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Google Doodle honors Polish American actress

12.10.2021 12:30
Tuesday’s Google Doodle is dedicated to the famous 19th-century Polish American actress Helena Modrzejewska, who is widely considered to be one of the world’s greatest Shakespearean actors of all time.
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Image:Google

“Widely regarded as one of the best actors in Polish history and one of the greatest Shakespearean stage performers in America, Modjeska portrayed nearly 300 different roles in over 6,000 plays, both in Polish and English,” Google wrote in its tribute on Tuesday, marking Modrzejewska's 181st birthday.

Modrzejewska was born in Kraków in 1840, and during her lifetime she developed a spectacular career at theatres in Kraków and Warsaw.

At the age of 36, at the peak of her career, she decided to leave Poland together with her husband and a group of friends to establish a utopian community in California.

Following several years of intensive study of English, she made her debut in the title role of Adrienne Lecouvreur at San Francisco's California Theatre.

Having changed her name to Modjeska, she quickly became a leading star on the American stage, where she reigned for the next 30 years.

Modjeska died in 1909 on Bay Island, California. Her funeral was held in Los Angeles but, in line with her last will, her remains were later taken by ship to Poland, to be buried at the Rakowicki Cemetery in Kraków.

(mk/jh)

Source: Google