Born: 12 October 1840, Poland
Died: 8 April 1909
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Helena Modrzejewska, Jadwiga Benda
From Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company:
Helena Modjeska (1844-1909), a Polish actress, who after 1876 resided in the United States. Born in Krakow, daughter of Michael Opido, a musician, she was married in 1860 to a manager named Modrzejewski, from the contraction of whose name comes that by which she is known. Three years after her husband’s death in 1865, she married Count Bozenta Chlapowski, a Polish politician and critic, and the same year began an engagement at the Imperial Theatre in Warsaw, where she enacted the leading roles for some time. In 1876 political difficulties and ill health led her to go with her husband and others to California, where they established a Polish colony near Los Angeles, but this plan proving unsuccessful, she decided to return to the stage. After studying English for only a few months, she made her first appearance in San Francisco in 1877 as Adrienne Lecouvreur, and immediately established herself as a tragic actress of the first rank. During the following years she played in New York and London, and was everywhere acclaimed as a notable impersonator of Shakespearian characters, among them Ophelia, Rosalind, Viola, Imogen, Cleopatra and Lady Macbeth; but she also excelled as Mary Stuart, Camille, Magda and more modem parts, her great natural gifts gaining her a foremost rank upon the American stage, despite the fact that she never used English with ease. In May 1905, she was given a farewell benefit in New York City at the Metropolitan Opera House, after which she retired to her home in Southern California.
In her autobiography, “Memories and Impressions of Helena Modjeska” (New York, 1910), she says: “When I was young, I yearned for fame, but later on all other considerations paled against the enthusiasm of the work itself. I fell in love with my art. To get out of myself, to forget all about Helena Modjeska, to throw my whole soul into the assumed character, to lead its life, to be moved by its emotions, thrilled by its passions, to suffer or rejoice—in one word, to identify myself with it and reincarnate another soul and body, this became my ideal, the goal of all my aspirations, and at the same time the enchantment and attraction of my work. I was very often misjudged and misunderstood, oftener yet appreciated beyond my merits—and yet none of the comments upon my value made me deviate from my aim, which was always the grasping for my ideal, as far as it could be attained—which at the end proved a struggle for the impossible.
“The keynote of my conceptions was always founded on human sympathy, and I persistently tried to find a redeeming side to the weaknesses and errors of my heroines, whilst, on the other hand, I endeavored in the execution never to lose sight of the aesthetic objects of art. Another advantage I reaped, which I value most highly, was the Privilege I shared with several illustrious countrymen of mine in proving to the outside world that our unfortunate and much-maligned nation, Poland, is always alive, and cannot be relegated to oblivion, as its civilization and art are undeniable tokens of its vitality.
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Helena Modjeska, the great Polish dramatic artist, was born in Malopolska in 1842.
She made her professional debut in 1865 at the Theatre of Krakow. Immediately acclaimed by the public, she was offered all the important roles in drama and comedy. At this time she married Count Karol Chtapowski, but continued to use the name under which she had become famous. She attained a reputation for great ability and remarkable versatility in her art. In 1876, Modjeska came to California, where she mastered the English language. Her first American appearance was in San Francisco in the role of Adrienne Lecouvrer, in which she achieved a distinct triumph. After a successful tour of America, she appeared in 1880-82 in London and the larger cities of England. Modjeska made a tour of Europe in 1891; and then, with her own troupe, another extensive tour of America, her repertoire consisting mainly of Shakespearian plays. In 1903, during her last visit to Poland, she interpreted leading roles in the tragedies of the famous dramatist, Stanislaw Wyspianski. She established a permanent residence in California, and in 1905, before a large and distinguished assembly, a public tribute to her genius was paid at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. This gifted artist made her last appearance in January 1909; and she died on the 4th of April of the same year. Her ability to act was so remarkable, her personality so vibrant, that every one in the audience was under her spell from the moment she appeared on the stage. She has gained for herself immortahty in the history of the theatre, and her contribution to the culture of the world cannot be measured.