Helena Modjeska Cause of Death, Husband, Chlapowski, Immigration

Who is Helena Modjeska?

Helena Modrzejewska, professionally known as Helena Modjeska was a Polish actress who specialized in Shakespearean and tragic roles. She was very successful on the Polish stage. She is acknowledged as Poland’s best actress in the country’s theater history.

Helena Modjeska Age

Modjeska was born as Jadwiga Benda on 12th October 1840 in Free City of Krakow. She was later baptized as Helena Opid, being given her godfather’s surname.

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Helena Modjeska Family

Parents

Modjeska’s origins are a complicated topic however, her mother was Józefa (Misel) Benda, the widow of Szymon Benda, a prominent Kraków businessman. Modjeska stated in her autobiography that her father was a singer named Michael Opid. While the Benda family did hire a music instructor called Michal Opid, who eventually became Helena’s godfather, Opid was not the father of Józefa Benda’s two youngest children.

Siblings

Modjeska had a younger sister named Josephine, and several half-brothers from Józefa’s first marriage. Helena and Josephine were primarily raised by their great-aunt Teresa. There is information that Helena and her elder brother Adolf were the results of a love affair between Józefa and Prince Wadysaw Hieronim Sanguszko, a wealthy and powerful Polish aristocrat.

Helena Modjeska and  Gustave Sinnmayer

The details of Modjeska’s first marriage to her former guardian, Gustave Sinnmayer, were also glossed over in her autobiography (Polish: Gustaw Zimajer). Gustave was an actor and the director of a mediocre regional theatrical company. The exact date of Modjeska’s marriage to Gustave is unknown.

Many years later, she realized that they had never been officially married since he was still married to his first wife when they were wedded. The marriage had two children: a boy Rudolf (later called Ralph Modjeski) and a daughter Marylka, who died when she was a baby. Modjeska and Gustave divorced in 1868.

Helena Modjeska and Chlapowski

Modjeska married a Polish aristocrat, Karol Boenta Chapowski, on September 12, 1868. His ancestors were a class of hereditary landowners who held manorial estates. In order to obtain recognition in the United States, he adopted the stage name “Count Bozenta.” “Bozenta” was simpler to say than “Chapowski” for an English-speaking audience.

At the time of their marriage, Chapowski was the editor of Kraj (The Country), a liberal nationalist journal owned by Adam Sapieha and a Mr. Sammelson. According to Modjeska, their home became the focus of the creative and literary world. Modjeska’s salon was visited by poets, authors, politicians, painters, musicians, and other performers.

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Summary

• Name:Helena Modrzejewska
• Date of Birth: 12 October 1840
• Nationality: Polish
• Date of Death: April 8, 1909
• First Husband: Gustave Sinnmayer
• Second Husband: Boenta Chlapowski
• Cause of Death: Bright’s Disease

Helena Modjeska and Chlapowski immigration

Modjeska and her husband Chlapowski decided to move to the United States of America in July 1876, after spending more than a decade as the reigning diva of the Polish national theater for personal and political reasons. They bought a property outside Anaheim, California, after arriving in America accompanied by close friends.

Helena Modjeska Cause of Death

In 1897, Modjeska suffered a stroke that left her largely paralyzed, but she quickly recovered and returned to the stage, where she continued to play for several years. She did a jubilee concert in New York City on May 2, 1905. Modjeska passed away on April 8, 1909, in Newport Beach, California, USA at the age of 68 years.  She died after a long battle with Bright’s disease.

Bright’s disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that are now known as acute or chronic nephritis in modern medicine. It was identified by swelling and the presence of albumin in the urine, and it was commonly associated with high blood pressure and heart disease. Her remains were transported to Kraków and buried in the Rakowicki Cemetery at the family plot.