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Thread: Pola Negri

  1. #1
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    Pola Negri

    From IMDb:
    Barbara Apollina Chalupiec (aka Pola Negri) was born in Janowa, Poland on New Year's Eve in 1894. Pola was born into a comfortable lifestyle until her father was arrested by the Russians and sent to a Siberian prison camp. Moving to Warsaw in 1902, she was to spend her formative years in dire poverty. As a teenager, Pola auditioned for the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet. She was accepted. As a ballerina she showed great promise until she contracted tuberculosis and was forced to cut short her dance career. Devastated that her dreams would no longer be fulfilled and wanting to escape poverty, Pola auditioned for the Warsaw Imperial Academy of Dramatic Arts and became a stage actress. By the time she was 17, Pola was a stage star in Poland. That was to change her life again with the advent of World War I. Once again Pola and her mother were plunged into poverty again, so she turned to film to make a go of it. Her first role was in the film, DIE BESTIE in 1915. By the time the war ended she had starred in the Polish production of SLAVE OF SIN in 1918. Her film career was becoming established. Her next film, later that year, was the highly acclaimed MADAME DU BERRY in 1919. It became an absolute sensation in Europe. The film was later released in the US under the name of PASSION. The film was so well received that she was given a contract to make films in Hollywood. Her USA career was off and running. In 1923 she landed the role of Maritana in THE SPANISH DANCER. The film was popular with filmgoers and they equally liked the productions of BELLA DONNA and THE CHEAT that same year. Her vamp roles were highly popular and she was a direct rival of Theda Bara. But her popularity was to be short lived. Pola made a spectacle of herself when she threw herself on the late Rudolph Valentino's coffin. The fans felt she was acting in public and began to turn away from her. The Hays Office, which regulated film content, would not allow her to portray the vamp roles that had made her famous elsewhere. Then the "talkie" revolution started. With her heavy accent, her dialogue did not come across well. Pola decided to return to Europe to continue her flagging career. However, she felt the Nazi regime would not allow her creativity so she returned to the US in 1941. She made _Hi Diddle Diddle (1943)_ in 1943 and became a US citizen in 1951. Her final film was as Madame Habib in 1964's The Moon-Spinners (1964). Retiring to San Antonio, Texas she died on August 1, 1987 at the age of 93.

  2. #2
    I remember reading her bio which she claims she was engaged to Rudolph Valentino. Yet I heard although he was doing her he was not going to marry her...

  3. #3
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    NEGRI was also a rather melodramatic publicity hound. When she attended VALENTINO'S funeral she alternated between hysterical sobbing, fainting & throwing herself upon his bier.
    Like NITA NALDI, SWANSON, THEDA BARA etcetera, she was one of those dark sirens who favored heavy make-up so prevalent in the 1920s. She was HITLER' favorite actress and had a good run in Germany during the 30s, but left there at the outbreak of WWII and returned to America. she pretty much retired by 1943, though she did make a guest appearance in THE MOONSPINNERS (1964) with HAYLEY MILLS. She'd been marreied to one of those (PRINCE) M'DVANI brothers who took her for a ride, i.e. CA$H. In later life, she was living with a good friend of hers in Texas who also happened to be loaded. The woman' last name I know was WEST, and there were rumors of a lesbian romance between the two, though as far as I know it was just rumor.





    above images from the late 1920s


    her hand & footprints @ GRAUMANS

  4. #4
    Kathyf Guest
    She was pretty I have seen her hand and foot prints at Graumans many times.

  5. #5
    Jaxxx Guest
    I'll bet ole Rudy wasn't doing her or any other woman

  6. #6
    ScottyMonger Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Jaxxx View Post
    I'll bet ole Rudy wasn't doing her or any other woman
    I think he was a switch-hitter.

  7. 12-11-2007, 09:49 AM

  8. #7
    leevancleef Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by KELT View Post
    NEGRI was also a rather melodramatic publicity hound. When she attended VALENTINO'S funeral she alternated between hysterical sobbing, fainting & throwing herself upon his bier.
    Just take a look at this shot.....


    She realized that her best chance for some easy publicity came with Ruddy's death. im not saying she didnt care about him, but c'mon. She even demanded that his casket HAD to be covered in white and red roses who formed the word POLA and she kept busy all the day making sure that every f photographer in Hollywood took a pic of it. She went nuts went the funeral organization forbid the paparazzos to enter the chapel.
    The ultimate melodramatic queen.

