Post by teleadm on Jan 1, 2022 18:49:00 GMT
If you've seen any of her star-making movies you must be in luck since most of them are considered lost. She became a rival of Gloria Swanson, and traveled to Europe to marry some old aristocrats in rivalry, scandal press were happy at the time. One of the big superstars when the movies were silent. Born in poverty in Polish Lipno when it belonged to the Russian Empire, her mother took her to the Warsaw Dance Academy without success, but suggested the dramatic arts instead. Her family had lost all their fortunes long ago supporting Napoleon Bonaparte.
Pola Negri (1897–1987)
Her popularity in Poland provided her with an opportunity to move to Berlin, Germany in 1917, to appear as the dancing girl in a German revival of Max Reinhardt's theatre production of Sumurun. that's were Ernst Lubitsch cought her and decided to make her a star.
In 1918, Lubitsch convinced UFA to let him create a large-scale film with her as the main character. The result was Die Augen der Mumie Ma (The Eyes of the Mummy Ma, 1918), which was a popular success. Followed by Carmen 1918 and Madame DuBarry.
Madame DuBarry became a huge international success, brought down the American embargo on German films, and launched a demand that briefly threatened to dislodge Hollywood's dominance in the international film market.
Madame DuBarry 1918 released as Passion in USA.
Hollywood responded to this new threat by buying out key German talent, beginning with the procurationof the services of Lubitsch and Negri. Lubitsch was the first director to be brought to Hollywood, with Mary Pickford calling for his services in her costume film Rosita 1923. Paramount Pictures mogul Jesse Lasky saw the premiere of Madame DuBarry in Berlin in 1919, and Paramount invited Negri to come to Hollywood in 1921. She signed a $3,000 a week contract with Paramount and arrived in New York in a flurry of publicity on 12 September 1922.
She ended up becoming one of the most popular Hollywood actresses of the era, and certainly the richest woman of the film industry at the time, living in a mansion in Los Angeles modeled after the White House. While in Hollywood, she started several ladies' fashion trends, some of which are still fashion staples today, including red painted toenails, fur boots, and turbans.
Bella Donna 1923 (above) and The Cheat 1923 started her Hollywood career, both directed by George Fitzmaurice.
Her first Paramount spectacle film was the Herbert Brenon directed The Spanish Dancer 1923, based on the Victor Hugo novel "Don César de Bazan".
She was concerned that Paramount was mishandling her career and image and arranged for her former director Ernst Lubitsch to direct her in the critically acclaimed Forbidden Paradise 1924. It was the last time the two worked together in any film.
By 1925, her on-screen continental opulence was starting to wear thin with some segments of the American audiences, a situation parodied in the Mal St. Clair-directed comedy A Woman of the World 1925, in which she herself starred, poking fun at her own movie persona.
Paramount transitioned into casting her in international peasant roles the following year in films such as the Mauritz Stiller-directed and Erich Pommer-produced Hotel Imperial 1927, reportedly fared well at the box office. Her remaining silent movies also fared well in the international markets, but not so much in America.
In 1928 she was earning $10,000 a week, and was directed by Rowland V. Lee in another three films, The Secret Hour, Three Sinners, and Loves of an Actress, before making her last film for Paramount Pictures, The Woman from Moscow, with Norman Kerry. she claimed in her autobiography she opted not to renew her contract with Paramount, choosing to retire from films and live as a wife at the Château de Rueil-Seraincourt, near Vigny that she owned and where she had married her second husband.
The Woman from Moscow 1928, by 1929 it was estimated that she had earned around 5 million USD.
Her initial 1928 retirement turned out to be short-lived. She miscarried her pregnancy and later learned that her husband was gambling her fortune away on speculative business ventures.
