Later Life
Rubinstein is not considered to be in the top tier of ballerinas; she began her training too late for that to have been a possibility. She did, however, have tremendous stage presence and was able to act. She was also a significant patron and she tended to commission works that suited her abilities, works that mixed dance with drama and stagecraft. In 1934 the French government awarded her the Légion d'honneur, and then in 1939 the Grand Cross of the order, their highest honor. In 1935 she was awarded honorary French citizenship, and in 1936 she converted to Roman Catholicism.
In 1940 she left France during the German invasion, and made her way to England via Algeria and Morocco. There she helped wounded Free French soldiers until 1944. Walter Guinness, her long-term occasional boyfriend and sponsor, remained supportive, providing a suite at the Ritz Hotel, until he was assassinated by the Stern Gang in late 1944. She returned to France, living finally at Les Olivades at Vence.
She died in 1960 at Vence, France, and is buried nearby.
Read more about this topic: Ida Rubinstein
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