Ralph Herz

Son of Dr.Cornelius Herz (1845-1898), famous politician and electrician of Jewish German origin, and of Bianca Saroni (1855-1939) from Boston; he was born in Paris where the family emigrated in 1877. Ralph studied at Ecole Alsatienne and later at Eton and Trinity college. When his father lost his fortune through an investment with Ferdinand De Lesseps in the building of the Panama Canal, he was brought up by his aunt Mathilda Herz, wife of Italian baritone Napoleone Zardo. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he turned to the stage; his first stage appearance was at Haymarket, London, in "The School for scandal" in 1900; in 1902 he went to the USA with Mrs. Pat Campbell's company.