Poppaea Sabina turning his 'loyal subjects' the Roman populace against him. (This form of murder may have been suggested to the screenwriters by Tacitus' claim that Nero had made several unsuccessful attempts at strangling his first wife, Octavia, when drunk.) Another portrayal of Poppaea is featured in the 1932 film "The Sign of the Cross". She is seen bathing in asses' milk. Daringly for the time, she is portrayed (by Claudette Colbert) as being openly bisexual, suggestively inviting a female slave to bathe with her in the asses' milk, but lusting after Roman soldier Marcus Superbus (Fredric March). In the 1976 BBC
Sabina Coyne Sabina Coyne Sabina Mary Coyne (born 7 May 1944) is an Irish actress, political activist and the wife of the current President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins. Coyne grew up on a small farm near Ballindine, County Mayo. Her mother would tell stories from Charles Dickens while milking the cows, an influence on her later decision to take up acting, in which she trained using Stanislavski's system. She was a bridesmaid at the wedding of singer Luke Kelly to Deirdre O'Connell, who trained her in this. She met Higgins in 1969 at a party in the family home of journalist