Alla Nazimova
Alla Nazimova [
1], 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.
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.
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 per film, with a $1,000 per day bonus for every day of filming. She was also given a $13,000 per week contract. At the time, actress
Mary Pickford was on a $3,000 per week contract.[
2]
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 film adaptations of works by such notable writers as
Oscar Wilde and
Henrik Ibsen she developed her own filmmaking techniques, which were considered daring at the time. Her projects, including
A Doll's House (1922) based on Ibsen and
Salomé (1923) based on Wilde, 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. [
3]
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.
By this time (between the years of 1917 and 1921), Nazimova wielded considerable influence and power in Hollywood. [
4] 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. 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 [
5] 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.
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.
*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 producer
Val Lewton.
*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
