Sarah Bernhardt was one of the stage’s most admired actresses. She was born in Paris, France where she became a star and later traveled the world touring. Bernhardt didn’t start out as the best but did rise to the success she is known for today. She was known for her romantic looks and her melodious voice, her natural acting style and sometimes her tempestuous attitude. Bernhardt lived quite a life, from her many famous lovers, her fabulous clothing, and her travels performing on stages all over the world and even becoming a star of silent movies. She was what we know today as a “drama queen” in many ways. She wasn’t successful right away, but did rise to her stardom. As stated in The Divine Sarah, even Sigmund Freud who saw her in a performance (Sardou’s Theodora) has said “…I believed at once everything she said…, it is incredible what postures she can assume and how every limb and joint acts with her.”
Sarah Bernhardt was born Henriette Rosine Bernard in 1844 to women named Julie Bernard, who was of Jewish descent and little is known about her father. What is known about her mother, is that she was a legendary courtesan and was rarely home, and when she was home, there were always rich men around. Sarah was a wild child who, when she wasn’t sick, did what she wanted and threw many temper tantrums. Her mother wanted Sarah to follow in her footsteps and entertain men for money, the idea made Sarah sick (although later she learned that there is a thin line between acting and prostituting), she told her mom she was to become a nun. That all changed when she saw Racine’s Britannicus at the Comedie Francaise. She planned on attending the Conservatoire, and in 1860 she did where she was trained for two years.
In 1862, at the age of 18 she made her first debut as the lead in Racine’s Iphigenie. Sarah often suffered from stage fright and her dire performance received some bad reviews. According to Gold and Fizdale, Francisque Sarcey, Paris’s most powerful critic, was quoted to say “[she] is remarkably beautiful. She carries herself well and pronounces her words with perfect clarity. That is all that can be said at the moment.” Her next appearance was in Scribe’s Valerie which was virtually unnoticed, and her third debut in Moliere’s Les Femmes Savantes was not any better.
Throughout history, women have been portrayed as the passive, subdued creatures whose opinions, thoughts, and goals were never as equal as those of her male counterparts. Although women have ascended the ladder of equality to some degree, today it is evident that total equalization has not been achieved. Simone De Beauvoir, feminist and existential theorist, recognized and discussed the role of women in society today. To Beauvoir, women react and behave through the scrutiny of male opinion, not able to differentiate between their true character and that which is imposed upon them. In this dangerous cycle women continue to live up to the hackneyed images society has created, and in doing so women feel it is necessary to reshape their ideas to meet the expectations of men. Women are still compelled to please men in order to acquire a higher place in society - however, in doing this they fall further behind in the pursuit of equality.
Working at her father’s clothing shop, she became very knowledgeable about expensive textiles and embellishments, which were captured in her works later in career. She was able to capture the beauty and lavishness of fabrics in portraits of aristocratic women.
In Liz Garbus’ documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone?, displays the life of musician and activist Nina Simone. The documentary follows different experiences of her life that were critical to the development of Nina Simone over the years. Born in Tryon, North Carolina by the name of Eunice Waymon she aspired to be a classical pianist, but as she got older and began playing in bars she changed her focus to performing and singing. The film then describes the success of her career and her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement to the very personal aspects of her life dealing with her abusive husband/manager Andrew Stroud and her continuous depression.
Joan Baez was born on Staten Island in 1941. Her mother’s name was Joan also, and her father’s name was Vincent. She spent a part of her childhood in Iraq because her father had a job there. While she was fourteen, her family moved back to the U.S. and lived in California.
Born February 9, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York as Carole Klein, she was playing the piano by the age of four. While still in high school she was in her first band, the Co-Sines. Carole was a huge fan of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller (the duo who penned hits for Elvis Presley, the Coasters and Ben E. King), she became a regular at DJ Alan Freed's local Rock 'N' Roll shows. She met songwriters Paul Simon and Neil Sedaka as well as Gerry Goffin, whom she later forged a writing partnership with, while attending Queens College.
At nineteen she married Charles-Guillaume Le Normant d'Etoiles. It was an arranged marriage, and did not last for very long, despite the fact that he adored her. She had two children with d'Etoiles, a boy who died in childbirth, and a daughter nicknamed 'fan fan'. She founded her own salon at her husband's estate, and was joined by many renowned intellectuals, such as Voltaire. She rose in society at an alarming rate, due to those she associated with, and her friends. After all, that is a fantastic strategy, to befriend the highest class and earn their acquaintances respect.
