Charisma: Pinning down the Butterfly

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Francine Stock's history of the alluring yet elusive quality that is charisma

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Francine Stock explores Sarah Bernhardt and the beginnings of celebrity.

Sarah Bernhardt and the start of celebrity charisma - Francine Stock attempts to pin down the quality of charisma. From 2015.

Francine Stock attempts to pin down the alluring yet elusive quality of charisma

6.The "It" Factor
Sarah Bernhardt and the beginnings of celebrity charisma

In her day, the French actor Sarah Bernhardt was said to be the most famous woman in the world after Queen Victoria. The American scholar Edward Berenson helps Francine untangle the many strands of Bernhardt's appeal, from her beauty and energy on stage and screen, to her eccentricity (she was said to sleep in a coffin and keep wild animals as pets) and her later disability. Edward Berenson pin-points the moment when he believes Bernhard's celebrity was transformed into true charisma. And, as Bernhardt later appeared in the new art-form of film, Francine sets out on a path to explore the early movie stars who did - or, in many cases, did not - have the famed "It Factor". 

With contributions from the illusionist Derren Brown and the Australian author of a study of charisma, Professor John Potts. 

Reader: Simon Russell Beale
Producer: Beaty Rubens.

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