Alla Nazimova

Alla Nazimova
Alla Nazimova

As Nora in A Doll's House
Born Miriam Edez Adelaida Leventon
3 June 1879(1879-06-03)
Yalta, Crimea, Russian Empire
Died 13 July 1945(1945-07-13) (aged 66)[1]
Los Angeles, California, United States
Other names Nazimova
Alia Nasimoff
Occupation Actress, screenwriter and producer
Spouse Sergei Golovin (m. 1899–1945) «start: (1899)–end+1: (1946)»"Marriage: Sergei Golovin to Alla Nazimova" Location: (linkback://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alla_Nazimova)
Charles Bryant (m. 1912–1925) «start: (1912)–end+1: (1926)»"Marriage: Charles Bryant to Alla Nazimova" Location: (linkback://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alla_Nazimova)
Partner Glesca Marshall (1929– 1945, Nazimova's death)

Alla Nazimova (Russian and Ukrainian: Алла Назимова; 3 June [O.S. 22 May] 1879 – 13 July 1945[1]), was a Russian American film and theatre actress, a screenwriter and film producer. She is perhaps best known as simply Nazimova, but also went under the name Alia Nasimoff.[2]

Contents

Early life

She was born Miriam Edez Adelaida Leventon (Russian: Мириам Эдес Аделаида Левентон, Ukrainian: Міріам Едес Аделаїда Левентон), one of three children of Yakov Leventon and Sonya Horowitz. The family was Jewish and lived in Yalta, Crimea (then a part of the Russian Empire; now a part of Ukraine). She grew up in a dysfunctional family and after her parents' separation was shuffled among boarding schools, foster homes, and relatives. A precocious child, she was playing the violin by age seven.[citation needed]

As a teenager she began to pursue an interest in the theatre and took acting lessons at the Academy of Acting in Moscow before joining Constantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre as "Alla Nazimova," and later just "Nazimova." (Her stage name was a combination of her middle name Adelaida and the surname of Nadezhda Nazimova, the heroine of the Russian novel Children of the Streets.[3]

Career

Nazimova in the 1911 Broadway play The Marionettes

Nazimova's theater career blossomed early; and by 1903 she was a major star in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. She toured Europe, including London and Berlin, with her boyfriend Pavel Orlenev,[3] a flamboyant actor and producer. In 1905 they moved to New York City and founded a Russian-language theater on the Lower East Side. The venture was unsuccessful; and Orlenev returned to Russia while Nazimova stayed in New York.[citation needed]

She was signed up by the American producer Henry Miller and made her Broadway debut in New York City, New York, in 1906 to critical and popular success. She quickly became extremely popular (a theater was named after her) and remained a major Broadway star for years, often acting in the plays of Henrik Ibsen and Anton Chekhov.[citation needed] Dorothy Parker described her as the finest Hedda Gabler she had ever seen.

Due to her notoriety in a 35-minute 1915 play entitled War Brides, Nazimova made her silent film debut in 1916 in the filmed version of the play. A young actor with a bit part in the movie was Richard Barthelmess whose mother taught Nazimova English.[4] This appearance brought her to the attention of Lewis J. Selznick. Over the next few years she made a number of highly successful films that earned her a considerable amount of money. By 1917 her contract was earning her $13,000 per week.[3]

In 1918, Nazimova felt confident enough in her abilities that she began producing and writing films in which she also starred. In her film adaptations of works by such notable writers as Oscar Wilde and Ibsen she developed her own film making techniques, which were considered daring at the time. Her projects, including A Doll's House (1922), based on Ibsen, and Salomé (1923), based on Wilde's play, were critical and commercial failures.

By 1925 Nazimova could no longer afford to invest in more films; and financial backers withdrew their support. Left with few options, she gave up on the film industry, returning to perform on Broadway, notably starring as Natalya Petrovna in Rouben Mamoulian's 1930 New York production of Turgenev's A Month in the Country and an acclaimed performance as Mrs. Alving in Ibsen's Ghosts. In the early 1940s, she appeared in a few more films, playing Robert Taylor's mother in Escape (1940) and Tyrone Power's mother in Blood and Sand (1941).

Private life

Jackie Coogan "Nazimova" (actress) Gloria Swanson Hollywood Boulevard Picture taken in 1907 of this junction Harold Lloyd Will Rogers Elinor Glyn (Writer) "Buster" Keaton William S. Hart (Two-Gun Bill) Rupert Hughes (Novelist) Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle Wallace Reid Douglas Fairbanks Bebe Daniels "Bull" Montana Rex Ingram Peter the hermit Charlie Chaplin Alice Terry (Actress) Mary Pickford William C. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille Use button to enlarge or cursor to investigate
This 1921 Vanity Fair caricature by Ralph Barton[5] shows the famous people who, he imagined, left work each day in Hollywood; use cursor to identify individual figures.

