Marie Colombier


Marie Colombier was an author, actress, and courtesan in late 19th century France. Colombier is perhaps best known for her contentious relationship with the actress Sarah Bernhardt, with whom she toured across America and Canada.

Early life and career

Marie recounts the story of her birth in her autobiography. Her unmarried mother wished to escape Auzances, France by obtaining the recognition of her father's rich and powerful family in Andalusia, Spain. This effort failed and the couple were separated; her mother was forced to walk back to Auzances, where she then gave birth to Marie. Colombier was raised by her grandmother in Auzances. At age seven, she and her mother settled together in Paris. At the age of 15, she ran away with the famous pianist Charles de Bériot, to Brussels, where his father lived. He helped her with her acting career; while in Belgium, she enrolled in lessons at the Théâtre de la Monnaie.
She returned to Paris in 1862, and passed through the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique, where in 1863, she was awarded with prestigious prize in tragedy and comedy. Marie debuted at the Théâtre du Châtelet, and she continued to master her craft, performing in shows at the Théâtre de la Gaîté (rue Papin), and Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin. Famous playwright and novelist George Sand cast Colombier in L'Autre alongside Sarah Bernhardt at the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe in 1870.

Relationship with Sarah Bernhardt

In 1880, Bernhardt took Colombier with her on her eight-month tour of the United States and Canada, which formed the basis of Colombier's Voyage de Sarah Bernhardt en Amérique, one of two works that describe the scandalous details of Bernhardt's behavior on tour. Its publication in 1881, followed by Les Memoires de Sarah Barnum, caused outrage among Bernhardt's supporters, which heightened its popularity, with thousands of copies selling out within days of its publication in Paris.
The anger felt by Bernhardt in wake of Colombier's defamation led her to send her son and the poet Jean Richepin to ransack Colombier's apartment on Rue de Thann. It is reported that Colombier was horsewhipped the same morning that Bernhardt tried to take legal proceedings to seize the books before they were printed and distributed across Europe. The exact details of the conflict, despite many public reports, remain unknown. News reports on the event conflict with Colombier's personal recollection that she wrote in Affaire Marie Colombier – Sarah Bernhardt.

Personal life

When theatres reopened after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the siege of Paris, and the Paris Commune, Colombier had an affair for several months with the poet François Coppée, starring in his successful comedy, Le Passant.
She then dated Henri Thierry, the son of one of the owners of the large foundries in Mulhouse, who left to exploit gold mines in Peru. Then Arthur Rostand, a young banker, who left her after two years under pressure from his family.
Among Colombier's relationships in the 1880s were the journalist Léon Duchemin and the Duke of Fernán-Núñez. Édouard Manet made a portrait of Colombier in pastel in 1882. Colombier gradually gave up the theatre, publishing several novels and several volumes of her memoirs.
She died in 1910 and is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Theatrical roles

La Jeunesse du roi Henri by Ponson du Terraill at Théâtre du Châtelet Les Mohicans de Paris by Alexandre Dumas fils at Théâtre de la Gaîté Les Enfants de la louve by Théodore Barrière at Théâtre de la Gaîté Le Paradis perdu by Adolphe d'Ennery at Théâtre de la Gaîté Les Trois Hommes forts by Hippolyte Hostein at Théâtre du ChâteletJean La Poste after Dion Boucicault at Théâtre de la GaîtéLa Reine Cotillon by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois at Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin Rocambole by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois at Théâtre de la Porte Saint-MartinL'Autre by George Sand at Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe Flava by Jean du Vistre at Odéon-Théâtre de l'EuropeLe Bois by Albert Glatigny at Odéon-Théâtre de l'EuropeMademoiselle Aïssé by Louis Bouilhet at Odéon-Théâtre de l'EuropeLe Rendez-vous by François Coppée at Odéon-Théâtre de l'EuropeLe Passant by François Coppée at Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe
  • Le Mariage de Figaro by Beaumarchais at Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe
  • Mademoiselle ''Trente-six vertus by Arsène Houssaye at Théâtre de l'Ambigu Jeanne d'Arc by Jules Barbier at Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux
  • Une cause célèbre, Théâtre de l'Ambigu, and later transported to Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin
  • American Tour with Sarah Bernhardt from October 1880 – May 1881
  • * Phèdre
  • * la Dame aux camélias
  • * Froufrou
  • * l'Étrangère
  • * le Sphinx
  • * le Princesse Georges
  • Léa by Jean Malus at Théâtre de la Comédie Parisienne Bianca'' by Marie Colombier at Théâtre Montansier

Writings

Many of her written works describe the lives of actresses and courtesans in late 19th-century France.

Nonfiction

Les Mémoires de Sarah Barnum, with introduction from Paul Bonnetain, illustrated by Adolphe Willette Affaire Marie Colombier – Sarah Bernhardt, les pièces à convictions. Mémoires fin d'empire. Préface par Armand Silvestre Mémoires fin de siècle
  • ''Mémoires fin de tout''

Fiction

Le carnet d'une Parisienne Le Pistolet de la Petite Baronne, with introduction Armand Silvestre Bianca Méres et Filles On en Meurt, La Plus Jolie Femme de Paris Courte & Bonne Nathalie, on en Muert Le Prince Brutus Sacha
  • ''Les Trois Princesses''