'Alla Nazimova' (), born 'Mariam Edez Adelaida Leventon' (Мириам Эдес Аделаида Левентон;
May 22 1879 –
July 14 1945) was a Russian/
American theater and
film actress,
scriptwriter, and
producer. She is often known as just 'Nazimova', and was also known as 'Alia Nasimoff'.
[1]
Early life
Nazimova was one of three children of Yakov Leventon and Sonya Horowitz. The family was Jewish and lived in
Yalta,
Crimea, then part of the
Russian Empire (part of
Ukraine since 1954). She grew up in a
dysfunctional family and, after her parents' separation, was shuffled between
boarding schools,
foster homes, and relatives. Her emotional distress caused her to rebel against authority as a way of gaining attention. A precocious child, she was playing the
violin by age seven. As a teenager she began to pursue an interest in the theatre and took acting lessons at the
Moscow-based Academy of Acting before joining
Stanislavsky's
Moscow Art Theater as "Alla Nazimova," and later just "Nazimova." Her stage name was taken from her middle name Adelaida, combined with the surname of Nadezhda Nazimova (the heroine of the
Russian novel ''Children of the Streets''), whom she admired.
[2] She married Sergei Golovin, a fellow actor, in 1899; the marriage was "in name only," and the two never legally divorced.
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,
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.
She was signed up by the American producer
Henry Miller and made her
Broadway debut 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.
Nazimova made her
silent film debut in 1916, due to her notoriety in a 35-minute
1915 play entitled ''War Brides''. This 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, she was earning as much as $30,000 per film, with a $1,000 per day bonus for every day of filming. She was also given a $13,000 per week contract. At the time, actress
Mary Pickford was on a $3,000 per week contract.
In 1918, at age 39, 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, met with little popular success and lost a great deal of money.
By 1925, she 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 until the early 1940s when she appeared in a few more films, presumably in need of money. Two of her best known roles today is that of
Robert Taylor's mother in
Escape (
1940) and as
Tyrone Power's mother in the film ''
Blood and Sand'' (
1941).
Private life
Her private lifestyle gave rise to widespread rumors of outlandish and allegedly debauched parties at her mansion on
Sunset Boulevard known as ''The Garden of Alla'', built in 1919, which in 1927 became the
Garden of Allah apartment-hotel complex. In later years, she continued to live in one of the villas there.
[1] She lived in a
lavender marriage with
Charles Bryant (1879-1948), an actor who was openly
gay, from 1912 to 1925.
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. She helped start the careers of both of
Rudolph Valentino's wives,
Jean Acker and
Natacha Rambova. Nazimova was involved in an affair with Acker, but it is debated as to whether her connection with Rambova ever developed into a sexual affair. 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 productions of ''
Camille'' and ''
Salomé''.
After meeting a young
Patsy Ruth Miller at a Hollywood party, Nazimova assisted in getting Miller's career launched. She became a
naturalized citizen of the United States in 1927. Nazimova lived with
Glesca Marshall from 1929 until her death in 1945. A friend of actress
Edith Luckett and her husband, Dr. Loyal Davis, Nazimova was made
godmother to future
first lady Nancy Davis Reagan, Luckett's daughter from a previous marriage, in 1921.
[4] She was the aunt of
American film producer Val Lewton.
A
breast cancer survivor, Nazimova died of a
coronary thrombosis at the age of 66 on
July 13 1945,
[5] in the Good Samaritan Hospital in
Los Angeles, California,
and was interred in
Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in
Glendale, California.
[6]
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 was
2004's ''
Return to Babylon'', a film about Hollywood's silent movie era, in which she was portrayed by
Laura Harring.
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.
[2]
Filmography
Notes
1. "Alla Nazimova"
2. "Alla Nazimova - Silent Star of February 1999"
3. "Alla Nazimova Dies at 66"
4. "First Lady Biography: Nancy Reagan"
5. "Alla Nazimova"
6. "Alla Nazimova"
References
★ '' by David W. Menefee. Connecticut: Praeger, 2004. ISBN 0-275-98259-9.
★ Lucy Olga Lewton. ''Alla Nazimova, My Aunt, Tragedienne: A Personal Memoir'', Minuteman Press, 1988.
★ Gavin Lambert. ''Nazimova: A Biography'', Knopf, 1997, 420pp, ISBN 0-679-40721-9
★ Eve Golden. ''Golden Images: 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars'', Jefferson, North Carolina, McFarland & Company, 2001, ISBN 0-7864-0834-0
★ ''Those Nazimova Eyes!'' By Frederick James Smith in ''Picture Play,'' September, 1918.
External links
★
★
★
History of the Garden of Allah with photos
★
''The Vanished Garden of Carnal Abandon''
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