Marriages and children

In 1899 she married Sergei Golovin, a fellow actor. However, the marriage was "in name only"; and the two never legally divorced.[3]

While still in Russia and before coming to America in 1905, Nazimova may have given birth to a child. The father has been speculated to be either her husband Golovin or her lover Orlenev.[citation needed]

From 1912 to 1925 Nazimova lived in a "lavender marriage" with Charles Bryant (1879–1948),[6] a New York actor.[3][7]

Relationships with women

Between the years of 1917 and 1922 Nazimova wielded considerable influence and power in Hollywood.[3] By all accounts she was extremely generous to young actresses in whom she saw talent and became involved with at least some of them romantically. For instance, after meeting a young Patsy Ruth Miller at a Hollywood party, Nazimova assisted in getting Miller's career launched. (Miller got her first break with a small role in Camille.)[citation needed] Another noteworthy example was Anna May Wong, whose first film role at age 14 was as an extra in The Red Lantern.

Nazimova helped start the careers of both of Rudolph Valentino's wives, Jean Acker and Natacha Rambova. Although she was involved in an affair with Acker,[8] it is debated as to whether her connection with Rambova ever developed into a sexual affair. Nevertheless, there were rumors that Nazimova and Rambova were involved in a lesbian affair (they are discussed at length in Dark Lover, Emily Leider's biography of Rudolph Valentino) but those rumors have never been definitely confirmed. She was very impressed by Rambova's skills as an art director; and Rambova designed the innovative sets for Nazimova's film productions of Camille and Salomé.[citation needed]

Of those Nazimova is confirmed to have been involved with romantically, the list includes actress Eva Le Gallienne, director Dorothy Arzner, writer Mercedes de Acosta, and Oscar Wilde's niece, Dolly Wilde.[9] Bridget Bate Tichenor, a Magic Realist artist and Surrealist painter, was also rumored to be one of Nazimova's favored lovers in Hollywood during the World War II years of 1940 to 1942.[10] The two had been introduced by the poet and art collector Edward James, and according to Tichenor, their intimate relationship angered Nazimova's longtime companion, Glesca Marshall.[10] It was allegedly Nazimova who coined the phrase "Sewing circles" as code to refer to lesbian or bisexual actresses of her day who concealed their true sexuality.[1]

Nazimova lived with Glesca Marshall from 1929 until her death in 1945.[citation needed]

Life in the United States

Alla Nazimova with Herbert Brenon, August 9, 1916.

Her private lifestyle gave rise to widespread rumors of outlandish and allegedly debauched parties at her mansion on Sunset Boulevard, in West Hollywood, California, known as "The Garden of Alla", built in 1919. This mansion in 1927 became the Garden of Allah apartment-hotel complex. In later years, she continued to live in one of the villas there.[11]

In 1921, Nazimova, a friend of actress Edith Luckett and her husband, Dr. Loyal Davis, was made godmother to future U.S. First Lady Nancy Davis Reagan, Luckett's daughter from a previous marriage.[12] She was also the aunt of American film producer Val Lewton.[7]

Nazimova became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1927.[citation needed]

Death and memorials

She died of a coronary thrombosis, age 66,[1] in the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, California;[7] and her ashes were interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Her contributions to the film industry have been recognized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Legacy

Nazimova has been portrayed in film three times. The first two were biographical films about Rudolph Valentino: 1975's The Legend of Valentino, in which she was portrayed by Alicia Bond; and 1977's Valentino, in which she was portrayed by Leslie Caron. The most recent film portrayal was in Return to Babylon of 2004, a film about Hollywood's silent movie era, in which Laura Harring played Nazimova.[citation needed]

The American silent movie "Silent Life" (Vlad Kozlov, Isabella Rossellini et al) based on the life of Rudolph Valentino, where Nazimova has been played by Galina Jovovich, (also known as mother of Milla Jovovich) is expected to be released in 2012[13].

The character of Nazimova appears also in Dominick Argento's opera Dream of Valentino in which she also plays the violin.[citation needed]

Nazimova was also featured in make-up artist Kevyn Aucoin's 2004 book Face Forward, in which he made up Isabella Rossellini to resemble her, particularly as posed in a certain photograph.[14]

Filmography

Alla Nazimova
Year Film Role Notes
1915 War Brides Joan
1918 Revelation Joline
Toys of Fate Zorah/Hagah
A Woman of France
Eye for Eye Hassouna Also producer and co-director
1919 Out of the Fog Faith & Eve
The Red Lantern Mahlee & Blanche Sackville
The Brat The Brat Also producer and writer
1920 Stronger Than Death Sigrid Fersen Also producer
The Heart of a Child Sally Snape Also producer
Madame Peacock Jane Gloring/Gloria Cromwell Also producer and writer (adaptation)
Billions Princess Triloff Also writer (titles) and editor
1921 Camille Marguerite Gautier/Manon Lescaut in Daydream
1922 A Doll's House Nora Helmer Also producer and writer
1923 Salomé Salomé Also producer
1924 Madonna of the Streets Mary Carlson/Mary Ainsleigh
1925 The Redeeming Sin (1925 film) Joan
My Son Ana Silva
1940 Escape Emmy Ritter
1941 Blood and Sand Señora Augustias Gallardo
1944 In Our Time Zofya Orvid
The Bridge of San Luis Rey Doña Maria – The Marquesa
Since You Went Away Zofia Koslowska

