Elvire Popesco never corrected her Romanian accent, and what might have been a handicap became her signature from her arrival in Paris in 1923. Having joined the company of the National Theatre of Bucharest at twenty, she reigned forty years over the Paris stage, which nicknamed her Our Lady of the theatre. She died in 1993, one year short of a century. The carving takes one more year from her.
The story
Elvire Popesco never corrected her Romanian accent. What might have kept her off the Paris stage became her signature: arriving in Paris in 1923, the actress brought with her a way of speaking that cut across the smooth diction of the boulevard theatre of her day.
Born in Bucharest on 10 May 1894 and a member of the Bucharest National Theatre company at twenty, she reigned over the Paris stage for forty years and came to be called “Notre-Dame du théâtre”, Our Lady of the theatre. In 1934 she bought, at Mézy-sur-Seine in the Yvelines, the villa Robert Mallet-Stevens had built for the couturier Paul Poiret — a long white concrete vessel Poiret had never had the money to finish, and a listed monument today.
She died on 11 December 1993, at ninety-nine. Her stone in Division 85 has her born in 1895 — a year later than her birth certificate. The detail is a pleasing one: she won that year back after her death.
The grave
An inscription of three elements, containing an error: “Elvire POPESCO, 1895-1993”. Her civil record gives 10 May 1894 — the stone takes a year from her. The detail is piquant for an actress who fought against age to the end of her days. Neither the National Theatre of Bucharest, nor forty years of Parisian boulevard theatre, nor “Our Lady of the theatre”.
On site, do not miss
Read the date: the stone carves “Elvire POPESCO, 1895-1993” when her civil record gives 10 May 1894.
Visitors' questions
Where is Elvire Popesco's grave?
In Division 85, Avenue Transversale No. 3, first row — the Division of Marcel Proust and the Countess of Castiglione. The inscription runs to three elements: “Elvire POPESCO, 1895-1993” — with the wrong year of birth.
Marcel ProustIs there a mistake on her grave?
Yes, in the year of birth: the stone carves 1895 where her civil record gives 10 May 1894. One year out, on the grave of a woman who fought her age to the very end.
The Countess of CastiglioneWhy did her accent become so famous?
Because she never corrected it. She came from Bucharest and made her name in Paris from 1923 with that Romanian accent, which became her signature — and a note of authenticity against the polished diction of the boulevard theatre of her day.
Sarah BernhardtWhere did she live?
At Mézy-sur-Seine, west of Paris, in a house people called the “Maison blanche”, the white house, or the château Popesco. She herself was nicknamed “Our Lady of the theatre” — she reigned over the boulevard for forty years.
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