She returned to Hollywood in 1931 to begin filming her first talking film, A Woman Commands 1932. The film itself was poorly received, but her rendition of the song "Paradise", the centerpiece of the film, became a sizable hit in the sheet music format (Sheet music was big business once, up until early 1950's). The song became a minor standard and was covered by many other performers over the years, including Russ Columbo, Louis Prima and Keely Smith. She went on a successful vaudeville tour to promote the song. She then was employed in the leading role of the touring theatre production A Trip to Pressburg, which premiered at the Shubert Theatre in New York. However, she collapsed after the final curtain at the production's stop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, due to gallbladder inflammation, and was unable to complete the tour.
After this, actor-director Willi Forst brought her to Germany to appear in the film Mazurka 1935. The film was considered "artistically valuable" (German: künstlerisch wertvoll) by the Reichsfilmkammer. Mazurka gained much popularity in Germany and abroad and became one of Adolf Hitler's favorite films, a fact that, along with her admiring comments about the efficiency of the German film industry, gave birth to a rumor in 1937 of her having had an affair with Hitler himself.
Mazurka 1935.
After the success of Mazurka, her former studio, the now Joseph Goebbels-controlled UFA, signed her to a new contract. She lived in France while working for UFA, making five films with the company.
When the Nazi's invaded France she fled to Portugal, understanding what monsters they really were, and then on to America.
While in America she appeared at supper clubs, and got an invitation to appear in a movie called Hi Diddle Diddle, initially refusing the offer, but needing funds, agreed to the offer.
Hi Diddle Diddle 1943, with Martha Scott.
In 1948, director Billy Wilder approached Her to appear as Norma Desmond in the film Sunset Boulevard 1950, after Mae Murray, Mae West, Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, and Mary Pickford declined the role. She reportedly declined the role because she felt that the screenplay was not ready and that Montgomery Clift, who was slated to play the Joe Gillis character at the time, was not a good choice for the character. The role of Gillis eventually went to William Holden.
She came out of retirement (once again) to appear in Disney's The Moon-Spinners 1964, while the movie is set on Greek Island of Crete, all her scenes were made in a London studio. This became her final screen farewell.
In 1975, director Vincente Minnelli approached her to appear as the Contessa Sanziani in A Matter of Time, but she did not accept due to poor health
She 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.
First published in 2014.
Thanks for watching!
Opinions of all kinds are welcome!
Pola Negri (1897–1987)
Her popularity in Poland provided her with an opportunity to move to Berlin, Germany in 1917, to appear as the dancing girl in a German revival of Max Reinhardt's theatre production of Sumurun. that's were Ernst Lubitsch cought her and decided to make her a star.
In 1918, Lubitsch convinced UFA to let him create a large-scale film with her as the main character. The result was Die Augen der Mumie Ma (The Eyes of the Mummy Ma, 1918), which was a popular success. Followed by Carmen 1918 and Madame DuBarry.
Madame DuBarry became a huge international success, brought down the American embargo on German films, and launched a demand that briefly threatened to dislodge Hollywood's dominance in the international film market.
Madame DuBarry 1918 released as Passion in USA.
Hollywood responded to this new threat by buying out key German talent, beginning with the procurationof the services of Lubitsch and Negri. Lubitsch was the first director to be brought to Hollywood, with Mary Pickford calling for his services in her costume film Rosita 1923. Paramount Pictures mogul Jesse Lasky saw the premiere of Madame DuBarry in Berlin in 1919, and Paramount invited Negri to come to Hollywood in 1921. She signed a $3,000 a week contract with Paramount and arrived in New York in a flurry of publicity on 12 September 1922.
She ended up becoming one of the most popular Hollywood actresses of the era, and certainly the richest woman of the film industry at the time, living in a mansion in Los Angeles modeled after the White House. While in Hollywood, she started several ladies' fashion trends, some of which are still fashion staples today, including red painted toenails, fur boots, and turbans.
Bella Donna 1923 (above) and The Cheat 1923 started her Hollywood career, both directed by George Fitzmaurice.