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Alla Nazimova". http://www.silentsaregolden.com/photos2/allanazimova.html. Retrieved 2006-09-27. "Her death on July 13, 1945 was attributed to coronary thrombosis." 
  2. ^ "Alla Nazimova" (in German). http://www.deutsches-filminstitut.de/dt2tp0139.htm. Retrieved 27 September 2006. "auch: Alia Nasimoff (also: Alia Nasimoff)" 
  3. ^ a b c d e f )Mavromatis, Kally; Pringle, Glen (1999). "Alla Nazimova – Silent Star of February 1999". http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~pringle/silent/ssotm/Feb99/. Retrieved 27 September 2006. 
  4. ^ A Pictorial History of the Silent Screen by Daniel Blum c. 1953 page 111
  5. ^ Vanity Fair magazine September 1921, accessed 2009
  6. ^ Harbin, Billy J.; Marra, Kim; Schanke, Robert A. (2005). The Gay and Lesbian Theatrical Legacy. University of Michigan Press. p. 299. ISBN 0-472-09858-6 
  7. ^ a b c "Alla Nazimova Dies at 66" (JPG). 1945. http://www.eeweems.com/val_lewton/_imagery/nazimova_500.jpg. Retrieved 2006-09-27. 
  8. ^ Fleming, E. J. (2004). The Fixers – Eddie Mannix, Howard Strickling, and the MGM Publicity Machine. McFarland & Company. p. 56. ISBN 0-7864-2027-8 
  9. ^ Theophano, Teresa (2002). "Film Actors: Lesbian". glbtq.com. http://www.glbtq.com/arts/film_actors_lesbian.html. Retrieved 2007-12-14 
  10. ^ a b Bridget Bate Tichenor Website
  11. ^ Mavromatis, Kelly. "Alla Nazimova – Silent Star of February 1999".
  12. ^ "First Lady Biography – Nancy Reagan". The National First Ladies Library. 2005. http://www.firstladies.org/biographies/firstladies.aspx?biography=41. Retrieved 27 September 2006. "Her godmother was the famous actress Alla Nazimova" 
  13. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1099209/
  14. ^ Look-alike makeups | stars, starlets & actresses | the 1920s | various portrayals | themakeupgallery at www.themakeupgallery.info

Further reading

  • Golden, Eve (2001). Golden Images – 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-0834-0.
  • Lewton, Lucy Olga (1988). Alla Nazimova, My Aunt, Tragedienne: A Personal Memoir. Minuteman Press.
  • Lambert, Gavin (1997). Nazimova: A Biography, Knopf, 420pp. ISBN 0-679-40721-9.
  • Mennefee, David W. (2004). The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era. Connecticut: Praeger. ISBN 0-275-98259-9.
  • Smith, Frederick James (September 1918). "Those Nazimova Eyes!" in Picture Play.

External links


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Alla Nazimova — Alla Nazimova. A Doll s House …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Alla Nazimova — Alla Nazimova, fotografiada por Maurice Goldberg en 1922. Nombre real Mariam Edez Adelaida Leventon Nacimiento 22 de mayo de 1879 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Alla Nazimova — en 1922 Données clés Nom de naissance Mariam Edez Adelaida Levent …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Alla Nazimova — noun United States actress (born in Russia) (1879 1945) • Syn: ↑Nazimova • Instance Hypernyms: ↑actress …   Useful english dictionary

  • Alla Nasimowa — Alla Nazimova. A Doll s House …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Nazimova — Alla Nazimova. A Doll s House …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Alla (Vorname) — Alla ist ein weiblicher Vorname, welcher vor allem im slawischen und skandinavischen Raum Verbreitung findet. Im Schwedischen stellt er eine Kurzform von Namen, die mit Al beginnen dar. Im friesischen und niederländischen Sprachraum ist der Name… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Nazimova — noun United States actress (born in Russia) (1879 1945) • Syn: ↑Alla Nazimova • Instance Hypernyms: ↑actress * * * /neuh zim euh veuh/; Russ. /nu zyee meuh veuh/, n. Alla /ah leuh/, 1879 1945, Russian actress in the U.S …   Useful english dictionary

  • NAZIMOVA, ALLA — (1879–1945), Russian U.S. actress. Born in Yalta, Nazimova went to New York with a Russian company in 1905, making her debut in the play The Chosen People. She stayed in the United States, became a success on the U.S. stage, and had her first… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Nazimova, Alla — ▪ Russian actress pseudonym of  Alla Leventon   born June 4, 1879, Yalta, Crimea, Ukraine, Russian Empire died July 13, 1945, Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.   Russian born and Russian trained actress who won fame on the American stage and screen.… …   Universalium

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