Stephanie Deste

Stephanie Deste (22 January 1901 – 14 April 1996) was an Australian actor, dancer, radio broadcaster, and beautician.

Deste made important contributions to Australian theatrical culture through her stage and radio work and was an influence and inspiration to other artists.

Stephanie Deste was born Fanny Rosine Deitz on 22 January 1901 at Liège in Belgium, the daughter of Isidore Deitz, a linen merchant from a Sephardic Jewish family, and Christine Manheim, a musician from a Dutch family of goldsmiths and musicians.

Fanny's father died when she was young and by 1911 she, her mother, and her younger sister, were living in England (at Eastbourne in county Sussex) with her maternal aunt, Flora van Lier, and her husband Simon (both professional violinists).

Fanny's first acting roles were "playing child parts in Shakespearean presentations".

In 1914, aged thirteen, Fanny began studying acting and dance at the Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

Fanny Dietz adopted the stage name of 'Stephanie D'Este'.

By 1917, aged sixteen years, D'Este was a member of a company of actors in London performing two plays a week, presenting melodramas such as The Lights o' London and The Dangers of New York.

As a fluent French speaker, she was also a member of a French company.

By the early 1920s she had relocated to North America where she found work in Chicago and New York, often in roles portraying a sensuous exotic dancer.

D'Este played leading roles in the comedy play Masks and Faces and in 1920 she had a role in the bazaar scene of Chu Chin Chow in London, which she played "with a snake curled up on her shoulder".

In September 1921 D'Este travelled to Canada to perform in John Galsworthy's play The Skin Game.

By her later account, the play "flopped"; when it was time to return to England D'Este "ran away" and eventually made her way to Chicago.

D'Este had decided to remain in America because the theatres of London were "still recovering" from the effects of World War I.

From November to February 1923 D'Este performed the role of "a gentlewoman" in Shakespeare's Hamlet, at the Sam H. Harris Theatre in New York's theatre district (with a cast that included John Barrymore in the title role and Tyrone Power Sr.. as Claudius, King of Denmark).

D'Este was cast as Salome in Oscar Wilde's play of the same name by the Co-Operative Play Company in Chicago.

While she was engaged with the company D'Este became ill and spent several months in hospital.

In a 1924 interview she "defined America as the land of activity and England as a nice land in which to be lazy".

In Chicago D'Este was initially unable to find a job because of her English accent, a period she later described as involving "some starvation and several misadventures".

D'Este eventually relocated to New York "where the English accent was an asset" and found work with the Theatre Guild, appearing in many of their productions including Peer Gynt.

She also found work with the Marion Wilcox Company on Long Island.

After her recovery she found work as a model, before returning to New York where in 1924 she was engaged to again play Salome.

By July 1924 D'Este was performing in the title role in Salome, playing at The Triangle Theatre in Greenwich Village, New York.

In her performances in both New York and Chicago, Stephanie D'Este ended up playing the title role in Oscar Wilde's Salome a total of 850 times.

D'Este was forced to discontinue her role as Salome at The Triangle after she sprained her ankle, followed by a bout of influenza.

The operetta Rose-Marie, written by Otto Harbach and Oscar Hammerstein II, had opened in the Imperial Theatre in New York in September 1924.

In 1925 Deste was engaged to play the Indigenous Canadian temptress Wanda in JC Williamson's Australian production of Rose-Marie, which proved to be highly successful, running for two years (which included a record-breaking season in Sydney followed by a tour of the Australian states and New Zealand).

Deste's performance as Wanda, leading the spectacular Totem dancers, was considered a highlight of the show.

After recovering, by about March 1925 she was playing The Woman in a one-act version of The Woman of Samaria at The Triangle Theatre, as well as performing dances at the Yiddish Art Theatre.

During this period she found roles in motion pictures, including as a dancer in the silent film Soul Fire.

D'Este also had several small roles in films featuring Douglas Fairbanks.

From April to June 1925 D'Este had a prominent role in Aloma of the South Seas, a play by LeRoy Clemens and John B. Hymer, which was performed in the Lyric Theatre on 42nd Street in New York.

One day during 1925 D'Este was attending a matinee of the performance, sitting in the front near the stage, when an usher tapped her on the shoulder and told her Mr. Hammerstein wished to speak to her backstage.

Hammerstein told her the leading lady had broken her jaw and the actress playing the mixed-blood Indigenous Canadian girl Wanda was to move into the leading role of Rose-Marie.

In 1928 she featured in The Desert Song in Melbourne, before returning to Europe for about six years where she performed and organised theatrical productions, as well as studying modern methods of cosmetic treatments in Paris.

She was a resident of Melbourne from 1936 to her death in 1996; with her flamboyant dress and mannerisms and a conspicuous public presence, Deste was considered to be one of the great characters of Melbourne.

Deste was born into a Jewish family in Belgium but settled in England as a child after the death of her father.

She studied acting and dance and found regular work in London theatrical productions.

Deste returned to Australia in 1936 and settled in Melbourne where she operated and managed successful beauty clinics, made regular radio broadcasts and occasionally returned to the stage.

She was well known in Melbourne due to a high public profile and her ostentatious and exuberant personal style.