Alla Nazimova
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Alla Nazimova [link], born Mariam Edez Adelaida Leventon, (May 22, 1879 - July 13, 1945) was an American theater and film actress, scriptwriter, and producer. She was sometimes called just Nazimova.
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, now part of Ukraine. 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". She married Sergei Golovin, a fellow actor, in 1899, but the marriage soon fell apart.
Career
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 alleged 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 Henrik Ibsen's and Anton Chekhov's plays.
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 $30,000.00 per film, with a $1,000.00 per day bonus for every day of filming. She was also given a $13,000.00 per week contract. At the time, actress Mary Pickford was on a $3,000.00 per week contract.[link]
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 adaptations of works by such notable playwrights as Oscar Wilde and Henrik Ibsen she developed her own filmmaking techniques, which were considered daring at the time. Her projects, however, 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. Her most often seen role today is that of Tyrone Power's mother in the 1941 film version of Blood and Sand. [link]
Private Life
Her private lifestyle gave rise to widespread rumors of outlandish and allegedly debauched parties with mostly other women, many notable actresses of the time, at her large mansion on Sunset Boulevard known as the Garden of Allah. Some sources claim that the parties consisted of outlandish all-female orgies. Her studio had to squelch rumors of her lesbianism and affairs with other Hollywood female personalities such as writer/poet Mercedes de Acosta (see [link]), and a reportedly unstable and volatile affair with actress Eva Le Gallienne, for whom Nazimova was alleged to have been extremely jealous and possessive. [link] [link]Personalities that often attended her parties varied. Most were female, but also famous actors of the day sometimes attended, to include Fatty Arbuckle, Charlie Chaplin, Tom Mix and Buster Keaton. [link] Actress/sisters Dorothy Gish and Lilian Gish attended gatherings there, but were never alleged to have been involved in any romance with Nazimova. She was alleged to have been romantically involved with actress Theda Bara. [link] Wealthy socialite and hostess Anne Vanderbilt attended frequently, as well as Anne Morgan.
By this time (between the years of 1917 and 1921), Nazimova wielded considerable influence and power in Hollywood. [link] By all accounts she was extremely generous to young actresses in whom she saw talent, and became involved with at least some of them sexually. [link]
She helped start the careers of both of Rudolph Valentino's wives, Jean Acker and Natacha Rambova; she was involved with Acker sexually and may also have had an affair with Rambova. 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 Salome. After meeting a young Patsy Ruth Miller [link] at a Hollywood party, Nazimova assisted in getting Miller's career launched. Nazimova was briefly involved with actress June Marlowe, whom she later introduced to producer/director Lloyd Hamilton. She also helped the career of young actress Tallulah Bankhead after a brief affair. Nazimova was named by Charlie Chaplin in his 1920 divorce decree as his wife Mildred Harris' lesbian lover. [link] [link]
It was not only young talent Nazimova concentrated on. She also was involved in a brief fling with established actress Maude Adams, who allegedly broke off the affair due to her extreme sexual tastes. However, not all rumors regarding Nazimova are factual. For example, the rumor that she had an affair with Mata Hari has never been substantiated, and it has never been proven that the two women even met.
Although primarily a lesbian, Nazimova also had some affairs with men, for example cameraman Paul Ivano perhaps best known for his work with Erich Von Stroheim.
In order to cover up her sexuality, her studio insisted she live in a partnership of mutual convenience with Charles Bryant, a gay actor, for more than a dozen years. A friend of actress Edith Luckett and her extremely conservative husband, Dr. Loyal Davis, Nazimova was made godmother to former first lady Nancy Reagan, Luckett's daughter from a previous marriage, in 1921.
A breast cancer survivor, Nazimova died of a coronary thrombosis at the age of 66 on July 13, 1945, in Los Angeles, California, and was 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.
Trivia
- Nazimova owned and lived in the famous Garden of Allah apartment complex in West Hollywood, California.
- She was a lesbian and was involved romantically with many of Hollywood's elite women of the time.
- Aunt of American film director Val Lewton.
References
- Lucy Olga Lewton. Alla Nazimova, My Aunt, Tragedienne: A Personal Memoir, Minuteman Press, 1988.
- Gavin Lambert. Nazimova: A Biography, Knopf, 1997, 420pp, ISBN 0679407219
- Eve Golden. Golden Images: 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars, Jefferson, North Carolina, McFarland & Company, 2001, ISBN 0786408340
External links
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