HELENA

See also:

• HELENA MODJESKA (1844–1909)

MODJESKA (1844–1909)  , 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 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 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 . 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 .