HOME

TheInfoList

Click Here for Items Related To - Alla Nazimova

OR:

Alla Nazimova on: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Amazon]

Alla Aleksandrovna Nazimova (, born Marem-Ides Leventon; June 3 O.S. May 22">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. May 22 1879 – July 13, 1945) was a Russian-American actress, director, producer and screenwriter. On

Broadway, she was noted for her work in the classic plays of Henrik Ibsen">Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

, Chekhov and Ivan Turgenev">Turgenev. She later moved to film, where she served many production roles, both writing and directing films under pseudonyms. Her film ''Salomé (1923 film)">Salome Salome (; , related to , "peace"; ), also known as Salome III, was a Jews, Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II and princess Herodias. She was granddaughter of Herod the Great and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. She is known from the New T ...

'' (1922) is regarded as a cultural landmark. Nazimova was bisexual and openly conducted relationships with women while being married to a man. She created the Garden of Allah Hotel, Garden of Alla Hotel which became a retreat for many celebrities of the time. She is credited with having originated the phrase " sewing circle" as a discreet code for lesbian or bisexual actresses.

Early life

Nazimova was born Marem-Ides Leventon (Russian name: ''Adelaida Yakovlevna Leventon'') in

Yalta Yalta (: ) is a resort town, resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crime ...

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. Her accepted birth year is 1879, but different sources have cited 1878 or even 1876. Her stage name Alla Nazimova was a combination of Alla (a diminutive of Adelaida) and the surname of Nadezhda Nazimova, the heroine of the Russian novel ''Children of the Streets''. She was widely known as just Nazimova. Her name was sometimes transcribed as Alia Nasimoff. The youngest of three children born to Jewish parents Yakov Abramovich Leventon, a pharmacist, and Sarah Leivievna Gorowitz (later known as Sofia or Sophie Lvovna Gorovitz/Horovitz/Herowitz), who moved to Yalta in 1870 from Kishinev, Nazimova grew up in a dysfunctional family. After her parents divorced when she was eight, she was shuffled among boarding schools, foster homes and relatives. As a teenager, she began to pursue an interest in the theatre and took acting lessons at the Academy of Acting in Moscow. She joined Constantin Stanislavski's

Moscow Art Theatre The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; , ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was founded in by the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright ...

using the name of Alla Nazimova for the first time.

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 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 Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

. The venture was unsuccessful, and Orlenev returned to Russia while Nazimova stayed in New York. She was signed by the American producer Henry Miller and made her Broadway debut in New York City in 1906 to critical and popular success. Her English-language premiere in November 1906 was in the title role of '' Hedda Gabler''. She reportedly learned English in five months. She quickly became extremely popular ( Nazimova's 39th Street Theatre was named after her) and remained a major Broadway star, often starring in works by

Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

and Chekhov. Dorothy Parker described her as the finest Hedda Gabler she had ever seen. Nazimova's film career began when she was 37 years old. Due to her notoriety in a 35-minute 1915 play entitled ''War Brides'', Nazimova made her

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

debut in 1916 in the filmed version of the play, which was produced by Lewis J. Selznick. She was paid $1,000 per day, and the film was a success. A young actor with a bit part in the movie was Richard Barthelmess, whose mother, Caroline W. Harris, had taught Nazimova English. Nazimova had encouraged him to try out for movies and he later became a star. In 1917, she negotiated a contract with

Metro Pictures Metro Pictures Corporation was a Film, motion picture production company founded in early 1915 in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a forerunner of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The company produced its films in New York, Los Angeles, and sometimes at le ...

, a precursor to

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

, 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 created and worked under Nazimova Productions from 1917 to 1921. She filled many roles in film production, outside of acting. She served as a director, producer, editor, lighting designer, and received credit for costume design for the film ''

Revelation Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religion, knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and t ...

''. She wrote screenplays under the pseudonym Peter M. Winters. She directed films credited to the name of her partner Charles Bryant. In her film adaptations of works by such notable writers as

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

and

, she developed filmmaking techniques that were considered daring at the time. Her film projects, including ''

A Doll's House ''A Doll's House'' (Danish language, Danish and ; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act Play (theatre), play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 De ...

