-1Pola Negri!

Pola Negri was born on the 3rd of January 1894. She died at the age of 93, on
the 1st of August 1987. She was a polish actress who made films portraying
herself as a ‘Vamp’. A Vamp is a woman who entices men and uses them for
her own advantages.
Pola Negri was a silent film actress and also an early talkie actress. She was
a ‘Vamp’ by reputation, a tragedienne in practice, but an amazingly gifted
actress in truth. However, her fame went down hill during the talkie films; as
the audience did not warm to her heavily accented voice, and her Vamp style
fell out of vogue.

She was an only child in a poor family. Her mother had to make a living alone,
after her father was arrested by the Russians. In 1902, they both moved to
Warsaw, where they lived in extreme poverty. This is where her career began.
She turned to acting and by the end of World War I she had established
herself as a popular stage actress in Warsaw, appearing in several films; such
as Slave and Senses in 1914.
During her short screen career in Warsaw, she gained much popularity, acting
with various other artist of the time.

Career!

In 1917, her popularity based in Warsaw, provided her with an opportunity to

move to Berlin, Germany, where she appeared in several film for the directors
of UFA agency. Many of there films were successful throughout the world, and
in 1922 both were offered contracts with Hollywood studios.
In 1923 - the following year - Pola Negri settled in the U.S Her exotic style
and glamour proved popular during the 1920’s and her affairs with notable
actors of the time such as; Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino ensured
that she stayed in the public-eye.
She was one of the most popular Hollywood actresses of that time, and
certainly the richest woman of the movie industry at the time. She lived in a
palace in Los Angeles, modelled after the White House, with her prince.
However, her popularity quickly began to fade.

Pola Negri’s ‘Vamp’ style began to go fade out, and the talkie films went down
hill with her accented voice. As she put it: "They went from Pola to Polaroid."
Also, when the Hayd Code was introduced in 1930, it prevented her from
using her staging techniques, for which she was so popular in Europe. The
ban on "scenes of passion" and "excessive and lustful kissing" proved
especially disastrous to her career in the U.S. as this was how her main acting
skills, that had proved popular.

In 1928, Negri made her last film for Paramount Pictures entitled The Woman
from Moscow, opposite actor Norman Kerry. The film was only Negri's second
talkie. Her first being Loves of an Actress, which was also released in 1928.
Paramount declined to renew her contract after audiences had supposed to
have difficulty discerning her dialog because of her heavy Polish accent.
Negri subsequently left Hollywood later that year for Great Britain to make the
1929 drama The Way of Lost Souls, which was also known as The Woman
He Scorned. In 1929, she lost most of her fortune in the Wall Street Crash. So
she returned back to Europe.
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.
In 1938 she left Germany, after a few Nazi officials labelled her as having
"part Jewish" ancestry. She then moved to France. Then in 1941 she sailed to
New York and was temporarily detained at Ellis Island. After her release, she
eventually returned to Hollywood. She briefly appeared in the 1943 film Hi
Diddle Diddle, even though her career was essentially over.
After actresses Mae West and Mary Pickford declined the role, director Billy
Wilder approached Negri to appear as Norma Desmond in the film, Sunset
Boulevard, in 1950. He recalled that Negri "threw a tantrum at the mere
suggestion of playing a has-been", and so the role was given to the more
realistic, Gloria Swanson.
In 1951, Negri became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Her final film
appearance was in the 1964 Walt Disney film The Moon-Spinners, with
Hayley Mills.The same year she received an honorary award from the
German film industry for her career work.
Negri lived her remaining years in San Antonio, Texas, with her companion,
Texan heiress and composer, Margaret West. Negri maintained her
flamboyant persona to the end of her life and was often compared to the
character role she had famously turned down: Norma Desmond.

Death!
Her death was caused by pneumonia, however she was also suffering from a
brain tumour, which she had refused treatment for. Her small obituary in the
local newspaper read, "she had an international career as a screen and stage
actress".
She was interred in Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles next to her mother,
Eleonora. Since she had no children, she left most of her estate to St. Mary's
University in Texas, including several rare prints of her films. In addition, a
generous portion of her estate was given to the Polish nuns of the Seraphic
Order; a large black and white portrait hangs in the small chapel next to
Poland's patron, Our Lady of Czestochowa, in San Antonio, Texas.

Pola Negri has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to
Motion Pictures at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard. She was the 11th star in
Hollywood history to place her hand and foot prints in front of Grauman's
Chinese Theatre