Pola Negri and the Golden Era of Hollywood

Barbara Apolonia Chałupiec (aka Pola Negri) was born in Poland in 1894, although some sources state 1897. She was a Polish film actress who achieved huge international fame in silent films in the most extravagant and glamorous era between 1910s and 1930s.
When she was young she trained to become a ballerina but her delicate health forced her to stop dancing. Later Apolonia attended the Warsaw Imperial Academy of Dramatic Arts and after two years of study she became a stage actress. By the end of World War I she had established herself as a popular actress in Warsaw, appearing in several films. During that time, she adopted the pseudonym "Pola Negri," after the Italian poetess, Ada Negri. Pola appeared in a variety of films made by the Warsaw film industry, including The Wife (Żona), The Beast (Bestia), Students (Studenci), Street Ruffian's Lover (Kochanka apasza) and the Mysteries of Warsaw series. In 1917, her popularity provided her with an opportunity to move to Berlin, Germany, where she appeared in several successful films for film directors of the UFA agency, including Max Reinhardt and Ernst Lubitsch.

In 1922 she was offered a contract with Hollywood studios and the following year settled in the U.S. Her exotic style of glamour proved popular with audiences during the 1920s and her affairs with such notable actors as Charles Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino ensured that she remained in the public eye.
Pola Negri become one of the most popular and richest Hollywood actresses of the movie industry at the time. She started several ladies fashion trends and was a favorite photography subject of Eugene Robert Richee, the famous Hollywood portrait photographer.

Negri caused a media sensation in 1926 after the death of Valentino by announcing that they had planned to marry. She was following the train that carried his body from New York City to Los Angeles, posing for photographers at every stop. In 1928, Negri made her last film for Paramount Pictures entitled The Woman from Moscow, opposite actor Norman Kerry. The film was only Negri's second talkie (the first being Loves of an Actress, also released in 1928) and Paramount declined to renew her contract after audiences allegedly had difficulty understanding her dialog because of her heavy Polish accent.

Pola Negri with Charlie Chaplin

She made only a few films after 1930, and worked mainly in England and Germany, where she acted in several films for the UFA. In 1951, Negri became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Pola Negri has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures. She died in 1987 and left most of her estate to St. Mary’s University in Texas and to Polish nuns of the Seraphic Order.



Sources: Pola Negri Appreciation site - http://www.polanegri.com , IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0624470/bio , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pola_Negri ,