she set the standard of great acting for all actors. Smithson's excellent acting muddled perceptions of her personality with that of her female characters. At the height of her career, she became the figurehead for the French Romantic movement. The many French Romantic pieces of art, plays, music, and written works she had inspired depicted her as Ophelia, Juliet, and Harriet. The most famous of these works was Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique. After Berlioz saw Smithson as Ophelia in 1827, he became infatuated with her, or rather with "a dramatic image [of a woman] lent force by supreme art of Shakespeare and intensity by a highly charged occasion and performance." His obsession prompted him to compose the Symphonie Fantastique, which is known as the first great romantic symphony. Marriage to Hector Berlioz Berlioz discovered Smithson at the Odéon Theatre performing the roles of Juliet Capulet and Ophelia and immediately fell in love with her. He persistently sent her letters despite never having met her. For a brief period, he lived in an apartment whence he could see her return home and watch her until she went to sleep. She ignored all of his advances until 1832, when she was invited to a performance of Lélio, a sequel to his Symphonie Fantastique, by a mutual friend. She realized that the symphony was about her and sent Berlioz a message congratulating him. Berlioz quickly received permission to meet her and they became lovers. Despite her quiet reluctance and the opposition of both families and friends, they were married at the British Embassy in Paris on 3 October 1833. Louis, the couple's only child, was born on 14 August 1834. Smithson soon became resentful and jealous of Berlioz as his musical success distanced him from her. As she became increasingly possessive and ill, Berlioz began an affair with Marie Recio, a singer at the Paris Opera, who was to be Berlioz’ second wife. Smithson eventually moved out of the matrimonial home on the rue Saint Vincent, Montmartre, to the rue Blanche in 1843, but was still financially supported by Berlioz. Death Toward the end of her life, Smithson suffered from paralysis, which left her barely able to move or speak. She died on 3 March 1854, at her home on the rue Saint-Vincent, and was buried at the Cimetière Saint-Vincent. Berlioz later had her body reinterred at the Montmartre cemetery when Saint-Vincent's was