Roles played by Sarah Bernhardt

This is a list of the notable roles played by the French actress Sarah Bernhardt, including both stage roles and early motion pictures,[1][2] with the year of the first performance. This list does not include one-time performances or revivals. Roles first performed by Bernhardt are noted as premieres.

Puzzle in ten postcards showing Sarah Bernhardt in different roles (1906)
Main article: Sarah Bernhardt

Theatrical roles
Bernhardt at the Comédie-Française, photographed by Félix Nadar (c. 1864)
Bernhardt as Mariette in George Sand's François le Champi (1867)
The boy troubadour Zanetto in François Coppée's Le Passant (1869)
Jean Racine's Phédre (1873)
Doña Sol in Victor Hugo's Hernani (1877)
The Queen of Spain in Hugo's Ruy Blas (1879)
Froufrou by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy (1880)
Theodora by Victorien Sardou (1884)
La Tosca by Victorien Sardou (1887)
Sardou's Gismonda (1888)
Jeanne d'Arc by Jules Barbier (1890)
Sardou's Cleopatra (1891)
La Dame Aux Camelias (1896)
Hamlet (1899)
L'Aiglon (1900)
Zoraya in Sardou's La Sorcière (1903)
Pelleas in Pelleas and Melisande (1905)

1862–1869

1862

1864

1865

  • La Biche aux Bois by the Coignard brothers, role of Princess Désirée

1866

1867

  • Les Femmes Savantes by Molière, role of Armande
  • King Lear by William Shakespeare, role of Cordelia
  • Athalie by Racine, role of Zarcharie
  • Le Testament de César Girodot, by Bélot and Villetard, role of Hortense
  • François le Champi by George Sand, role of Mariette
  • Le Marquis de Villemer by George Sand, role of Baronne d'Arglade

1868

1869

  • Le Passant by François Coppée , role of Zanetto (premiere)
  • Le Bâtard by Alphonse Touroude, role of Jeanne (premiere)

1870–1879

1870

  • L'Affranchi by Latour de Saint-Ybars (premiere)
  • L'Autre by George Sand, role of Hélène de Mérangis (premiere)

1871

1872

1873

1874

  • Le Sphinx by Octave Feuillet, role of Berthe de Savigny (premiere)
  • La Belle Paule by Louis Denayrousse, role of d'Henri de Ligniville (premiere)
  • Zaire by Voltaire, role of Zaire
  • Phèdre by Racine, role of Phèdre

1875

1876

1877

1878

1879

  • Mithradite by Racine, role of Monime

1880–1889

1880

1881

1882

1883

1884

  • Macbeth by William Shakespeare, adaptation by Jean Richepin, role of Lady MacBeth
  • Théodora by Victorien Sardou, role of Theodora, Empress of Byzantium (premiere)

1885

1886

  • Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, role of Ophelia
  • La Maitre des Forges by Georges Ohnet, role of Claire de Beaulieu
  • L'Aveu by Sarah Bernhardt, one act, role of Comtesse Marthe de Rocca (premiere)

1887

1888

  • Francillon by Alexandre Dumas, fils, role of Francine de Riverolles

1889

  • Léna by PIerre Berton, role of Léna Despart (premiere)

1890–1899

1890

1891

  • Gringoie by de Banville, role of Gringoire

1893

  • Les Rois by Jules LeMaitre, role of Princess Wilhelmine (premiere)

1894

1895

1896

1897

1898

1899

  • Hamlet by William Shakespeare, adapted by Marcel Schwob and Eugene Morand, role of Hamlet

1900–1909

1900

1901

  • La Pluie et le beau Temps by Gozlan, role of the Baroness
  • Les Precieuses Ridicules by Moliere, role of Madelon

1902

  • Francesca da Rimini by Francis Marion Crawford and Schwob, role of Francesca
  • Sapho by Alphonse Daudet, role of Fanny Legrand
  • Théroigne de Méricourt by Paul Hervieu, role of Théroigne (premiere)

1903

1904

1905

1906

1907

  • Les Bouffons by Miguel Zamacoïs, role of the hunchback Jacasse
  • Le Vert-Galant by Émile Moreau, role of Queen Margot
  • La Belle au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty), adapted by Jean Richepin, role of Prince Charming

1908

  • Le Courtisane de Corinthe by Paul Bilhaud and Michel Carré, role of Cléonice (premiere)