'' (1922), based on Ibsen, and '' Salomé'' (1923), based on Wilde's play, were critical and commercial failures. ''Salomé'', however, has become a

cult classic A cult following is a group of Fan (person), fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some List of art media, medium. The latter is often cal ...

, regarded as a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

milestone in film. In 2000, the film was added to the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...

. By 1925, she could no longer afford to invest in more films, and financial backers withdrew their support. In 1927, she became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Left with few options in Hollywood, she returned to New York 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 having an acclaimed performance as Mrs. Alving in Ibsen's ''

Ghosts In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

''. Critic

Pauline Kael Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael often defied the conse ...

described this as the greatest performance she had ever seen on the American stage. In the early 1940s, Nazimova returned to 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.

Personal life

Marriages

In 1899, she married Sergei Golovin, a fellow actor. From 1912 to 1925, Nazimova maintained a " lavender marriage" with Charles Bryant (1879–1948), a British-born actor. To bolster this arrangement with Bryant, Nazimova kept her marriage to Golovin secret from the press, her fans, and even her friends. In 1923, she arranged to divorce Golovin without traveling to the Soviet Union. Her divorce papers, which arrived in the United States that summer, stated that on May 11, 1923, the marriage of "citizeness Leventon Alla Alexandrovna" and Sergius Arkadyevitch Golovin, "consummated between them in the City Church of Boruysk June 20, 1899", had been officially dissolved. A little over two years later, on November 16, 1925, Charles Bryant, then 43, surprised the press, Nazimova's fans, and Nazimova herself by marrying Marjorie Gilhooley, 23, in

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. When the press uncovered the fact that Charles had listed his current marital status as "single" on his marriage license, the revelation that the marriage between Alla and Charles had been a sham from the beginning embroiled Nazimova in a scandal that damaged her career.

Relationships with women

From 1917 to 1922, Nazimova wielded considerable influence and power in Hollywood. She helped start the careers of both of

Rudolph Valentino Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor who starred in several well-known sile ...

's wives, Jean Acker and Natacha Rambova. Although she was involved in an affair with Acker, it is debatable as to whether her connection with Rambova ever developed into a sexual affair. Nevertheless, 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 never have been confirmed. She was very impressed by Rambova's skills as an

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

, and Rambova designed the innovative sets for Nazimova's film productions of '' Camille'' and '' Salomé''. The list of those Nazimova is confirmed to have been involved with romantically includes actress Eva Le Gallienne, film director Dorothy Arzner, writer

Mercedes de Acosta Mercedes de Acosta (March 1, 1892 – May 9, 1968) was an American poet, playwright, and novelist. Although she failed to achieve artistic and professional distinction, de Acosta is known for her many lesbian affairs with celebrated Broadway and ...

, and

's niece Dolly Wilde. Bridget Bate Tichenor, a Magic Realist artist and

Surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

painter, was rumored to be one of Nazimova's favored lovers in Hollywood during 1940–1942. The two had been introduced by the poet and art collector Edward James, and according to Tichenor, their intimate relationship angered Nazimova's longtime companion Glesca Marshall.It is believed that Nazimova coined the phrase " sewing circle" as code to refer to lesbian or bisexual actresses of her day who concealed their true sexuality. Nazimova lived together with Glesca Marshall from 1929 until Nazimova's death in 1945.

Friends and relations

Edith Luckett, a stage actress and the mother of future U.S. First Lady

Nancy Reagan Nancy Davis Reagan (; born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress who was the first lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989, as the second wife of President Ronald Reagan. Reagan was born in ...

, was a friend of Nazimova, having acted with her onstage. Edith married Kenneth Seymour Robbins, and following the birth of their daughter Nancy in 1921, Nazimova became her godmother. Nazimova continued to be friends with Edith and her second husband, neurosurgeon Loyal Davis, until her death. She was also the aunt of American film producer

Val Lewton Val Lewton (May 7, 1904 – March 14, 1951) was a Russian-American novelist, film producer, and screenwriter best known for a string of low-budget horror films he produced for RKO Pictures in the 1940s. His son, also named Val Lewton, was a pai ...