  9. #8
    dbrian Guest
    Did she have any money when she died?

  10. #9
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    This woman defined the word drama queen. She insisted on going everywhere with Rudolph's body. She is also chronicled quite well in the book Dark Lover. Reading about her she seemed like a fame hound. It was said she had an affair with Charlie Chaplin, then moved on over to ole Rudy. She and Tallulah Bankhead had a rivalry as well.

  11. #10
    Reecy Guest
    She was very pretty and I do remember her as a fame hound.

    The picture of the men holding her back is her reality. I thought i heard that people had said that she was the lady who put flowers on his grave all the time. The lady in black?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Reecy View Post
    She was very pretty and I do remember her as a fame hound.

    The picture of the men holding her back is her reality. I thought i heard that people had said that she was the lady who put flowers on his grave all the time. The lady in black?

    The man in the right of the photograph looks like he could well be
    LOUIS B. MAYER.

    NO, POLA NEGRI was never confirmed with having been the infamous Lady In Black. Of the three women who claimed to have been the notorious Lady, DITRA FLAME was the most credible.

  13. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by dbrian View Post
    Did she have any money when she died?
    One of the main benefits for POLA to be living with MISS WEST, who was an heiress to some oil fortune, was that WEST took care of the bills.

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    my mom was supposed to have resembled her in the old days
    pull the string!

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    You'll love this one then; this is of NEGRI in the 1970s.
    KELT' HOME FOR WAYWARD YOUTH-
    Helping Young Men To Turn Around For Over Twenty Years !

  16. #15
    More Cheese Please Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by KELT View Post
    The man in the right of the photograph looks like he could well be
    LOUIS B. MAYER.
    I believe that is Louis B. Mayer. Pola was a total drama whore and I agree with others here who neither believed her love affair with Rudy to be genuine nor her grief upon his passing.

    Last edited by More Cheese Please; 02-12-2009 at 06:12 PM.

  17. #16
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    I never get people who faint at funerals or other emotional events. It's almost always fake and annoying as all hell. Anyway, I highly, highly doubt she was engaged to old Rudy V. I think she was actually just a rebound for him and we all know how rebounds work.
    "You live alone, creating your life as you go." - Edie Sedgwick

  18. 02-12-2009, 12:06 AM

    Reason
    spam

  19. #17
    Lucy Furr Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by KELT View Post
    You'll love this one then; this is of NEGRI in the 1970s.
    Oh wow, I've never seen her like this

    I agree with ya MagneticElectric . Something tells me she had some "skills" other than her acting that kept him buzzing around. I loves me some Rudy but he somehow reminds me of the young Johnny Depp in that he could hook 'em but couldn't keep 'em: he wanted his idea of a family unit from day one. I got the sense that he was highly sensitive to his detriment, so much so that it was off putting and slightly annoying to many ladies. Arrogant, but sensitive in love and life.

    I hold firm to my belief that Natasha had the nards in thier union.
    Last edited by Lucy Furr; 02-12-2009 at 04:47 PM.

  20. #18
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    A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

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    A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

  22. #20
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    Heres a very good article detailing her life.
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/lif...ffset=0&page=1
    A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

  23. #21
    fultondyke Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Jaxxx View Post
    I'll bet ole Rudy wasn't doing her or any other woman
    Rudy wasn't doing Pola...Pola liked the ladies most!

  24. #22
    fultondyke Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by KELT View Post
    NEGRI was also a rather melodramatic publicity hound. When she attended VALENTINO'S funeral she alternated between hysterical sobbing, fainting & throwing herself upon his bier.
    Like NITA NALDI, SWANSON, THEDA BARA etcetera, she was one of those dark sirens who favored heavy make-up so prevalent in the 1920s. She was HITLER' favorite actress and had a good run in Germany during the 30s, but left there at the outbreak of WWII and returned to America. she pretty much retired by 1943, though she did make a guest appearance in THE MOONSPINNERS (1964) with HAYLEY MILLS. She'd been marreied to one of those (PRINCE) M'DVANI brothers who took her for a ride, i.e. CA$H. In later life, she was living with a good friend of hers in Texas who also happened to be loaded. The woman' last name I know was WEST, and there were rumors of a lesbian romance between the two, though as far as I know it was just rumor.





    above images from the late 1920s


    her hand & footprints @ GRAUMANS
    She made only a few films after 1930, and worked mainly in England and Germany, where she acted in several films for the Joseph Goebbels-controlled UFA. Writer Mercedes de Acosta alleged in her book Here Lies The Heart that she and Negri were involved in a lesbian affair during the 1920's.

