She Wouldn't Take “No” For an Answer

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 762, 7 September 1929, Page 18

She Wouldn't Take “No” For an Answer

Cecile Sorel, the famous actress, whose haiid in marriage was sought hu the late Lord Rosebery, has Veen the central figure, in one of those human dramas which arc ever being staged in grim courts of justice. -t baby's kiss secured a pardon for a thieving father. Here the /treat actress tells how she fell in lore with a poilu.

Cecile Sorel, Idol of Paris, Tells How She Married the Comte de Segur . . .

ivjFn**El ECILE SOREL, now the Countess de Segur, and m still the idol of the ConifJL ' t * nellt iu general and Paris in particular, has fust brought joy to the .heart of a poor woman under somewhat unusual circumstances, writes W.P.N. in the “World's Pictorial News.” A few days ago she was the victim of a theft on the part of a man who stole a valuable bracelet worth several thousands of pounds. The man was caught, and eventually brought to justice. On the morning set apart for his trial, Cecile Sorel, magnificently attired, and beautiful as ever, drove up to the court in the company of her youthful husband. As she entered she caught sight of a woman, poorly clad, and carrying in her arms a small child, weeping. She went across to her. and in a gentle voice asked her what was wrong. The woman recognised her, and in a voice in which there was just the faintest trace of bitterness, replied: "You are going to send my husband to prison for stealing your bracelet. That is what is wrong.” Without hesitation, Sorel smiled, and hissed the baby. "Dry your tears,” she remarked to the mother, then walked straight into the court and asked permission to withdraw the charge, afterward giving the woman a handsome present as she bade her a smiling farewell. Like Gaby Deslys Such a gracious and magnanimous gesture as this is characteristic of Cecile Sorel. who is kindness itself at heart. Not that she cannot be very stern and determined if she so desires, and there is no better example of this perhaps than her marriage to the Count Guillaume de Segur. a member of one of the oldest -and noblest families in France. She literally captured her bridegroom, and bore hint off from the castle in which he was more or less imprisoned, defying his family, who did not approve of the match. In order to do this it. was necessary to practise a very cunning ruse.

Cecile Sorel—for as such she will always be known, although she is now a countess —like the late Gaby Deslys, was ever subject to the gentle call of romance, and her first meeting with the count was as romantic as could possibly be imagined. She was 62 years of age when, in the last days of the war, she set out

by an ordinary day train from Paris to Bordeaux. In the compartment In which she travelled was a young and handsome youth dressed in the uniform of a private in the French Army. He was reluctantly returning to the punishment which awaited him for having overstayed his leave while on a jaunt to the gay city. It was Guillaume de Segur, then heir to the title which he now holds. Love's Awakening! Tired out he fell asleep, only to awaken to find his head resting on the shoulder of Cecile. She had found the one man who could make her forget all her provious resolutions regarding marriage. “An actress ought, to belong to her public,” she told me. "I believe that it is more difficult for a married woman to give herself to her art, and the people feel that you belong to them more If you are not married." Her meeting with young de Segur altered all (his, and their romance survived the Armistice. “When it became known to his family, however, that he intended to marry an actress who was twice his age. they simply cut off his allowance until suc-h time as he should change his mind. But they were reckoning without Cecile; I promptly ordered my lover to bring his family to terms. ‘I know these provincial aristocrats.’ I declared, ‘You must shock them. Go upon the stage.’ ” The young lover had little talent, for the stage, however, but he discovered that he had remarkably insensitive muscles, and ho practised the arts of the fakirs, sticking pins and needles and even pen-knives into himself in public. When he commenced to go around as a sword swallower, the family thought things had gone far enough, and one day a closed car containing two detectives called at his flat, he was trussed up and carried off without delay and kept a prisoner in the de Segur castle in the Ardennes. At night he slept behind barred and guarded doors. “But T was undaunted, and I laid my plans carefully. With the aid of an actor from the Comedie Francaise. I drove out to a spot just outside the huge wall which surrounded the castle. The actor 'made up’ as an old peasant, managed to gain an entry into the grounds where he succeeded in getting word to Guillaume that I was waiting in a fast car at a certain spot.

| "The count at once set out on a boar hunt, and riding like the wind in the direction where he knew his Cecile was waiting, he rose in his stirrups, stood on his saddle, and then leapt on to the wall and was down in a flash Into the waiting car which at once drove off.” The Marriage Everything had been arranged, and they were married by the parish priest of the little village of Penues, and although the family tried their hardest to find some illegality, they could do nothing, and thus the famous actress became countess in one of the most exclusive families on the Continent. The embodiment of buoyant youth despite her age, she is quite frank in her enjoyment of the many conquests which have been hers, and as we sat in the lounge of the suite of rooms which she occupied over here I asked her point-blank what pleasure she had got out. of these conquests seeing that she had never married any of the great ones who had fallen at her feet. "I Never Look Back” "It is worth a world to know that | one has the power to kindle great men.” she replied. "To President Faure I pay the tribute of silence. I never look back. It is well known that Lord Rosebery honoured me by asking for my hand, but I preferred to retain my freedom.” It was her remark about Faure which was most significant to me, for I recalled how it was due to the latter's death that Sorel became famous almost in a day. She was but a young girl when she first met the President whose untimely death created such a sensation. He sought out the young actress, and with a number of other influential Frenchmen became one of a band of devoted admirers. Sorel held a gay court of these notables, and gradually advanced in her profssion, although without much publicity. Suddenly, however, hers was the name on everyone's lips, for France was shocked by the President’s tragic death from apoplexy—in Cecile Sorel’s apartments. The authorities made considerable mystery of the affair, and to this day the whole circumstances are enshrouded in mystery. Every official means were used by them to hush up the details, and they were hushed up. One fact emerged—Cecile Sorel was not at home when the tragedy occurred, and she knew nothing whatever about it till the news was taken to her at the theatre where she was appearing. Within a week she was one of the best known figures on the Continental stage, and In a flash it was recognised that she was also a great artist. It frequently happens this way.