Rudolfs Saulē

Rudolfs Saulē
Born	1903 Vidzeme, Latvia
Died	1975 Chicago, Illinois
Nationality	Latvia
Education	Latvian National Ballet
Occupation	ballet master, performer, artist, actor, carpenter

Rūdolfs Saulē was a Latvians-born, performer, professional actor, ballet master and artist. He was born in 1903, near Cēsis or Sigulda, in the province of Vidzeme, Latvia. His mother, Kristine died in his youth, and Saulē moved to Riga, Latvia, soon thereafter. He performed widely for the Latvian National Ballet, as a part of their core team during the late 1920s and 1930s, under Osvalds Lemanis. Saulē is renowned for his role in the commedia dell'arte performance of Scaramouche.

Origins

Rūdolfs Saulē was born December 27, 1903, near "the Estonian border", in or near Cēsis, Vidzeme, Latvia, formerly "Livonia". He had multiple siblings, two brothers and one sister, all of whom were older than him, by a number of years. His father, Janis Saulē, died in a car crash leaving the family before Saulē reached of age, and his mother, Kristine, was forced to encumber the pressures of daily life. Sometime during the 1910s, around the Great War, Saulē served in what became the Latvian Army, but in a specific unit for "youth guards". He officially moved to Riga, Latvia in the early 1920s or late 1910s, following the end of World War I. It was in Riga, that Rudolfs was able to study and pursue a career in the performing and fine arts.

Saulē was fluent in Latvian, later English, upon arrival in the United States, as well as some knowledge of the Russian and German languages.

Latvian National Ballet and Opera House

Rūdolfs Saulē performed and taught for the Latvian National Ballet. Herein, he studied under great Russians artists and performers whom had inspired Osvalds Lemanis. The idea of establishing a permanent ballet troupe came in 1922 when St. Petersburg Marinsky Theater ballet teacher and director Nikolai Sergeyev began instructing dancers, who gathered in Riga. Saulē is perhaps, most renown for his role in the Italian comedy, Scaramouche, performing in 1923.^[1] Saulē is also known for his roles in the Latvian interpretations of Don Quixote, Cavalier of Roses, the cardinal in Esmeralda, Señor of Bolero and "Cavalier Henry" in The Last Dream, among a handful of others.

Post-World War II in Europe

Saulē managed to escape along with "a band" or group of ethnic-Latvians through what was East Prussia and into Western Germany, where they were initially marked for heavy labor in a German Bosch military industrial complex devoted to replacement parts for tanks and tracked vehicles, approximately 90 km south of Berlin. Upon realization, among the German High Command, that this particular group were professional performers, the prisoners were assigned the task or role of entertainment, while confined by the Wehrmacht. Saulē and his Latvians cohorts were forced into this labor program, "at the threat of death."

After combat hostilities ceased, the group made their way through Bayern (Bavaria) and into Western Austria, specifically Salzburg. Here, there was to be a "gathering" of free Latvians, who were attempting to formally flee Soviet occupation and oppression, alongside the destruction from the war. During this time, Saulē and his peers performed for Allied Commanders (i.e. HQ British Army of the Rhine, July 1948) across Southern Germany (Süd Deutschland) and Austria (die Österreich), as they marched onward to secure emigration status to the United States. The Latvian Ballet, at this point, a "traveling" performance group, performed for the US Third Army in München (Munich) on June 8, 1947 and in Stüttgart, Saulē performed the role of "Lieutenant Raymond" on November 19, 1946.

Post-World War II in the US

Rūdolfs Saulē moved to the Chicago, Illinois area, specifically, Oak Park, Illinois in the early 1950s. He spent his latter years in the presence of asbestos, as he applied sheet rock and dry wall in his newly-found occupation as an internal carpenter and transfer warehouse worker.^[2]

Death

Rūdolfs Saulē died in 1975 from leukemia, having spent his days in the presence of asbestos, as he applied sheet rock and dry wall as an internal carpenter.^[3] He died in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, and was survived by his wife Dzidra "Sandra" Saulē (née Erikson) and their three children. Dzidra Saulē resides in Central Minnesota.

See also

• Latvian National Ballet
• Latvian People
• List of Latvians

References