Duse, Eleonora

Duse, Eleonora (1858-1924), Italian actress, who was considered one of the leading actors of her time and, in the opinion of some critics, superior even to the renowned French actress Sarah Bernhardt. Duse's reputation was due to her sympathetic portrayal of the sufferings of human beings, her ability to convey powerful emotion, and her sense of realism, touched, however, by a poetic spirit.

Duse was born on October 3, 1858, in Vigevano. Her father was a strolling player, and she made appearances with his company as a young child. In 1873 she attracted favourable attention when she appeared in Verona as Juliet in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, but she did not achieve widespread recognition as an actress until 1878, when she appeared in Naples in Les Fourchambault (1878, The House of Fourchambault), by the French dramatist Émile Augier. The following year the noted Italian actor Cesare Rossi engaged her as his leading lady; her work with his company gave her an international reputation. In Rossi's company and, after 1886, on her own, she toured Europe, Egypt, and the United States; she appeared in New York for the first time in 1893, at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, in La Dame aux Camélias, by the French novelist Alexandre Dumas fils.

From 1878 to 1897 Duse's principal roles were those of Marguerite Gautier in La Dame aux camélias; Magda in Die Heimat, known in England and the United States as Magda, by the German playwright Hermann Sudermann; Santuzza, a role she created, in Cavalleria Rusticana (1880; trans. 1928), by the Italian writer Giovanni Verga; and Hedda in Hedda Gabler (1890; trans. 1912) and Ellida in The Lady from the Sea (1888; trans. 1912), both by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. In 1897 she began a close friendship with the Italian poet and playwright Gabriele D'Annunzio. Thereafter she devoted herself principally to acting and promoting interest in D'Annunzio's plays, particularly La Gioconda (1898; trans. 1902) and Francesca (1902; trans. 1902), until her retirement in 1909 because of ill health. Financial losses caused her to return to the stage in 1921, and for three years, in spite of failing health, she toured Italy and played in England and the United States. She died on April 21, 1924, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was buried at her summer home in Asolo, Italy.