Mme. Pierre Berton

Known to readers as Madame Pierre Berton, she was Thérèse Meilhan, a French actress connected to the theatrical circle around Sarah Bernhardt. Her best-known book, Sarah Bernhardt as I Knew Her (1923), was presented as her memoirs and told to writer Basil Woon.

That memoir is valued for its intimate, firsthand perspective. Rather than giving a distant critical portrait, it recalls Bernhardt as a colleague and friend, mixing backstage stories, personal memories, and reflections on the theater world they shared.

Because reliable biographical information about her is limited in the sources I could confirm, many details of her life remain less documented than the famous people around her. Even so, her memoir preserves a rare voice from the era and helps bring the atmosphere of Bernhardt's world to life for modern readers.