Wilhelmina Gerretje Sablairolles (11 August 1818 – 19 August 1891) was a Dutch stage actress. She was born into a thespian family and began her career as a child. As an young woman, she performed in breeches and ingénue roles. Her stage career lasted for forty-two years.

Biography

Sablairolles was born on 11 August 1818 in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

to Jacob Hendrik Sablairolles, an actor, and Johanna Scholten, a costume dresser. Her sisters, Suzanna Nannette, Sophie Theodora, and Henriëtte Jacqueline, also became actresses. She was raised in the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

faith. As a child, Sablairolles was involved with a theatre company ran by Willem Weddelooper and, from 1833 to 1876, with Le Gras, Van Zuylen, and Haspels in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. She was also involved at the Zuid-Hollandsche Tooneelisten. She performed for the first time at the age of four, as Karel in

August Wilhelm Iffland August Wilhelm Iffland (19 April 175922 September 1814) was a German actor and dramatic author. Life Born in Hanover, his father intended him to be a clergyman, but Iffland preferred the stage, and at eighteen ran away to Gotha in order to prep ...

's ''The Player of Revanche Prague''. She performed at the Kleine Komedie in Rotterdam until 1884. Her career began with child roles and later progressed to

breeches role A breeches role (also pants role or trouser role, or Hosenrolle) is one in which an actress appears in male clothing. Breeches, tight-fitting knee-length pants, were the standard male garment at the time these roles were introduced. The theatric ...

s and ingénue roles. In 1845, Sablairolles married the painter Jean Cretien Valois. She gave birth to eight children, six of whom lived to adulthood. Three of their daughters, Wilhelmina, Jacqueline Henriette, and Esther Johanna went on to become actresses. She was the aunt of the actor and playwright August Kiehl. Her husband became the theater director at Koninklijke Schouwburg in 1854, after which she was often given leading roles. Sablairolles was referred to "The Hague's wife Kleine", in reference to Maria Kleine-Gartman, who was a leading actress in the Netherlands. Sablairolles died on 19 August 1891 in Rotterdam.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sablairolles, Wilhelmina 1818 births 1891 deaths 19th-century Dutch actresses Actresses from The Hague Dutch members of the Dutch Reformed Church Dutch stage actresses Wilhelmina