Her first Paramount spectacle film was the Herbert Brenon directed The Spanish Dancer 1923, based on the Victor Hugo novel "Don César de Bazan".
She was concerned that Paramount was mishandling her career and image and arranged for her former director Ernst Lubitsch to direct her in the critically acclaimed Forbidden Paradise 1924. It was the last time the two worked together in any film.
By 1925, her on-screen continental opulence was starting to wear thin with some segments of the American audiences, a situation parodied in the Mal St. Clair-directed comedy A Woman of the World 1925, in which she herself starred, poking fun at her own movie persona.
Paramount transitioned into casting her in international peasant roles the following year in films such as the Mauritz Stiller-directed and Erich Pommer-produced Hotel Imperial 1927, reportedly fared well at the box office. Her remaining silent movies also fared well in the international markets, but not so much in America.
In 1928 she was earning $10,000 a week, and was directed by Rowland V. Lee in another three films, The Secret Hour, Three Sinners, and Loves of an Actress, before making her last film for Paramount Pictures, The Woman from Moscow, with Norman Kerry. she claimed in her autobiography she opted not to renew her contract with Paramount, choosing to retire from films and live as a wife at the Château de Rueil-Seraincourt, near Vigny that she owned and where she had married her second husband.
The Woman from Moscow 1928, by 1929 it was estimated that she had earned around 5 million USD.
Her initial 1928 retirement turned out to be short-lived. She miscarried her pregnancy and later learned that her husband was gambling her fortune away on speculative business ventures.
She returned to Hollywood in 1931 to begin filming her first talking film, A Woman Commands 1932. The film itself was poorly received, but her rendition of the song "Paradise", the centerpiece of the film, became a sizable hit in the sheet music format (Sheet music was big business once, up until early 1950's). The song became a minor standard and was covered by many other performers over the years, including Russ Columbo, Louis Prima and Keely Smith. She went on a successful vaudeville tour to promote the song. She then was employed in the leading role of the touring theatre production A Trip to Pressburg, which premiered at the Shubert Theatre in New York. However, she collapsed after the final curtain at the production's stop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, due to gallbladder inflammation, and was unable to complete the tour.
After this, actor-director Willi Forst brought her to Germany to appear in the film Mazurka 1935. The film was considered "artistically valuable" (German: künstlerisch wertvoll) by the Reichsfilmkammer. Mazurka gained much popularity in Germany and abroad and became one of Adolf Hitler's favorite films, a fact that, along with her admiring comments about the efficiency of the German film industry, gave birth to a rumor in 1937 of her having had an affair with Hitler himself.
Mazurka 1935.
After the success of Mazurka, her former studio, the now Joseph Goebbels-controlled UFA, signed her to a new contract. She lived in France while working for UFA, making five films with the company.
When the Nazi's invaded France she fled to Portugal, understanding what monsters they really were, and then on to America.
While in America she appeared at supper clubs, and got an invitation to appear in a movie called Hi Diddle Diddle, initially refusing the offer, but needing funds, agreed to the offer.
Hi Diddle Diddle 1943, with Martha Scott.
In 1948, director Billy Wilder approached Her to appear as Norma Desmond in the film Sunset Boulevard 1950, after Mae Murray, Mae West, Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, and Mary Pickford declined the role. She reportedly declined the role because she felt that the screenplay was not ready and that Montgomery Clift, who was slated to play the Joe Gillis character at the time, was not a good choice for the character. The role of Gillis eventually went to William Holden.
She came out of retirement (once again) to appear in Disney's The Moon-Spinners 1964, while the movie is set on Greek Island of Crete, all her scenes were made in a London studio. This became her final screen farewell.
In 1975, director Vincente Minnelli approached her to appear as the Contessa Sanziani in A Matter of Time, but she did not accept due to poor health
She 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.
First published in 2014.
Thanks for watching!
Opinions of all kinds are welcome!
