Helena Modjeska
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Helena Modrzejewska (AKA Modjeska) (born Helena Opid October 12, 1840 in Krakow, Poland - April 9, 1909) was a renowned Polish actress. She was the mother of Ralph Modjeski, and the godmother of Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz.
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[edit] Early life and marriage
Her father, Michał Opid, was a musician, and her tastes soon declared themselves strongly in favor of a dramatic career; but it was not until after her marriage in 1861 that she first attempted to act, and then it was with a company of strolling players.
Her first husband, Gustav Modrzejewski, died in 1865. In 1868 she married Count Karol Bozenta Chłapowski, a politician and critic, and received an invitation to act at Warsaw, Poland, where she remained for seven years. She kept a simplified and feminine form ("Modrzejewska") of her first husband's surname ("Modrzejewski") as her professional name (see [1]).
In 1876 she went with her husband and son to Southern California, where they settled on a ranch in the Santa Ana Mountains, in what is now Orange County, California. The family helped found a small Polish colony centered in Anaheim, California. The ranch proved a failure and Modrzejewska returned to the stage.
[edit] Career
She appeared in San Francisco in 1877, in an English version of Adrienne Lecouvreur, and, in spite of her not-perfect command of the language, achieved remarkable success. In 1883 she starred in the first American production of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House. A candymaker in Louisville, Kentucky saw her performance and named a confection after her. She had a reputation as the leading female interpreter of Shakespeare on the American stage in the 1880s and 1890s.
She also toured with Maurice and "Georgie" Barrymore in a play he had written. Learning that he and Helena had resumed their romance, Georgie, who owned the play, forced Maurice's hand by closing it; Count Chłapowski, who ran the production, sued her. The real reason for Georgie's actions never got into the press. Incredibly, Georgie and her children had converted to Roman Catholicism under Helena's influence.
Her home, "Arden" is a National Historic Landmark. "Modrzejewska Canyon" and "Modrzejewska Peak" are named in her honor.
[edit] Roles
Her chief tragic roles were:
- Shakespeare
- Ophelia
- Juliet
- Desdemona
- Queen Anne in Richard III
- Nora in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House
- Louisa Miller
- Maria Stuart
- Friedrich Schiller's Princess Eboli
- Marion Delorme
- Victor Hugo's Tisb
- Slowacki's Mazeppa
In comedy her favorite roles were:
- Beatrice in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing
- Donna Diana in "Donna Diana".
Madame Modrzejewska was also the Polish interpreter of the most prominent plays of Legouv, Dumas père and fils, Émile Augier, Alfred de Musset, Octave Feuillet and Victorien Sardou.
[edit] Popular culture
In America is a 1999 novel by Susan Sontag which won the National Book Award in 2000. Although it is fiction, it is based upon the true story of Helena Modrzejewska (called Maryna Zalewska in the book), her arrival in California in 1876, and her ascendacy to American stardom.
[edit] References
- Collins, Mabel, The Story of Helena Modjeska, (London, 1883),
- Modjeska, Helena, Memories and Impressions (New York, 1910).
- Obituary of Susan Sontag, New York Times, December 28, 2004
