Biography

Gabrielle Réjane was born on June 6, 1856 in Paris, France. She was an actress, known for Madame Sans-Gêne (1911), Madame Sans-Gêne (1900) and Miarka, the Child of the Bear (1920). She was married to Paul Porel. She died on June 14, 1920 in Paris, France.

In 1877 Réjane made the first of many appearances in London. Parisian theatres customarily closed for a few weeks during the height of summer, and in July, with Vaudeville colleagues, she played at the Gaiety Theatre in the West End in the comedies Perfide comme l'onde, Nos alliées and Aux crochets d'un gendre. The Athenaeum applauded "a display of vivacity and espièglerie quite exceptional on the part of Mdlle Réjane", and The Morning Post found her "infinitely diverting".

The daughter of a former actor, Réjane studied at the Paris Conservatoire and made her stage debut in 1875.

After eight seasons at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in increasingly prominent roles, she became leading lady at the Théâtre des Variétés, a position she combined with appearances in more substantial plays at other theatre.

Gabrielle Réjane was a French actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

During the First World War, Réjane devoted much effort to helping the Allied cause, and she appeared at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in a patriotic drama called Alsace, and at the London Coliseum in a war-play entitled The Bet.