Image of Alla Nazimova

Alla Nazimova

From Wikipedia Alla Nazimova (Russian and Ukrainian: Алла Назимова; 4 June [O.S. 22 May] 1879 – July 13, 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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Born:
Jun 4, 1879
Movie/TV Credits:
20
First Appeared:
In the movie War Brides 1916-01-02
Latest Project:
Movie The Legend of Rudolph Valentino 1961-05-24
Known For
Poster of Salomé
Poster of Out of the Fog
Poster of Eye for Eye
Poster of War Brides
Filmography
Movie The Legend of Rudolph Valentino Self (archive footage) 1961-05-24
Movie The Bridge of San Luis Rey Doña Maria - The Marquesa 1944-02-11
Movie Since You Went Away Zofia Koslowska 1944-06-30
Movie In Our Time Zofia Orwid (as Nazimova) 1944-02-19
Movie Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10) Self (archive footage) 1942-01-01
Movie Blood and Sand Senora Augustias 1941-05-30
Movie A New Romance of Celluloid: The Miracle of Sound Self 1940-10-24
Movie Escape Emmy Ritter 1940-11-01
Movie My Son Ana Silva 1925-04-19
Movie A Doll's House Nora Helmer 1922-02-12
Movie Salomé Salomé 1922-12-31
Movie Camille Marguerite Gautier 1921-09-26
Movie Stronger Than Death Sigrid Fersen 1920-01-11
Movie Madame Peacock Jane Goring / Gloria Cromwell 1920-10-01
Movie Out of the Fog Faith / Eve 1919-02-09
Movie The Red Lantern Mahlee & Blanche Sackville 1919-05-04
Movie The Brat The Brat 1919-09-01
Movie Revelation Joline 1918-02-17
Movie Eye for Eye Hassouna 1918-12-22
Movie War Brides Joan 1916-01-02