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Pola Negri!

Pola Negri was born on the 3rd of January 1894. She died at the age of 93, on the 1st of August 1987. She was a polish actress who made films portraying herself as a Vamp. A Vamp is a woman who entices men and uses them for her own advantages. Pola Negri was a silent film actress and also an early talkie actress. She was a Vamp by reputation, a tragedienne in practice, but an amazingly gifted actress in truth. However, her fame went down hill during the talkie films; as the audience did not warm to her heavily accented voice, and her Vamp style fell out of vogue. She was an only child in a poor family. Her mother had to make a living alone, after her father was arrested by the Russians. In 1902, they both moved to Warsaw, where they lived in extreme poverty. This is where her career began. She turned to acting and by the end of World War I she had established herself as a popular stage actress in Warsaw, appearing in several films; such as Slave and Senses in 1914. During her short screen career in Warsaw, she gained much popularity, acting with various other artist of the time. Career! In 1917, her popularity based in Warsaw, provided her with an opportunity to move to Berlin, Germany, where she appeared in several film for the directors of UFA agency. Many of there films were successful throughout the world, and in 1922 both were offered contracts with Hollywood studios. In 1923 - the following year - Pola Negri settled in the U.S Her exotic style and glamour proved popular during the 1920s and her affairs with notable actors of the time such as; Charlie Chaplin and Rudolph Valentino ensured that she stayed in the public-eye. She was one of the most popular Hollywood actresses of that time, and certainly the richest woman of the movie industry at the time. She lived in a palace in Los Angeles, modelled after the White House, with her prince. However, her popularity quickly began to fade. Pola Negris Vamp style began to go fade out, and the talkie films went down hill with her accented voice. As she put it: "They went from Pola to Polaroid." Also, when the Hayd Code was introduced in 1930, it prevented her from using her staging techniques, for which she was so popular in Europe. The ban on "scenes of passion" and "excessive and lustful kissing" proved especially disastrous to her career in the U.S. as this was how her main acting skills, that had proved popular. 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. Her first being Loves of an Actress, which was also released in 1928.

Paramount declined to renew her contract after audiences had supposed to have difficulty discerning her dialog because of her heavy Polish accent. Negri subsequently left Hollywood later that year for Great Britain to make the 1929 drama The Way of Lost Souls, which was also known as The Woman He Scorned. In 1929, she lost most of her fortune in the Wall Street Crash. So she returned back to Europe. She made only a few films after 1930, and worked mainly in England and Germany, where she acted in several films for the Joseph Goebbelscontrolled UFA. In 1938 she left Germany, after a few Nazi officials labelled her as having "part Jewish" ancestry. She then moved to France. Then in 1941 she sailed to New York and was temporarily detained at Ellis Island. After her release, she eventually returned to Hollywood. She briefly appeared in the 1943 film Hi Diddle Diddle, even though her career was essentially over. After actresses Mae West and Mary Pickford declined the role, director Billy Wilder approached Negri to appear as Norma Desmond in the film, Sunset Boulevard, in 1950. He recalled that Negri "threw a tantrum at the mere suggestion of playing a has-been", and so the role was given to the more realistic, Gloria Swanson. In 1951, Negri became a naturalized citizen of the United States. Her final film appearance was in the 1964 Walt Disney film The Moon-Spinners, with Hayley Mills.The same year she received an honorary award from the German film industry for her career work. Negri lived her remaining years in San Antonio, Texas, with her companion, Texan heiress and composer, Margaret West. Negri maintained her flamboyant persona to the end of her life and was often compared to the character role she had famously turned down: Norma Desmond.

. Death! Her death was caused by pneumonia, however she was also suffering from a brain tumour, which she had refused treatment for. Her small obituary in the local newspaper read, "she had an international career as a screen and stage actress". She was interred in Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles next to her mother, Eleonora. Since she had no children, she left most of her estate to St. Mary's University in Texas, including several rare prints of her films. In addition, a generous portion of her estate was given to the Polish nuns of the Seraphic Order; a large black and white portrait hangs in the small chapel next to

Poland's patron, Our Lady of Czestochowa, in San Antonio, Texas. Pola Negri has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contribution to Motion Pictures at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard. She was the 11th star in Hollywood history to place her hand and foot prints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre