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Eleonora Duse
(October 3, 1859 - April 12, 1924) Italy

Eleonora Duse

Actress

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Eleonora DuseBorn in Vigevano, near Venice, of unknown parents, she had a nomadic and difficult childhood. She first went on stage as a young child and her great acting talents were already recognized by 1873, the year in which she played Juliet to great acclaim in Veron's famous Arena.

Her performance was bare and powerful with gestures reduced to the minimum and her lines delivered in a whispered voice. Her repertory extended from Shakespearean characters to the eroines of 19th century French drama. Duse ws the first actress in Italy to perform Ibsen's Nora and The Doll's House.
Eleonora DuseHer artistic and amorous relationship with Gabriele D'Annunzio was passionate but unhappy. During a period in which she temporarily stopped performing after 1909, Duse began a love affair with Lina Poletti (who had just ended relationship with the writer Sibilla Aleramo). Their relationship was tempestuous and marked by frequent quarrels. Also Duse's friendship with the dancer Isadora Duncan was rumored to be a lesbian relationship.

Eleonora DuseDeath struck Duse in Pittsburg, USA, where she was on a triumphant tour, during which the American poet Amy Lowell fell madly in love, at first sight, with Duse, in honour of whom she wrote her first lyrical verses. Duse was buried in Italy after a state funeral in the town of Asolo, a place she loved dearly and where she had bought a house in which, because of continuing renovation, she had never been able to live.

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Source: excerpts from: Aldrich R. & Wotherspoon G., Who's Who in Gay and Lesbian History, from Antiquity to WWII, Routledge, London, 2001

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