Garden of Alla

Nazimova's private lifestyle gave rise to widespread rumors of outlandish and allegedly debauched parties at her mansion on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California, known as The Garden of Alla, which she leased in 1918 and bought outright the next year. Facing near-bankruptcy in 1926, she converted the 2.5-acre estate into a hotel by building 25 villas on the property. The Garden of Alla Hotel opened in January 1927. But Nazimova was ill-equipped to run a hotel and eventually sold it and returned to Broadway and theatrical tours. By 1930, the hotel had been purchased by Central Holding Corporation, which changed the name to the Garden of Allah Hotel. When Nazimova moved back to Hollywood in 1938, she rented Villa 24 at the hotel and lived there until her death.

Death and memorials

On July 13, 1945, Nazimova died of a

coronary thrombosis Coronary thrombosis is defined as the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel of the heart. This blood clot may then restrict blood flow within the heart, leading to heart tissue damage, or a myocardial infarction, also known as a heart ...

, at age 66, in the Good Samaritan Hospital in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Her ashes were interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...

. Her contributions to the film industry have been recognized with a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...

Legacy

Nazimova has been depicted a number of times in film and onstage. The first two were biographical films about

: '' The Legend of Valentino'' (1975), in which she was portrayed by Alicia Bond; and '' Valentino'' (1977), in which she was portrayed by Leslie Caron. She was featured in two 2013 silent films about Hollywood's silent movie era: '' Return to Babylon,'' in which she was played by Laura Harring, and ''Silent Life'', based on the life of

, where she was played by Sherilyn Fenn. The character of Nazimova also appears in Dominick Argento's opera ''Dream of Valentino'', in which she also played the violin. Nazimova was also featured in make-up artist Kevyn Aucoin's 2004 book '' Face Forward'', in which he made up

Isabella Rossellini Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini (; born 18 June 1952) is an Italian actress and model. The daughter of Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, she is noted for her successful tenure as a Lancôme ...

to resemble her, particularly as posed in a certain photograph. Actress Romy Nordlinger first portrayed Alla Nazimova in The Society for the Preservation of Theatrical History production of ''Stage Struck: From Kemble to Kate'' staged at the Snapple Theater Center in New York City in December 2013. In Fall 2016, PLACES, a multimedia solo show about Alla Nazimova, supported by the League of Professional Theatre Women's Heritage Program, written and performed by Romy Nordlinger debuted at Playhouse Theatre for a limited run. The Garden of Allah cabaret was an influential LGBTQ+

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

venue in the mid-20th century that took its name and inspiration from Nazimova's original Garden of Alla. Nazimova also appears in ''Medusa's Web'', a novel by fantasy-fiction writer

Tim Powers Timothy Thomas Powers (born February 29, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy fiction, fantasy author. His first major novel was ''The Drawing of the Dark'' (1979), but the novel that earned him wide praise was ''The Anubis Gates'' ...

Filmography

References

External links

Alla Nazimova Society
* * *
Alla Nazimova
at the Women Film Pioneers Project
History of the Garden of Allah with photos

Nazimova
photo gallery NYP Library
Photographs and literature on Alla Nazimova
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nazimova, Alla 1879 births 1945 deaths Crimean Jews 19th-century actresses from the Russian Empire Russian stage actresses 20th-century Russian actresses 19th-century women writers from the Russian Empire 19th-century writers from the Russian Empire 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American women writers Actresses from New York City American film producers American people of Russian-Jewish descent American silent film actresses American stage actresses Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Actresses from the Russian Empire Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Deaths from coronary thrombosis Women film pioneers Age controversies American women film producers Jewish Ukrainian actors 20th-century American screenwriters 20th-century Russian women American bisexual actresses American bisexual writers American LGBTQ screenwriters American LGBTQ actresses American women screenwriters Bisexual Jews Jewish American actresses LGBTQ people from California Ukrainian bisexual people Russian LGBTQ actresses Russian LGBTQ screenwriters People from Yalta Naturalized citizens of the United States Screenwriters from New York City Jewish LGBTQ women 19th-century American LGBTQ people 20th-century American LGBTQ people 20th-century Russian LGBTQ people American bisexual women