Q 01/05

What was Sarah Bernhardt's name at birth?

A) Sara Judith Hirsch

B) Rosine Julie Damala

C) Henriette-Rosine Bernard

D) Marie-Rosalie Bernhard

Answer · why

C) Henriette-Rosine Bernard

Henriette-Rosine Bernard: her birth record burned with the Paris archives in 1871, so even the day she was born was long disputed.

Q 02/05

What was the profession of Bernhardt's mother, Judith Bernard?

A) Actress

B) Opera singer

C) Governess

D) Courtesan

Answer · why

D) Courtesan

Courtesan: her aunt was one too, and in her lean early years Sarah followed them, living off wealthy admirers between roles at the theatre.

Q 03/05

Which ceremony did the animal-loving young Bernhardt stage at her convent school?

A) Baptising a kitten in the font

B) Marrying two doves at the altar

C) Crowning her dog May Queen

D) Giving her pet lizard a Christian burial

Answer · why

D) Giving her pet lizard a Christian burial

Giving her pet lizard a Christian burial: she led her classmates in a funeral procession for it, and the passion lasted, since the grown star kept a c...

Q 04/05

Which powerful family friend proposed at a family council that the teenage Bernhardt should become an actress?

A) Alexandre Dumas fils

B) Emperor Napoleon III

C) The Duke of Morny

D) Baron Haussmann

Answer · why

C) The Duke of Morny

The Duke of Morny: she had wanted to be a nun, but he was the emperor's half-brother and his word settled it, then opened the doors of the Conservatoi...

Q 05/05

Which novelist said of the stick-thin young Bernhardt that she had 'the head of a virgin and the body of a broomstick'?

A) Gustave Flaubert

B) Théophile Gautier

C) Alexandre Dumas père

D) Prosper Mérimée

Answer · why

C) Alexandre Dumas père

Alexandre Dumas père: the creator of The Three Musketeers made the crack after her 1866 debut at a new theatre, yet two years later his own play Kean ...