Italian actress Eleonora Duse was BOTD in 1858. Born in Vigevano, Lombardy, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, she grew up in a theatrical family, appearing in touring productions with her parents from early childhood. In 1878, she played the title role in a stage production of Émile Zola’s Thérèse Raquin, stunning audiences and critics with the psychological realism of her performance. Inspired by French theatre star Sarah Bernhardt, Duse began specialising in plays by French playwright Alexandre Dumas fils, appearing to great success in La Princesse de Bagdad, La Femme de Claude and Denise. In 1885, she formed the Drama Company of the City of Rome, touring through Europe and the United States. In 1894, she fell in love with the writer Gabriele D’Annunzio, bankrolling his career as he produced a series of plays for her to star in. She is best known as an exponent of the plays of Henrik Ibsen, becaming famous for her performances in A Doll’s House, Hedda Gabler, The Lady from the Sea, Rosmersholm and John Gabriel Borkman. Ibsen was deeply impressed by her performances of his work, commenting that she was “the one I did not deserve” and that no woman had loved him as she did. Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw was also a fan, praising the physicality and range of her performances. Duse married the Italian actor Tebaldo Checchi in 1881, with whom she had a daughter. After her married, she had a long-term relationship with composer Argio Boito, remaining friends throughout their life. As well as her affair with D’Annunzio, she lived for two years with the feminist Lina Poletti, and is also thought to have had an affair with dancer Isadora Duncan. After years of poor health, she announced her retirement from acting in 1909, though financial hardship required her to return to the stage in the 1920s. She toured through Europe and the United States, dying after a performance in Pittsburgh in 1924, aged 65.