Alla Nazimova

Born: 1879-06-03

From Wikipedia Alla Nazimova (Russian and Ukrainian: Алла Назимова; 3 June [O.S. 22 May] 1879 – 13 July 1945) was an 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. She emigrated to the United States from the Russian Empire. In 1927, Nazimova became a naturalized citizen of the United States. She was signed up by the American producer Henry Miller and made her Broadway debut in New York City, in 1906 to critical and popular success. She quickly became extremely popular (a theatre was named after her) and remained a major Broadway star for years, often acting in the plays of Henrik Ibsen and Anton Chekhov. 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, which was produced by Lewis J. Selznick. A young actor with a bit part in the movie was Richard Barthelmess whose mother taught Nazimova English. In 1917, she negotiated a contract with Metro Pictures, a precursor to MGM, that included a weekly salary of $13,000. She moved from New York to Hollywood, where she made a number of highly successful films for Metro that earned her considerable money. She was influential in the film industry in the silent era and continued to play character roles until the end of her life. Between the years of 1917 and 1922 Nazimova wielded considerable influence and power in Hollywood. 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. 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). This late return to motion pictures fortunately preserves Nazimova and her art on sound film. She died of a coronary thrombosis, age 66, in the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. 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.


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Blood and Sand

as Senora Augustias
Released: 1941-05-30

Bullfighter Juan Gallardo falls for socialite Dona Sol, turning from the faithful Carmen who...

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Since You Went Away

as Zofia Koslowska
Released: 1944-06-30

In 1943, several people enter, re-enter, and exit the difficult life of a Midwestern family...

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Camille

as Marguerite Gautier
Released: 1921-09-26

Camille is a courtesan in Paris. She falls deeply in love with a young man of promise, Armand...

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Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 1942-01-01

The edition of Screen Snapshots celebrates 25 years of production. It looks at the content of...

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Escape

as Emmy Ritter
Released: 1940-11-01

An American goes to pre-war Germany to find his mother and discovers her in a concentration...

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The Heart of a Child

as Sally Snape (as Nazimova)
Released: 1920-04-11

A poverty-stricken Cockney girl rises through incredible adventures to become the wife of a...

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The Legend of Rudolph Valentino

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 1961-05-24

A documentary of Hollywood's first great Latin Lover, the contradictions in his personal life,...

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Stronger Than Death

as Sigrid Fersen
Released: 1920-01-11

Sigrid, A French dancer, diagnosed with a weak heart, is ordered by her doctor never to dance...

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In Our Time

as Zofia Orwid (as Nazimova)
Released: 1944-02-19

It is early 1939 in Poland when Mrs. Bromley and Jennifer come to buy antiques for her business...

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The Red Lantern

as Mahlee & Blanche Sackville
Released: 1919-05-04

Mahlee and Blanche Sackville are half-sisters, Blanche the daughter of an Englishman and his...

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Salomé

as Salomé
Released: 1922-12-31

Based on Oscar Wilde's play, the films tells the story of how Salomé agrees to dance for King...

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My Son

as Ana Silva
Released: 1925-04-19

A mother and her son's lives are upended by the arrival of a wealthy flapper to their small New...

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The Brat

as The Brat
Released: 1919-09-01

An unkempt chorus girl is arrested on a minor charge. In court, she is spotted by a novelist who...

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The Bridge of San Luis Rey

as Doña Maria - The Marquesa
Released: 1944-02-11

A rope bridge over a gorge in the Peruvian Andes snaps, sending five people plunging to their...

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Madame Peacock

as Jane Goring / Gloria Cromwell
Released: 1920-10-01

Jane Goring, a ruthlessly ambitious actress, forsakes her life as a wife and mother for the...

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Behind Natacha Rambova's Shadow

as Various Roles (archive footage)
Released: 2019-07-06

The adventurous life of Natacha Rambova (1897-1966), an American artist, born Winifred Kimball...

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Eye for Eye

as Hassouna
Released: 1918-12-22

The daughter of an Arab sheik falls in love with a French naval officer, thus breaking the...

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Out of the Fog

as Faith / Eve
Released: 1919-02-09

Faith’s life is shattered when her lover dies. Her brother Job locks her away in a lighthouse,...

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A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound

as Self
Released: 1940-10-24

This short documentary, presented and directed by MGM sound engineer Douglas Shearer, goes...

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Billions

as Princess Triloff
Released: 1920-12-06

Princess Triloff, an emigrée from Czarist Russia, escapes to America where she becomes a patron...

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A Doll's House

as Nora Helmer
Released: 1922-02-12

Nora Helmer has years earlier committed a forgery in order to save the life of her authoritarian...

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Toys of Fate

as Zorah / Hagah
Released: 1918-05-12

A gypsy girl whose mother committed suicide after being seduced and abandoned by a rich man...

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Madonna of the Streets

as Mary Carlson / Mary Ainsleigh
Released: 1924-10-19

Rev. John Morton, who is determined to follow as closely as possible the teachings of Jesus,...

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The Redeeming Sin

as Joan
Released: 1925-01-25

Lupin is the lover of Joan of the Apaches. She is attracted by Paul de Gafilet, nobleman and...

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Revelation

as Joline
Released: 1918-02-17

Joline, a cabaret singer in Paris, models for her lover, painter Paul Granville. Paul becomes...

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War Brides

as Joan
Released: 1916-01-02

Joan is loved by a young man of the village and they are married. In a few weeks the husband, a...

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