly spoke the few lines of The Old Lady on the Levee in the final scene. The last words of her long career were, "Good night, dear."

Some in the entertainment industry were angry that Gish did not receive an Oscar nomination for her role in The Whales of August. Gish herself was more complacent, remarking that it saved her the trouble of "losing to Cher" (who did, in fact, win for her performance in Moonstruck).

Personal life[link]

Lillian and her sister Dorothy

Gish never married or had children. The association between Gish and D. W. Griffith was so close that some suspected a romantic connection, an issue never acknowledged by Gish, although several of their associates were certain they were at least briefly involved. For the remainder of her life, she always referred to him as "Mr. Griffith."

She was involved with producer Charles Duell and drama critic and editor George Jean Nathan. In the 1920s, Gish's association with Duell was something of a tabloid scandal because he had sued her and made the details of their relationship public.^[9]

During the period of political turmoil in the United States that lasted from the outbreak of World War II in Europe until the attack on Pearl Harbor, she maintained an outspoken non-interventionist stance. She was an active member of the America First Committee, an anti-intervention organization founded by retired General Robert E. Wood with aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh as its leading spokesman. She said she was blacklisted by the film and theater industries until she signed a contract in which she promised to cease her anti-interventionist activities and never disclose the fact that she had agreed to do so.^[10]

She maintained a very close relationship with her sister Dorothy, as well as with Mary Pickford, for her entire life. Another of her closest friends was actress Helen Hayes; Gish was the godmother of Hayes' son James MacArthur.

Death[link]

She died in her sleep of natural causes on February 27, 1993, at the age of 99 and is interred beside her sister Dorothy at Saint Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in New York City. Her estate, which she left to Hayes (who died a month later) was valued at several million dollars, and went to provide prizes for artistic excellence.

Legacy[link]

• The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize
• A street in Massillon, Ohio is named after Gish, who had lived there during an early period of her life and fondly referred to it as her hometown throughout her career.
• Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio is home to the Gish Film Theater and Gallery, which is dedicated to the works of both Dorothy and Lillian Gish.
• Gish was a leading character in The Biograph Girl, a 1980 stage musical about the silent film era.
• The Smashing Pumpkins titled their 1991 debut album, "Gish". Lillian Gish was the only memory that Billy Corgan could recall as to why he named the album "Gish". In the liner notes for the 2012 re-release of the album, Corgan states that his grandmother remembered seeing her once and the name "Gish" stuck.

Filmography[link]

Books[link]

Autobiographical:

• The Movies, Mr. Griffith, and Me (with Ann Pinchot) (Prentice-Hall, 1969)
• Dorothy and Lillian Gish (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973)
• An Actor's Life For Me (with Selma G. Lanes) (Viking Penguin, 1987)

Biographical and other:

• Lillian Gish an Interpretation – Edward Wagenknecht (University of Washington, 1927)
• Life and Lillian Gish – Albert Bigelow Paine (Macmillan, 1932)
• Lillian Gish: the Movies, Mr. Griffith and Me, by Gish co-authored with Ann Pinchot; ISBN 0-491-00103-7, W.H. Allen 1969, and ISBN 0-916515-40-0 Mercury House, 1988.
• Star Acting – Gish, Garbo, Davis – Charles Affron (E.P. Dutton, 1977)
• A Moment with Miss Gish – Peter Bogdanovich (Santa Teresa Press, 1995)
• Lillian Gish A Life on Stage and Screen – Stuart Oderman (McFarland & Company, 2000)
• Lillian Gish Her Legend, Her Life – Charles Affron (Scribner, 2001)

Documentaries about Gish[link]

• Terry Sanders' 1988 documentary Lillian Gish: An Actor's Life for Me.
• Actress Jeanne Moreau produced a documentary on Gish.

See also[link]

Biography portal

• Women's Cinema

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lillian Gish

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lillian Gish

• Lillian Gish at the Internet Movie Database
• Lillian Gish at the TCM Movie Database
• Lillian Gish at the Internet Broadway Database
• Official website
• Lillian Gish Film Festival in Springfield, Ohio
• The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Film Theater

• Extensive Lillian Gish gallery
• Photographs and bibliography
• Lillian Gish photographed by Edward Steichen in November 1934 issue of Vanity Fair. She usually played the sweet innocent but here she plays the role of a harlot in the play Within the Gates.
• Maison 140 was built in 1939, the stylish brick facade building was originally a residential apartment owned by famed silent film star Lillian Gish.