Pola Negri was born in Lipno, Poland, and moved to Warsaw as a child. Living in poverty with her mother, a teenage Pola auditioned and was accepted to the Imperial Ballet. Due to an illness that ended her dancing career, she soon switched to the Warsaw Imperial Academy of Dramatic Arts and became an actress. By 17 she was a star on the Warsaw stage, but World War I would soon change the theater scene. Without the theater, Pola turned to films. With her new career in pictures and her stage success in "Sumurun", she went to Berlin and was teamed with German director 'Ernst Lubitsch' . She died of pneumonia in San Antonio, TX, in 1987.
She was engaged to Charles Chaplin before she became involved with Rudolph Valentino.
Around the time of her death, she was suffering from a brain tumor (unclear if malignant or otherwise) for which she refused treatment.
Sister-in-law of Mae Murray and Barbara Hutton.
On her deathbed in 1987, the 90-year-old Negri was being attended by a handsome young doctor who looked at her chart, and failed to respond immediately to seeing her name. In her best Norma Desmond mode, she reportedly pulled herself up into a "movie star" pose and asked, "You dont know who I am?!?!?".
In her autobiography, she stated that Rudolph Valentino was the love of her life and said that they were engaged at the time of his death. Ben Lyon later claimed that she ordered a blanket of flowers to be placed across Rudys coffin, reading "P-O-L-A" in large letters. However, photographs of Valentinos funeral show that flowers draped over his coffin had no such lettering and no contemporary newspaper accounts support this claim.
Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986- 1990, pages 652-654. New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1999.
"Film Daily", Monday, July 3, 1939--Paris (by cable): Pola Negri appeared in court here on the weekend to ask 1,000,000-franc damages as the result of an article appearing in the "Paris Sun" newspaper which represented her as a friend of Adolf Hitler. She was described by two witnesses as having suffered much moral damage by the allegation. The actress remained silent throughout the proceedings, during which the papers defense counsel tried to show that knowing Hitler was no slander.
When Rudolph Valentino died in August of 1926, Negri claimed to have been engaged to marry him, and set out from Hollywood by train to attend his funeral in New York. During the trip, Negri collapsed several times. The perception that she used her lovers death as a publicity stunt damaged her reputation.
Negri made eight films with director Ernst Lubitsch between 1918 and 1925. Seven were made in Germany and their eighth and final film together was Forbidden Paradise , which was filmed in the United States.
In 1922 Pola Negri went as the first German actress to the USA where she made her film debut in the new continent with "Bella Donna". The success remained true to her in America too and she achieved her greatest triumphs with "Forbidden Paradise - Das verbotene Paradies" and "Hotel Imperial/Hotel Stadt Lemberg" (1926).
At the beginning of the war she stood in France, later she went back to the USA via Portugal where she appeared once more in a film called "Hi Diddle Diddle". She sailed to New York from Lisbon, Portugal, and initially lived by selling off jewelry.
Scandals in the 20s were absolute career killers, also Pola Negris popularity sunk continuously, moreover her Polish accent was a problem for the arising sound film.
In 1975, director Vincente Minnelli approached Negri to appear as the Contessa Sanziani in A Matter of Time, but Negri was unable to accept due to poor health. In 1978, Billy Wilder directed Fedora, and, although Negri does not appear in the film, the title character was reportedly based largely on her.
After some Polish film productions she went to Germany in 1917 where she achieved first glorious triumphs. The movies made one of the greatest stars of Pola Negri und she soon belonged together with Henny Porten and Asta Nielsen to the triumvirate of German artists.
In 1951 she got the American nationality and took up a second successful career as a relater.
The movie "Madame Dubarry" was also a great success in the USA and Adolph Zukor obligated her for Paramount.
For the film she made her debut with "Niewolnica zmyslow - Liebe und Leidenschaft" and already personified the type vamp with which she should become famous.
According to her autobiography, she also appeared in a Boston supper club engagement in 1945 for a repertoire centered around the song "Paradise", and retired from the entertainment business altogether.
Pola Negri went back to Europe and played in France and England for the time being. Only in 1935 she as successful again in Germany with "Mazurka" (1935) and she was able to take part in the movies "Madame Bovary" , "Tango Notturno" and "Die Nacht der Entscheidung" in the following years.
She made the headlines with her numerous affairs.
At the funeral of Rudolph Valentino - her alleged lover - she collapsed with crying fits at the casket. Malicious tongues described this scene as her best performance of her career.
She made her debut at the theater in 1912 and got soon first leading roles.
In 1922 was her marriage with Charlie Chaplin announced but it remained with this announcement and ended with mutual public insults.
In 1902 she attended a ballet school but was later impeded in dancing because of an illness. Therefore she adopted a different method and attended a theater school in Warsaw in order to become an actress.
I consider my work great, as I am a great artist.
Love is disgusting when you no longer possess yourself.
Love is disgusting when you no longer possess yourself. .
