Evening star., 1923-03-27
Bernhardt, Still a Girl at 20,
l. Vas Worlds Greatest Actress
Power of Emotion
| Surpassed All of
Nj, Her RiUaIs.
Three Generations
Haze Worshiped
+ Parisiar,'s Art.

Nine. Sarah Bernhardt. whose death
occurred in Paris yesterday. at sew
enty years Of age, seemed still a
girl, was known to every land as
"the worlds greatest actress" What
dissent there might have been to this
estimate. and however far her de
tractors ventpred In their attempts to
minimize her fright to that dlstinc1lon'
the numberless admirers OF the Dl-
vine Sarah" remained convinced that
never before had the stage produced
an actress capable of soaring to such
heights in the realm of emotional
drama.
The work of Nine Bernhardt was
best where theme afforded the
greatest opportunity for display of
her powerful emotions: At the
height of her career this form of act
ing, based principally on love. hate
and jealousy. held the predominant
place now dedicated to character de-
Iineations, and Bernhardt never was
surpassed. her critics say. in this
emotional school. Hundreds of parts
she either rewrote or created 10 suit
herself, seldom being content to act
them as interpreted by others.
Thrilled Three Generations.
Three generations have praise
and even worshiped the art Oh
Bernhardt. and hundreds upon thou
sands of people around the world
have thronged to see and marvel at
her acting without understanding
the French language, which she IN
variably employed upon the stage.
ono in Rio de Janeiro. she was
called before the curtain more than
zoo times by a wildly enthusiastic
audience. and many times, IN other
parts of the world. she was obliged to
answer scores of curtain calls at
single performance.
The long life story OF Bernhardt Is
almost legendary. Closely woven
with dramatic incident. off as we'll as
self in lengthy volume published
many years ago, and. as one OF her
critics has said. through the pages
OF the book peers the face of a
woman, a little tired, weary of her
own reputation ard blessed with
more than her share of the vanities
cf the sex" AS she and others have
told the story ii is summed up here:
The date of her birth. the record
Of which was destroyed in the flames
monty accepted as October %, 1s46.
Her mother was Dutch and Jewish
and her natural father French
official.
As child Bernhardt spent much
of her time with relatives in Paris
and at the age OF twelve was sent to
the Grand Champ Convent. Yer
sailles. where she made her debut in
children. Even at this early age
the pale and sickly child is said 10
have displayed the fits OF temper
which were characteristic of her
stage career.
After year or two at the convent
she conceived a passionate desire to
become d nun. To this her mother
recorded unqualified opposition and
suggested a theatrical career instead
Shes too thin to be an actress,
co hn 20 y
nun"
categorically exclaimed. Rachel j,
an actress. She came to the convent
and walked around the garden, ther
she had to sit down because she
couldn't get her breath. They fetched
her som ethfng to bring her around
but she was SO pale. oh, SO pale
was very sorry for her. and the nuns
told me that what she was doing was
killing her, for she was an actress
and so l won't be an actress ! won't
Was War Nurse.
But fate had determined otherwise
and at. the age of fourteen Bernhardt
was sent to conservatory. At the
end of the first year she won second
prize for tragedy. A subscription
among the players at the Comedie
FTancatse enabled her to spend an
other year at the conservatory. and
upon the completion Of this she car
ried off second prize for comedy. Her
flrst public appearance was at the
Comedie Franchise in August, 1862
she took minor part without any
marked success
Five years later she emerged from
laborioUs obscurity with her first def
mite success as Cordelia in a French
translation Of King Lear" at the
Odeon. then as Queen in Victor Hugo {
Ruy BIAS and above all as ZanIett
in Francois Coppee's lie Passant,"
which she played in 1869.
Then came the Franco -Prussian n
war. Bernhardt increased her popu-
Iarity by becoming war nurse. In