One thought on “Eleanora Duse”

1. shinichi Post author07/03/2014 at 11:14 pm

   Eleonora Duse (1858 – 1924) was an Italian actress, often known simply as Duse.

   In 1896, Duse completed a triumphant tour of the United States; in Washington President Grover Cleveland and his wife attended every performance. Mrs. Cleveland shocked Washington society by giving in Duse’s honor the first-ever White House tea held for an actress.

   Her biographer, Frances Winwar, records that Duse wore little make-up but, “…made herself up morally. In other words, she allowed the inner compulsions, grief and joys of her characters to use her body as their medium for expression, often to the detriment of her health.”

   Setting a new precedent from actors who previously used set expressions to convey emotions, Duse was the innovator of a technique she described as “elimination of self” to internally connect with the character she was portraying and allow expression to occur.

   Quotes:

   If I had my will, I would live in a ship on the sea and never come nearer to humanity than that!

   To help, to continually help and share, that is the sum of all knowledge; that is the meaning of art.

   The one happiness is to shut one’s door upon a little room, with a table before one, and to create; to create life in that isolation from life.

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