Sarah Bernhardt (October 23, 1844 – March 26, 1923) was the most famous actress of the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Her fame reached legendary heights in Europe in the 1860s and 1870s after which she formed a theatre company of her own that traveled to far off destinations including the United States, Canada, Brazil, Australia, and Russia.

Before the art of marketing was refined, Sarah Bernhardt embraced all kinds of creative ways to promote herself including cleverly endorsing products for a fee. She gave Czech artist Alphonse Mucha his start when she retained him to create posters for her in his Art Nouveau style.

Bernhardt was the world’s first superstar. She captivated a generation of theatre- and moviegoers including Mark Twain who wrote "There are five kinds of actresses. Bad actresses, fair actresses, good actresses, great actresses, and then there is Sarah Bernhardt."

Oscar Wilde called her ‘the Incomparable One’, and ‘the Divine Sarah.’ Victor Hugo praised ‘her voice of gold.’ And Sigmund Freud wrote that when he saw her on stage he ‘had the feeling I had known her for years.’ Her fame was truly International in a world where transatlantic flight was unknown and there was no Internet.

Bernhardt hobnobbed with royalty and the famous wherever she went. Famous chefs named entrées and desserts after her. A well-known flower named after her, the Sarah Bernhardt peony, is still widely grown.

Bernhardt starred in many of the most popular French plays of her day including Alexandre Dumas fils’ La Dame aux Camelias (Camille), Victor Hugo’s Ruy Blas, Edmond Rostand’s L’Aiglon, and Victorien Sardous’ Fédora and La Tosca. She also played travesti parts (male roles) including Shakespeare's Hamlet. At the turn of the century when the movie industry was in its infancy, she boldly assumed roles to be seen on the Silver Screen. She was the actor to star in a full length silent film, Queen Elizabeth (1912).