| Eleonora Duse  AKA Eleonora Guilia Amalia Duse
Born: 3-Oct-1858
Birthplace: Vigevano, Italy
Died: 21-Apr-1924
Location of death: Pittsburgh, PA [1]
Cause of death: Pneumonia
Remains: Buried, Asolo Cemetery, Treviso, Italy
Gender: Female
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Bisexual
Occupation: Actor Nationality: Italy
Executive summary: Most famous Italian actress of her time Italian actress, born at Vigevano of a family of actors, and made her first stage appearance at a very early age. The hardships incident to touring with travelling companies unfavorably affected her health, but by 1885 she was recognized at home as Italy's greatest actress, and this verdict was confirmed by that of all the leading cities of Europe and America. In 1893 she made her first appearances in New York and in London. For some years she was closely associated with the romanticist Gabriele D'Annunzio, and several of his plays, notably La Cittŕ morta (1898) and Francesca da Rimini (1901), provided her with important parts. But some of her great successes during the 1880s and early 1890s -- the days of her chief triumphs -- were in Italian versions of such plays as La Dame aux camélias, in which Sarah Bernhardt was already famous; and Madame Duse's reputation as an actress was founded less on her creations than on her magnificent individuality. In contrast to the great French actress she avoided all make-up; her art depended on intense naturalness rather than stage effect, sympathetic force and poignant intellectuality rather than the theatrical emotionalism of the French tradition. Her dramatic genius gave a new reading to the parts, and during these years the admirers of the two leading actresses of Europe practically constituted two rival schools of appreciation. Ill-health kept Madame Duse off the stage for some time; but though, after 1900, it was no longer possible for her to avoid make-up, her rank among the great actresses of history remained indisputable.
[1] Hotel Schenley
Father: Alessandro Duse
Mother: Angelica Cappelletto (d. Sep-1873)
Husband: Tebaldo Checchi (m. 7-Sep-1881, d. 1918)
Daughter: Enrichetta (b. 7-Jan-1882)
Boyfriend: Martino Cafiero (journalist)
Boyfriend: Flavio Ando (actor)
Boyfriend: Arrigio Boito (playwright, 1887-98)
Boyfriend: Count Volkov
Boyfriend: Gabriele D'Annunzio (poet, 1894)
Girlfriend: Lina Poletti
Italian Ancestry
Is the subject of books:
The Life of Eleonora Duse, 1930, BY: E. A. Rheinhardt
Duse, 1984, BY: William Weaver
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