The Lady of the Camellias
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The Lady of the Camellias (French: La Dame aux Camélias) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils, first published in 1848.
Adapted for the stage, La Dame aux Camelias premiered at the Theatre de Vaudeville in Paris, France on February 2, 1852. An instant success, Giuseppe Verdi immediately set about to put the story to music. His work became the 1853 opera, La traviata with the female protagonist "Marguerite Gautier" renamed "Violetta."
In the English-speaking world, La Dame aux Camélias became known as Camille and sixteen versions have been performed at Broadway theatres alone. The Lady of the Camellias is "Marguerite Gautier" who is based on Marie Duplessis, the real life lover of author Dumas, fils.
Since its debut as a play, numerous editions have been performed at theatres around the world. The role of the tragic "Marguerite Gautier" became one of the most coveted amongst actresses and includes performances by Margaret Anglin, Gabrielle Réjane, Lillian Gish, Eva Le Gallienne, plus Sarah Bernhardt who did the role in a 1912 film and on the stage in Paris, London and in several Broadway revivals.
The Lady of the Camellias has been made into approximately twenty different motion pictures in numerous countries and in a wide variety of languages. (For details see Camille (film)). The role of "Marguerite Gautier" has been played on stage and screen by Sarah Bernhardt, Clara Kimball Young, Theda Bara, Yvonne Printemps, Alla Nazimova, Norma Talmadge, Greta Garbo, Tallulah Bankhead, Micheline Presle, and Isabelle Huppert, amongst others. As well, it has been made into several movies for television.
The story was also in part the inspiration for the plot of Pretty Woman and Moulin Rouge!.
It is a story of a young man who has an affair with a courtesan, Marguerite. His father ends the affair, and Marguerite dies of tuberculosis.
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