Anne Régina Badet (9 October 1876 – 26 October 1949) was a French comedic actress, dancer, and star of the Ópera-Comique de Paris.

Career

Badet was first dancer with the

Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux The Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux is an opera house in Bordeaux, France, first inaugurated on 17 April 1780. It was in this theatre that the ballet ''La fille mal gardée'' premiered in 1789, and where a young Marius Petipa staged some of his firs ...

in 1890. She began with the Opéra-Comique de Paris in 1904, dancing in productions of ''

Lakmé ''Lakmé'' is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille. The score, written from 1881 to 1882, was first performed on 14 April 1883 by the Opéra-Comique at the (second) Salle Favart in P ...

'' (1905), ''Aphrodite'' (1906, in which she shared billing with dancer

Mata Hari Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (née Zelle; 7 August 187615 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari (), was a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I. She was executed by ...

), ''Ariane et Barbe-Bleue'' (1907), ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'' (1908), ''Bacchus triomphant'' (1909), ''Le Mariage de Télémaque'' (1909), ''Athanaïs'' (1910), ''Sapphô'' (1912), ''La Grande Famille'' (1914), ''Un Mari dans du Coton'' (1916), ''Les Trois Sultanes'' (1917), ''Appassionata'' (1920), and ''Le Venin'' (1923). She was known for creating the role of Conchita Perez in a stage adaptation of ''La Femme et le Pantin'' (1910), in which her very minimal costume was a matter of some scandal. Badet appeared in French silent films ''Le Secret de Myrto'' (1908), ''Le Retour d'Ulysse'' (1909), ''Carmen'' (1910), ''La Saltarella'' (1912), ''Zoé a le cœur trop tendre'' (''A Woman's Last Card,'' 1912), ''Le Spectre du passé'' (1913), ''Vendetta'' (1914), ''Manuella'' (1916), ''Le Lotus d'or'' (''The Golden Lotus'', 1916), ''Sadounah'' (''No Greater Love'' 1919), and ''Maître Évora'' (1922). Her dances were often in the popular exotic style, referencing ancient or "

oriental The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

" themes. "Mlle. Badet does not seem to content herself with the lavish display of her charmingly pretty figure," commented an American writer, "but to run the gamut from the somewhat acrobatic and to our eyes grotesque posturing and 'stunts' which found so much favor with the ancients, to dances of ideas and emotions of a much higher and more poetic order, mingled with passages of adoration of and oblation to the goddess whom she serves." An American publication described her as "A Dancing

Bernhardt Bernhardt is both a given name and a surname, deriving from multiple languages, such as German. Notable people with the name include: Given name: *Bernhardt Esau (born 1957), Namibian politician and Deputy Ministry of Trade and Industry *Bernhardt ...

," quoting her as saying "Every woman can live artistically," and "Nature never intended that a single woman should be plain or unattractive." Badet was considered a great beauty of the Paris stage. A rose variety was named "Regina Badet" in 1909. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

she was active in the Union des Arts, theatrical professionals in Paris raising funds for war relief.

Personal life

The Château Marbuzet in Bordeaux was reportedly built for Badet at great expense. It remains today as part of a vineyard. Pianist

Arthur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American pianist.

described a shipboard affair with Badet, on their way to Argentina in 1917. Badet died in 1949, aged 73 years, in Bordeaux. She was survived by her husband of three years, François Merman. In 2016, Régina Badet was played by actress Hélèna Soubeyrand in a French film, '' Chocolat'', about the Paris stage of the late nineteenth century.

References

External links

* *
Photographs of Régina Badet
at Getty Images.
Régina Badet
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

A photograph of Régina Badet
in the J. Willis Sayre Collection of Theatrical Photographs, University of Washington Libraries.
A photograph of Régina Badet
in the George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress. {{DEFAULTSORT:Badet, Régina French female dancers French actresses 1876 births 1949 deaths French women in World War I