Biography
Marguerite Sylva, also credited as Marguerita Sylva, was a Belgian-born mezzo-soprano and actress. Born Marguerite Alice Hélène Smith in Brussels, she achieved prominence on the opera stage, particularly in the title role of Bizet's Carmen, which she performed hundreds of times. She also appeared in operetta and musical theatre.
Sylva made her Broadway debut in the early twentieth century and continued stage work into the 1930s, with credits including Golden Dawn (1927) and Three Waltzes (1937). In later years she took small character roles in Hollywood films, among them Marta in The Leopard Man (1943), Mrs Bella Romari in The Seventh Victim (1943), and uncredited parts in To Have and Have Not (1945) and The Gay Senorita (1945). She died in Glendale, California, in 1957.
