Anna Held
Actress, singer
Died when: 45 years 146 days (544 months)Star Sign: Pisces
Helene Anna Held (19 March 1872 – 12 August 1918) was a Polish-French stage performer on Broadway.While appearing in London, she was spotted by impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, who brought her to America as his common-law wife.
From 1896 through 1910, she was one of Broadway's most celebrated leading ladies, presented in a succession of musicals as a charming, coquettish Parisian singer and comedienne, with an hourglass figure and an off-stage reputation for exotic behavior, such as bathing in 40 gallons of milk a day to maintain her complexion.
Detractors implied that her fame owed more to Ziegfeld's promotional flair than to any intrinsic talent, but her audience allure was undeniable for over a decade, with several of her shows setting house attendance records for their time.
Her uninhibited style also inspired the long-running series of popular revues, the Ziegfeld Follies.
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