Writer Fredy Germanos describes him as an opportunistic and hedonistic person, whose marriage to the great diva would inevitably intensify and maximise his vices, namely, his vanity and obsession with women, alcohol, and drugs.

After finishing school in Piraeus, Damala spent four years abroad, mainly in England and France, where he pursued diplomatic studies.

[4] His affair with the wife of a Parisian banker, Paul Meisonnier, ruined the woman's reputation to the extent of forcing her to leave France.

[6] One of his documented affairs was with the young daughter of a Vaucluse magistrate who had left her parents and home to follow Damala to Paris, where he deserted her when their illegitimate child was born.

During that period, Bernhardt was about to begin her world tour; knowing that Damala was transferred in Saint Petersburg and interested in meeting him again, she decided to arrange a six-month stay in Russia despite the fact she had previously and repeatedly rejected offers of making appearances there.

Indeed, she resided in Saint Petersburg for a few months, as an official guest of Emperor Alexander III of Russia, during which her romance with Damala flourished.

[11] However, in most cases, Bernhardt was so overwhelmed by her infatuation for him that she tolerated his insults and even begged him for forgiveness, behaviour which reaffirmed that Damala had the upper hand in the relationship.

After Bernhardt left Russia to extend her tour to other European countries, Damala resigned from the Diplomatic Corps and followed Sarah's theatre circle.

[13] Even though Bernhardt presented Damala to reporters with the phrase "This ancient Greek god is the man of my dreams",[14] the marriage became the object of criticism and even satire for press.

Despite the humiliations she endured, giving money to Damala so as to pay his mistresses and debts to prostitutes, and the fact her husband's infidelity had been a common topic for gossip, the lovelorn Benrhardt tolerated all of these.

Following their return to Paris, Damala, compelled by the perspective of becoming a theatre star, decided to pursue an acting career.

Some time later, Bernhardt bought a theatre, the Théâtre de l'Ambigu, and made the unfortunate decision of appointing Maurice as the manager and Damala as the leading man.

Bernhardt seems to have been blinded by emotion: Damala has been described as exceptionally untalented, lacking any acting qualifications, technique, or timing, and possessing an unintelligible Greek accent.

[16] Bernhardt was oblivious of all these shortcomings, and on the basis of her attraction for him, considered him appropriate and cast him as Armand Duval in La Dame aux Camélias (The Lady with the Camelias).

Bernhardt is cited as telling a (rather shocked) Alexandre Dumas about Damala: "Won't he make an excellent Armand?

Bernhardt left Richepin and the couple reunited for a while; soon, however, the marriage deteriorated even further, due to Damala's extreme drug addiction and the final separation was to come.

Since Bernhardt was very strict with her Catholic views, she only opted for a semi-legal separation, which also settled that, in return for certain sums she sent to him on a monthly basis, he would never re-enter her life.

That same year, in 1883, he performed the most memorable role of his career (save for Armand) as Philippe Berlay opposite Jane Hading in the stage adaptation of Georges Ohnet's novel Maître de Forges (Ironmaster).

Despite these few prolific plays, Damala was quickly forgotten or even deliberately ignored by the Parisian society, following his separation from the great diva.

In March 1889, Bernhardt returned to Paris after a year-long European tour and received a message from Damala informing her that he was dying in Marseille and begged her to forgive him and take him back.

The fact she never stopped loving and caring for her husband was proved that very moment: she abandoned her performances in Paris, rushed to him and nursed Damala, whose health was wasted as a result of his longtime addiction.

Just after the second performance, he was considered incapable of playing the part, due to his now permanent lack of clarity and continuous influence from alcohol and drugs.

Bernhardt was furious to discover that Damala's illegitimate daughter was placed in her care and contemplated having the infant drowned on the river Seine.

Bernhardt's servants attempted to notify Damala of his child, but he was unable to contemplate the situation, due to severely reduced clarity (a result of his deep addiction).

Thankfully, his daughter's life was saved by a friend of both Bernhardt and Damala, gun dealer and future tycoon Basil Zaharoff, who proposed to take the child so that he could find a surrogate family for her.

She kept "Damala" as her legal name until she died, though her decision caused her some troubles during World War I when an officer in a consular office at Bordeaux refused to grant her a visa to her passport, due to the fact the latter was Greek (King Constantine of Greece was thought to support the German side during the war and the French state refused to grant visas to Greek passports).

[27] On one occasion during his marriage to Sarah, the famous author of Dracula, Bram Stoker, dined with Damala backstage at the Lyceum, he noted: "I sat next to him at supper, and the idea that he was dead was strong on me.

had a brief affair with notorious Irish-born American author and journalist Frank Harris, as recounted by the latter in his scandalous autobiography My Life and Loves.

Harris also recounts an incident in Trieste when Bernhardt publicly lashed out against her husband for his infidelities, to which Damala responded "Madame, you will never again have the opportunity of calling me names".