DEATH OF IDA RUBINSTEIN

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29339, 19 October 1960, Page 2

DEATH OF IDA RUBINSTEIN

Great Dancer And Actress Was 75

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

PARIS, October 17. Ida Rubinstein, who was hailed as the greatest actress of her generation, has died at the age of 75.

She died in seclusion at Vence, on the French Riviera, on September 20, but her death only became known today. The “Queen of the Stage” dazzled theatre and ballet audiences for 30 years until the outbreak of World War 11, when she retired.

Born of wealthy Russian parents at St Petersburg (now Leningrad) she studied under famed Russian actors and dancers before she went to Paris at the age of 18 with Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet Troupe in 1909. In 1912 she formed her own dance company with which she toured the world.

It was Ida Rubinstein who introduced Ravel’s "Bolero” to the ballet world in the Paris State Opera in 1934.

“Semiramis" by Paul Valery and Arthur Henhegar, “Persephone” by Andre Gide with music by Stravinsky and Ravel’s “La Valse” were among other ballets she made famous. Composers like Debussy and Ravel pleaded to write for her productions. One of her closest friends was the Italian poet, Gabriele D’Annunzio, who described her as “the most beautiful harmony of the visible - soul.”