    There have been many other women who have been documented as Pola's lovers...While she had relationships with men in her younger years, by the time she reached middle-age, she was exclusively lesbian.

  25. #23
    More Cheese Please Guest
    Pola singing....

    Pola Negri/Rudolph Valentino

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA8owf1Qkhs

  26. #24
    burgtwngrl Guest
    The seemed like a Drama Queen to me. but I love Divas...

  27. #25
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    Love the picture with the Borzoi (russian wolfhound) above.
    And here is a picture of a really well bred and young show horse named after her=my trainers have this horse in their barn now but it won its three year old world championship with another trainer
    I told my lawyer he's better step it up or we would both end up on an episode of "SNAPPED"

  28. #26
    radiojane Guest
    Apparently Gloria Swanson was none too pleased about being compared to her.... Both of them were in the process of messy breaks with European aristocratic men at the same time (Gloria's husband Henri was screwing Constance Bennett). Apparently Gloria thought the only thing worse than being cheated on was being in the same league as Pola.

  29. #27
    More Cheese Please Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by radiojane View Post
    Apparently Gloria Swanson was none too pleased about being compared to her.... Both of them were in the process of messy breaks with European aristocratic men at the same time (Gloria's husband Henri was screwing Constance Bennett). Apparently Gloria thought the only thing worse than being cheated on was being in the same league as Pola.

    Nice..... I believe the term "aristocratic" may be bandied about loosely...

  30. #28
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    Seems Siouxsie mined Polas iconography for visual inspiration.
    A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

  31. #29
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    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...portrait_5.jpg Pola Negri died on 1 August 1987, at the age of 90. Her death was caused by pneumonia; however, she was also suffering from a brain tumor, for which she had refused treatment. A physician by the name Juan Nieto from San Antonio, TX pronounced her dead. At her wake at the Porter Loring Funeral Home in San Antonio, her body was placed on view wearing a yellow golden chiffon dress with a golden turban to match.
    Last edited by Drew; 12-27-2013 at 05:46 PM.

  32. #30
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    Just saw The MoonSpinners on TCM and Pola was great as Madame Habib. Smart move by Disney to persuade her to come out of retirement for one more great role. Looking online for the documentary Life is aDream in Cinema, which features interviews with Hayley Mills and Eli Wallach and how they enjoyed working with Pola.
    Last edited by Dave62; 06-27-2019 at 05:24 PM.

  33. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave62 View Post
    Just saw The MoonSpinners on TCM and Pola was great as Madame Habib. Smart move by Disney to persuade her to come out of retirement for one more great role. Looking online for the documentary Life is aDream in Cinema, which features interviews with Hayley Mills and Eli Wallach and how they enjoyed working with Pola.
    I love that film, and she was great in it.
    Today you could be standing next to someone who is trying their best not to fall apart. So whatever you do today, do it with kindness.

  34. #32
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    The Moon-Spinners (1964) The film was Pola Negri's swan song, which means I started watching her filmography backwards (yeah, I haven't seen any other movie from her, recommendations are welcomed). She plays an eccentric millionaire with a yacht, tons of jewels and a super cool cheetah.


  35. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by fultondyke View Post
    Rudy wasn't doing Pola...Pola liked the ladies most!
    Very true.
    Carolyn(1958-2009) always in my heart.

  36. #34
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    Check out this, Woman of the World. She's a sophisticated, exotic European who (to get away from the boyfriend who cheated on her) moves to the U.S. Midwest - she conveniently has a married male cousin living in a small town there. It takes a bit of an adjustment on both Pola's part and the part of the townspeople to get used to each other. Try and think of Eva Gabor's Green Acres character: beautifully gowned and coiffed, living among the yokels. She captures the attention and ire of the local self-proclaimed Bible-Thumper (he's obsessed with her makeup, exotic jewels and furs AND her tattoo !!!). It's comic but has some nice serious moments.........

    ww.youtube.com/watch?v=yu2VIvEtLI8
    Last edited by Dave62; 07-10-2019 at 06:06 PM.

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