1909

  • La Nuit de Mai by Alfred de Musset, role of the poet
  • La Fille de Rubenstein by Remon
  • Le Procès de Jeanne d'Arc by Émile Moreau, role of Jeanne d'Arc (premiere)

1910–1919

1910

1911

1912

  • La Reine Elizabeth by Emlie Moreau, title role (premiere)
  • Une nuit de Noel sous la Terreur by Maurice Bernhardt and Henri Cain, role of Marion (premiere)

1913

1914

  • Tout à coup by Paul de Cassagnac, role of the Marquis de Chalonne (premiere)

1915

  • Les Cathédrales by Eugène Morand, role of Strasbourg Cathedral (one act - premiere)

1916

  • La Mort de Cléopâtre by Maurice Bernhardt and Henri Cain (one act - premiere)
  • l'Holocauste by Maurice Bernhardt, role of the Duchesse (one act - premiere)
  • Au Champ d'Honneur , by Maurice Bernhardt and Henri Cain, role of a soldier
  • Vitrail by René Fauchois, role of Violaine (one act)
  • Hécube by Maurice Bernhardt and Chavance, role of Hécube (one act)
  • Le Faux Modèle, Daurelly, role of Madeleine (one act)
  • Le Marchand de Venise (The Merchant of Venice) (excerpts), role of Portia
  • L'Etoile dans la nuit by Henri Cain, role of Jane de Mauduit (one act)
  • Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth (as Queen Elizabeth)

1920–1923

1920

  • Rossini by René Fauchois, role of Rossini's mother
  • Athalie by Racine, role of Athalie
  • Daniel by Louis Vernouil, role of Daniel Arnaud (premiere)
  • Comment on écrit l'Histoire by Sacha Guitry, role of Mariette (one act- premiere)

1921

1922

  • Régine Armand by Louis Vernouil, role of Régine Armand

Filmography
Bernhardt in the 1911 film adaptation of La Dame aux Camélias
Scene from Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth (1912)
Advertisement for the 1917 U.S. release of Mothers of France
  • 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: Ceux de Chez Nous (Those at Home: biographical, home movies) By Sacha Guitry; among other celebrated persons of the era, there is a brief scene featuring Sarah sitting on a park bench with Sacha, and reading from a poem given to her by her granddaughter Lysiane.
  • 1916: Jeanne Doré (as Jeanne Doré). Based on a play of the same name. Bernhardt 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.
  • 1917: 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.[4]
  • 1921: Daniel (Pathé promotional film of the death scene from the play of the same name) Bernhardt appears as a morphine addict in the hour before death.
  • 1923: La Voyante (The Fortune Teller) Bernhardt appears as a clairvoyant, who makes predictions that influence the outcome of national events. This film was Bernhardt's final performance, and was made while she was mortally ill. It was eventually completed with scenes made with Jeanne Brindeau, standing in for Bernhardt's character with her back turned to the camera.

References
  1. Skinner 1967, pp. 33–41.
  2. Tierchant 2009, pp. 374–378.
  3. Tierchant 2009, p. 374.
  4. "Sarah Bernhardt in Real War Film; "Mothers of France" from Scenario of Jean Richepin Moves Rialto Audience". The New York Times. March 12, 1917. Retrieved December 22, 2019.

Bibliography
  • Bernhardt, Sarah (2000). Ma double vie (in French). Paris: Libretto. ISBN 978-2-7529-0750-9.
  • Bernhardt, Sarah (2017). L'art du théâtre (in French). Paris. ISBN 979-10-95066-08-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Gold, Arthur & Fizdale, Robert (1991). The Divine Sarah: A Life of Sarah Bernhardt. New York: Knopf. pp. 17–20. ISBN 0394528794.
  • Gottlieb, Robert (2010). Sarah: The Life of Sarah Bernhardt. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-03-0019-2599.
  • Skinner, Cornelia Otis (1967). Madame Sarah. New York: Houghton-Mifflin.
  • Snel, Harmen (2007). The ancestry of Sarah Bernhardt; a myth unravelled. Amsterdam: Joods Historisch Museum. ISBN 978-90-802029-3-1.
  • Tierchant, Hélène (2009). Sarah Bernhardt- Madame Quand même. Paris: SW Télémaque. ISBN 978-2-7533-0092-7.
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