French (?) actress (1873-1918). Actually, she is more likely to have been Russian, Polish, or even American. She was a minor actress who is better remembered for the various scandals that followed her throughout her life.
She performed for years in Europe, where she was popular because she was absolutely gorgeous and because she didn't mind flashing her legs on stage. She met Florenz Ziegfeld, who brought her to New York, where she became so popular on Broadway that she became a millionaire without having to dip into Ziegfeld's monetary gifts. Her influence helped inspire the Ziegfeld Follies in 1907.
She got a lot of praise for touring France during World War I, where she performed for French soldiers and raised money for the war effort.
She was once involved in a messy lawsuit with a dairy company, which claimed that Held refused to pay them $64 for 400 gallons of milk delivered to her hotel suite. Held believed that bathing in milk would keep her complexion rosy, and she claimed that the dairy delivered sour milk. The suit was eventually settled out of court.
Her main claim to fame was an astounding hourglass figure. Exact data on her measurements don't seem to be available, but she did have an 18-inch waistline. Some photos that exist of Held make her look almost cartoonish -- like Jessica Rabbit squeezed into a Victorian-era dress. It was widely rumored that she'd had her lower ribs surgically removed to preserve her waistline, and that she laced her corset much too tightly.
When she died at age 41, doctors officially listed her cause of death as myeloma. Ziegfeld did not attend her funeral, as he had a phobia of death.