  clÃ©opatra diane de mÃ©rode (paris, 27 september 1875 - 17 october 1966) was a french dancer of the belle Ãpoque. ==biography== at the age of eight, clÃ©o was sent to study dance and made her professional debut at age eleven. clÃ©o de mÃ©rode became renowned for her glamour even more than for her dancing skills, and her image began appearing on such things as postcards and playing cards. a particular new hairdo she chose to wear became the talk of parisian women and was quickly adopted as a popular style for all. her fame was such that alexandre falguiÃ¨re sculpted the dancer in her image, which today can be seen in the musÃ©e d'orsay. in 1895, henri de toulouse-lautrec did her portrait, as would charles puyo, alfredo muller, and giovanni boldini. her picture taken by some of the most illustrious photographers of the day including fÃ©lix nadar. in 1896, king lÃ©opold ii attended the ballet and saw mÃ©rode dance. the 61-year-old belgian king became enamoured with the 22-year-old ballet star, and gossip started that she was his latest mistress. because the king had had two children with a woman reputed to be a prostitute, clÃ©o de mÃ©rode's reputation suffered, and she had to live with it for the rest of her life. nevertheless, clÃ©o de mÃ©rode became an international star, performing across europe and in the united states. at the peak of her popularity, she chose to dance at the folies bergÃ¨re, taking the risk to do something other elites of the ballet had never done before. her performance gained her a whole new following. very popular in her ancestral homeland of austria as well as in germany, her character appeared in the german film frauen der leidenschaft (1926), played by fern andra. in vienna, her beauty caught the attention of painter gustav klimt, whose primary focus was on female sexuality. their story was the basis of the film klimt (2006), in which the character "lea de castro" is based on clÃ©o de mÃ©rode. mÃ©rode continued to dance until her early fifties, when she retired to the seaside resort of biarritz in the pyrÃ©nÃ©es-atlantiques dÃ©partement of france. in 1955, she published her autobiography, le ballet de ma vie (the dance of my life). clÃ©o de mÃ©rode died in 1966 and was interred in the pÃ¨re lachaise cemetery in paris in division 90. a statue of her, mourning her mother, who is interred in the same plot, decorates the gravestone. ==gallery== file:cleo de merode.jpg|photograph by lÃ©opold reutlinger, 1901 (ballet lorenza) image:clÃ©o de mÃ©rode three poses.jpg|clÃ©o de mÃ©rode in three different poses (from le thÃ©Ã¢tre, dÃ©cembre 1898) image:mero
1875_births 1966_deaths Burials_at_PA"re_Lachaise_Cemetery French_dancers House_of_MA(c)rode