Felicia Montealegre Bernstein

Felicia Montealegre Bernstein (6 February 1922 – 16 June 1978) was a Chilean-American actor, painter, pianist, and social activist born in San Jose, Costa Rica.[1] As an actor, Montealegre was famous for her performances in televised dramas at beginning of the Golden Age of Television,[2] and in theatrical roles on and off Broadway.[3]

Felicia Montealegre Bernstein
Born
Felicia Montealegre Cohn

(1922-02-06)February 6, 1922
San José, Costa Rica
DiedJune 16, 1978(1978-06-16) (aged 56)
East Hampton, New York
Spouse
​
(m. 1951)​
Children3

She also appeared with symphony orchestras throughout the United States in dramatic acting and narrating roles, including collaborations with her husband, American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein.[4]

Life and career

Early life and education

Montealegre was born on February 6, 1922[5] in San José, Costa Rica to Clemencia Montealegre Carazo (1898–1963),[6] and Roy Elwood Cohn (1884–1952),[7] a United States mining executive then stationed in Costa Rica. She had two sisters, Nancy Alessandri and Madeline Lecaros.[8] Educated in Chile, she was raised Catholic, and later converted to Judaism, when marrying Leonard Bernstein (her own paternal grandfather had been Jewish).[9] In 1944, Montealegre established herself in New York, where she took piano lessons from her Chilean compatriot Claudio Arrau.[10]

Television career

Beginning in 1949, Montealegre starred in leading roles on weekly television anthology dramas for Kraft Television Theatre (NBC), Studio One (CBS), Suspense (CBS), The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre (NBC) and The Philco Television Playhouse (NBC), among others.[2]

Montealegre made her television debut on NBC's Kraft Television Theatre on May 11, 1949 as Hygieia in Mary Violet Heberden's "The Oath of Hippocrates" alongside actors Dean Harens and Guy Spaull.[11] In 1950, she appeared in the leading role of Nora Helmer in dramatization of Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House," alongside John Newland and Theodore Newton.[12]

Montealegre made her first appearance on The CBS Television Network's Studio One in the psychological thriller "Flowers from a Stranger" (aired May 25, 1949), alongside actor Yul Brynner.[13] She acted in eleven teleplays between 1949 and 1956, including "Of Human Bondage" (aired November 21, 1949), based on Somerset Maugham's novel; Montealegre played Mildred opposite Charlton Heston as Philip Carey.[14] In 1952, she co-starred alongside Heston again in "The Wings of the Dove," based on the 1902 eponymous novel by Henry James.[15]

Montealegre appeared in four episodes of the Suspense series (1949-1954), live teleplays featuring people in dangerous situations.[16] In an episode entitled "The Yellow Scarf" (air date June 7, 1949), she played a housekeeper Hettie, who finds herself in a strange scenario involving her mysterious employer Mr. Bronson, portrayed by Boris Karloff, and a social mission worker, Tom Weatherby, played by Douglass Watson.[17]

Concert performances

Montealegre's voice can be heard on two works conducted by Bernstein: his own Kaddish Symphony as well as a version of Debussy's Le martyre de Saint Sébastien, partially performed in English.

Montealegre features prominently in Tom Wolfe's essay "Radical Chic."

Personal life

Montealegre met composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein in 1946 at a party given by Arrau.[10] Their first engagement was broken off, and she subsequently had a several-year relationship with Broadway and Hollywood actor Richard Hart.[18][19] After Hart's death she married Bernstein, in 1951, with whom she had three children, Jamie, Alexander and Nina.

Montealegre helped found an anti-war organization educating women against the war in Vietnam "Another Mother for Peace" in 1967, and became controversial when she and Bernstein hosted an evening for the Black Panther Party in 1970. She was a primary focus in Tom Wolfe's New York essay recounting the events of that night entitled "Radical Chic: That Party at Lenny's".[20] Two years later, she was also one of the 100 individuals arrested in an antiwar protest in Washington, D.C.[21]

On her mother's side she was a relative of actress Madeleine Stowe, their common ancestor being Mariano Montealegre Bustamante, Vice Head of State of Costa Rica.

Montealegre died of lung cancer in East Hampton, New York, in 1978, aged 56.

References
  1. Hume, Paul (June 17, 1978). "Felicia Bernstein, Actress, Wife of Noted Conductor". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  2. "Felicia Montealegre". IMDb. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  3. "Felicia Montealegre, performer". Playbill Vault. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  4. Archives, New York Philharmonic Shelby White & Leon Levy Digital (April 1958). "New York Philharmonic, 1958 Apr 24, 25, 27". New York Philharmonic Shelby White & Leon Levy Digital Archives. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  5. "Felicia Montealegre". IMDb. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
  6. "FamilySearch.org". ancestors.familysearch.org. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  7. "Roy Cohn". geni_family_tree. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
  8. "Felicia Montealegre C. Bernstein, Actress, Composer's Wife, Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
  9. Secrest, Meryle (1995). Leonard Bernstein: a life - Meryle Secrest - Google Books. ISBN 9780679737575. Retrieved May 2, 2012.
  10. Simeone, Nigel (2013). The Leonard Bernstein Letters. Yale University Press. p. 559. ISBN 978-0-300-17909-5.
  11. The Oath of Hippocrates, Kraft Theatre, May 11, 1949, retrieved March 27, 2023
  12. "Kraft Theatre" A Doll's House (TV Episode 1950) - IMDb, retrieved March 1, 2023
  13. "Studio One" Flowers from a Stranger (TV Episode 1949) - IMDb, retrieved March 27, 2023
  14. "Studio One: Of Human Bondage (1949)". Retrieved March 13, 2021 – via Internet Archive.
  15. "Studio One" The Wings of the Dove (TV Episode 1952) - IMDb, retrieved March 27, 2023
  16. Suspense (TV Series 1949–1954) - IMDb, retrieved March 27, 2023
  17. Stevens, Robert (June 7, 1949), The Yellow Scarf, Suspense, retrieved March 27, 2023
  18. "Richard Hart: Yearning for the Stage". Films of the Golden Age (77): 66. Summer 2014.
  19. "Richard Hart". neptune.spaceports.com.
  20. "Tom Wolfe on Radical Chic and Leonard Bernstein's Party for the Black Panthers". New York Magazine. April 15, 2008. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  21. Thomas, Robert McG. Jr. (June 17, 1978). "Felicia Montealegre C. Bernstein, Actress, Composer's Wife, Dead". The New York Times. Retrieved March 13, 2021 – via NYTimes.com.
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