Edith Stein was born on October 12, 1891 , Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of Atonement in Breslau Germany now Wroclaw Poland. She was born into an Orthodox Jewish family and was the youngest of 11 children. When she was not yet 2 years of age, her father suddenly died. This left Edith's mother to raise the seven remaining children since 4 had died in childhood and manage the family business. She considered her mother an example of the woman in Proverbs 31, who rises early to care for her family and trade in the marketplace. At around the age of 13 she no longer practiced her Jewish faith and became an atheist although she admired her mother's attitude of total openness towards God.
Working Thesis: What is the difference between The Catalan struggle and Spanish Civil War greatly influenced Joan Miró’s art; Miró’s techniques of forceful strokes with paint and ceramics enable Miró to express his feelings and depict the Catalan people’s struggle through art. & nbsp; Surrealism in the 1920s was defined as a fantastic arrangement of materials that influenced Miró, due to the fact that he was one of the most original and sympathetic artists during the Surrealism periods. Miró was born into the Catalan culture on April 20, 1893 in Barcelona, Spain (Munro 288).
Because Sarah grew up hearing her mother sing in the church choir, it seemed only natural for her to follow her mothers' footsteps and become involved with the musical life of the church. By October of 1942, 18 year old Sarah had already been playing the organ for years for choir rehearsals on Saturday mornings and for Sunday services. In addition to weekend services, she also played during the week for the children of the congregation. Sarah's parents found themselves in Newark, New Jersey after migrating from Virginia during the First World War. They also found that the church was growing because of the waves of people migrating from the south.
Suzanne Marie Collins is a television writer and novelist; she is the author of the “New York Time”, “The Hunger Game” and “The Underland Chronicles”.
In the early twentieth century, Judy Garland made quite an impact as this multi-talented star became known around America. Her fame started at an early age. Born Frances Gumm in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, she joined the family act at the age of three. (Judy Garland UXL Biographies). She became known for her stunning voice and performing in her sister act “The Three Garlands” After her fathers death at age 14, the sister act dissolve ,and she started on her solo career. (Judy Garland UXL Biographies). Her mother became a very dominant factor in her career but also a destructive one. With the help of her mother and her talents ,by her teenage years, she became very popular and even signed a contract with MGM Studio...
“She was from Pasadena, this six-foot-two marvel of a woman. It was not so much because she was an extraordinary cook- and she would pointedly remind us that she was a cook, not a chef” (Kehoe 1). Julia Child was an extraordinary woman who had a passion for cooking that she didn’t even know could change the way people cook. Julia Child most definitely influenced cooking for generations to come with her passion for cooking and love for food.
On February 12, 1938, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Judy Sussman entered the world. Judy's mother, Esther Sussman was constantly reading and tranquil. Judy and her mother went to the library frequently. Judy's father, Dr. Rudolph Sussman, was a day dreamer who adored fun and games. Judy and her father were very close. She referred to him as “Doey Bird” or just “Doey”. Judy and her father played games and he tucked her into bed every night. Judy also had a brother, David, who was four years older than she. David was the average older brother who would annoy and play with his younger sister. Judy was also close to her grandmother “Nanny Mama” who lived close by. Judy loved her family and was very close to them.
Angela Bassett was born on August 16, 1958, in New York City. Angela Bassett went to the Yale School of Drama and went ahead to star in the Tina Turner biopic What's Love Got to Do With It, for which the on-screen character got an Academy Award designation and a Golden Globe Award. Different movies have included Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back. In St. Petersburg, Florida Angela and her sister, D'nette, was raised by her single parent, Betty, a social specialist. On a secondary school trip, she got to be motivated to act in the wake of seeing a Kennedy Center creation of the exemplary story Of Mice and Men.
As soon as an actor steps foot onto the stage, the audience sees the actor’s gender and interprets that character accordingly. The character of Maria Rainer in Rogers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music isn’t just a high on life happy person singing about the Austrian mountains and the joy they bring her; she’s a young postulant nun who is unsure of her future. In Maria’s first encounter with Captain Von Trapp, he is a stern man walking around his living room in frustration. How the character of Maria g...