MODJESKA, HELENA (18441909)

This article appears in Volume V18, Page 643 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MIC-MOL

MODJESKA, HELENA (18441909) , Polish actress, was born at Cracow on the 12th of October 1844. Her father, Michael Opido, was a musician, and her tastes soon declared themselves strongly in favour of a dramatic career; but it was not until after her

marriage

MARRIAGE

in 1861 that she first attempted to act, and then it was with a company of strolling players. Her husband (whose name, Modrzejewski, she simplified for stage purposes) died in 1865. In 1868 she married Count Bozenta Chlapowski, a Polish politician and critic, and almost immediately afterwards received an invitation to act at Warsaw. There she remained for seven or eight years, and won a high position in her art. Her

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

tragic roles were Ophelia, Juliet, Desdemona, Queen Anne in Richard III., Louisa Miller, Maria Stuart, Schiller's Princess Eboli, Marion Delorme,

Victor

Hugo's Tisbe and Slowacki's Mazeppa. In comedy her favourite roles were Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, and Donna Diana in the Polish translation of an old Spanish play of that name. Madame Modjeska was also the Polish interpretress of the most prominent plays of Legouve, Dumas, father and son, Angier, Alfred de Musset, Octave Feuillet and Sardou. In 1876 she went with her husband to California, where they settled on a

ranch

RANCH

. This new career, however, proved a failure, and Madame Modjeska returned to
the stage. She appeared in San Francisco in 1877, in an English version of Adrienne Lecouvreur, and, in spite of her imperfect command of the language, achieved a remarkable success. She continued to act principally in America, but was also seen from time to time in London and elsewhere in the United Kingdom, her repertory including several Shakespearian roles and a variety of emotional parts in modern drama. She died on the 9th of April 1909 at her home near Los Angeles, California.
See Mabel Collins, The Story of

Helena

HELENA
HELENA, ST (c. 247-c. 327)

Modjeska (London, 1883), and the (autobiographical) Memories and Impressions (New

York

YORK
YORK (
HOUSE
- HOUSE
- HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
  Gothic
  - GOTHIC
  it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)
OF)
YORK, EDMUND OF
LANGLEY
- LANGLEY, SAMUEL PIERPONT (1834-1906)
, DUKE OF (1341-1402)
YORK, EDWARD
YORK, FREDERICK
AUGUSTUS
- AUGUSTUS (a name 1 derived from Lat. augeo, increase, i.e. venerable, majestic, Gr. Ee0avr6s)
, DUKE OF (1763-1827)
YORK, RICHARD, DUKE

, 1910),

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