From 1884 to 1924, Eleonora Duse was the most prominent actress in the world, as well known as any movie star today.

Primarily a theater actress, there is almost no trace of her on film. Accounts of her work talk of her realism and quiet. In her soulful and spiritual book, “The Mystic in the Theater“, author Eva Le Gallienne recounts Duse’s personal stories about her quest for authenticity.

To that end, Duse would try all kinds of things to bring truth to her work, including isolating herself in her dressing room before performances and facing toward the corner for hours. In everything she did, Duse attempted to “eliminate the self”.

There is one known way to see her work today; the 1916 silent film Cenere.

“The Italian theater legend also came to films late in career, recreating her stage triumph ‘Cenere’ for the cameras in 1916. Duse was the latest in a long string of theatrical royalty to act before the camera, but she ruefully discovered there were dramatic differences between the mediums. “I made the same mistake that nearly everyone has made,” she said upon seeing ‘Cenere’ on the big screen. “But something quite different is needed. I am too old for it. Isn’t it a pity?” Indeed it was, as Duse would never venture before the cameras again, leaving ‘Cenere’ as her only film record.” – Film Threat, Feb. 8, 2005

Read more on Eleonora Duse, her life and her work on Wikipedia, on this blog post and in the wonderful 1965 book, “The Mystic in the Theater” by Eva Le Gallienne, a respected actress in her own right who met Duse and saw her live on stage.