Rudolph Valentino was in love with her and Chaplin admired her mysterious look. He was one of the biggest stars of silent cinema. The era of sound films hindered his career.
The beginning of his career
The exact date of birth of Apolonia Chalupiek is not known. The actor himself claimed that he was born on December 31, 1896, but his birth certificate shows that he was born on January 3, 1897. His family lived in Lipno, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. His father was a Roma from Slovakia and his mother was Polish. He hardly knew his father, because the Russians arrested him and sent him to Siberia when Apollonia was a small child. He was raised by his mother, with whom he moved to Warsaw in 1902.
Although he lived in a big city, he always went to his grandparents in Brdov for vacation. He was interested in theater since childhood. Mother tried to help her daughter develop talent, so Apollonia started studying at the ballet school of the Bolshoi Theater in Warsaw, and in 1908 she made her debut in Tchaikovsky's “Swan Lake”. It also appeared in Fredro's “Vow of Virginity”. He performed not only in the Grand Theater, but also in the Mali and Summer Theaters, which is gaining more and more popularity.
After a while, he decided to adopt the artistic pseudonym Pola Negri. Pola's name was a diminutive of Apollonia, and Negri was the surname of his favorite poet, Ada Negri. Apollonia identified herself with the works of Ada, whose poems were particularly sad. The future movie star was going through a difficult time – it turned out that health problems did not allow her to continue her career as a ballerina. He was treated in Zakopane, and after returning from the spa, he was offered to work on the set. He had to forget the opera, but who knows, maybe it was for his benefit and for the history of cinema.
In 1914, he appeared in the film “Slave of Feeling”, as well as “The Wife” and “The Beast”. Soon Pola Negri went to Berlin, where she developed her acting career. There she appeared in the films of Max Reinhardt and Ernst Lubitsch, who admired the young Polish woman's abilities. Lubitsch once said that Pola Negri was the first European actress to understand “the essence of cinema”.
Hollywood
She gained international fame in the films “The Eyes of the Mummy Ma”, “Carmen”, “Madame Du Barry”, “Sumurum”, “Wild Cat”, portraying herself as a femme fatale. This image became his trademark. Like luxurious furs and very expensive jewelry.
A few years later, his career was gaining momentum again. Pola Negri went to the United States, where she starred in more Lubitsch films, including The Empress (as Czarina Catherine II) and The Spanish Dancer. His presence in the United States made him known around the world. His partners – both on stage and in private life – were the biggest stars of Hollywood, including: Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino. She also had an affair with Albert Einstein himself. Her relationship with Valentino was said to be a love affair, but the couple did not marry.
Pola stood in front of the altar – for the second time – in 1927 and married the Georgian prince Serge Mdivan. However, they divorced a few years later and Negri returned to acting (Negri's first husband was Yevgeniusz Dambsky, a border guard commander, but they separated after less than three years, apparently through his fault).
Some were surprised that the silent film star began to find his feet on the film set with his voice. Many actors did not make this transformation at all, and their careers ended with the era of cinematic sound. Although Negri continued to receive many engagements, his popularity waned over time. He then decided to return to Germany, where he was initially unable to perform because the Nazi authorities accused him of being Jewish. The ban was apparently lifted by Adolf Hitler himself, who was a big fan of it. This allowed him to act in several more films.
He returned to the United States before World War II. His career was coming to an end. The last film he appeared in was “Moon Clearing”.
Later, he started his own business – he managed a brokerage company. He lived in San Antonio, Texas. He died at the age of 90 on August 1, 1987.
Also read:
The Hayes Code and Hollywood Self-Censorship. Forbidden topics? The list was very longAlso read:
Rudolph Valentino – the short career of the first movie loverAlso read:
Movie Wars. How the US fought for world domination
(tags translated) Pola Negri