Modjeska

Modjeska, Helena, Polish actress, born at Cracow in 1844, adopted acting as a profession in 1862. In 1876 she emigrated to America with her second husband, Count Chlapowski, and in the following year appeared at San Francisco as Adrienne Lecouvreur, the role which had made her reputation at Warsaw nine years earlier. Her acting excited the greatest enthusiasm in America, and she has also been well received at several London theatres.