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Pola Negri (Born January 3 1897 in Lipno, Vistula Land, Died August 1, 1987 in San Antonio, Texas) was a Polish stage and film actress who achieved worldwide fame for her tragedienne and femme fatale roles from the 1910's through the 1940's during the Golden Era of Hollywood film. She was the very first European film star to be imported into Hollywood, and also started several important women's fashion trends. She is known for being one of the most popular stars of the silent film era, and her varied career included work in silent and talking films, theater, and vaudeville; a singer and recording artist; an author; and a ballerina.

Early Life
Negri was born Barbara Apolonia Chałupiec according to her birth record and autobiography on January 3, 1897 in Lipno, Vistula Land, Russian Empire (present-day Poland). She was the youngest of three Children, but because the first two died young, she grew up as an only child. Her mother, whose maiden name was Eleonora Kietczewska, was reportedly impoverished Polish royalty, and her father, Jerzy Chałupec, was a Slovak immigrant tinsmith. After Chałupiec's father was arrested by the Russians for revolutionary activities and sent to Siberia, she and her mother moved to Warsaw, where they lived in extreme poverty

Chałupiec was accepted into the Imperial Ballet of Warsaw, and began training in the ballet academy. Her first performance was in the chorus of baby swans in Tchichovsky’s Swan Lake, and she worked her way up to a solo role in Saint-Léon ballet Coppélia.  A bout with tuberculosis forced her to stop dancing. Chałupiec was sent to a sanatorium to recover, and during that time, she adopted the pseudonym Pola Negri, after the Italian novelist and poetess Ada Negri.

Polish Theatre and Film Career
After Negri returned from her stay at the sanatorium, she successfully auditioned for the Warsaw Imperial Academy of Dramatic Arts, from which she graduated in 1914. Her graduating performance was as Hedwig in Ibsen’s The Wild Duck, which resulted in offers to join a number of the prominent theatres in Warsaw. By the end of World War I, Negri had established herself as a popular stage actress. She made an appearance in the Grand Theatre (in Sumurun), as well as in Small Theatre (Aleksander Fredro's Śluby panieńskie) and at the Summer Theatre in the Saxon Garden, a popular summer variété theatre.

Negri debuted in film in 1914 in Slave to her Senses (Niewolnica zmysłów). She also appeared in a variety of films made by the Warsaw film industry, including ''Pokoj Nr. 13 (Room No. 13), Jego Ostatni Czyn (His Last Gesture), Students (Studenci), and The Wife (Żona''). Negri gained much popularity during her short screen career in Warsaw, acting with many of the most renowned Polish film artists of the time, including Józef Węgrzyn, Władysław Grabowski, Józef Galewski and Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski.

Ernst Lubitsch and German Silent Film Career
In 1917, Negri's popularity provided her with an opportunity to move to Berlin, Germany, to appear as the dancing girl in a German revival of Max Reinhardt's theatre production of Sumurun. In this production, she met Ernst Lubitsch, who at the time was producing comedies for the German Film studio UFA. Negri was also signed to UFA's roster and began making films for them. Some of the films that she made with UFA include Der Gelbe Schien (The Yellow Ticket, 1917), Wenn das Herz in Haß erglüht (If the Heart Burns With Hate, 1917), and Comtesse Doddy (1918).

In 1918, Lubitsch convinced UFA to let him create a large-scale film with Negri as the main character. The result was Die Augen der Mumie Ma (The Eyes of the Mummy Ma, 1918), which was a popular success and led to a series of Lubitsch/Negri collaborations, each larger in scale than the previous film. The next was Carmen (1918, reissued in the United States in 1921 as Gypsy Blood), which was followed by Madame DuBarry (1919, released in the United States as Passion). Madame DuBarry became a huge international success, and managed to bring down the American embargo on German films and launch a demand for German films that briefly threatened to dislodge Hollywood's dominance in the international film market. Negri and Lubitsch made three German films together after this, Sumurun (aka One Arabian Night, 1920), Die Bergkatze (aka The Mountain Cat or The Wildcat, 1921), and Die Flamme (The Flame, 1922), and UFA employed Negri for films with other directors, including Vendetta (1920) and Sappho (1921), many of which were purchased by American distributors and shown in the United States.

Hollywood responded to this new threat by buying out key German talent, beginning with the procuration of the services of Lubitsch and Negri. Lubitsch was the first director to be brought to Hollywood, with Mary Pickford calling for his services in her costume film Rosita (1923). Paramount Pictures mogul Jesse Lasky saw the premiere of Madame DuBarry in Berlin in 1919, and Paramount invited Negri to come to Hollywood in 1921. She signed a contract with Paramount and arrived in New York in a flurry of publicity on September 12, 1922. This ended up making Negri the first ever Continental star to be imported into Hollywood, setting a precedent for imported European stars that would go on to include Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Ingrid Bergman, Sophia Loren, and many others.

Paramount Period
Negri ended up becoming one of the most popular Hollywood actresses of the era, and certainly the richest woman of the movie industry at the time, living in a mansion in Los Angeles modeled after the White House. While in Hollywood, she started several ladies' fashion trends, some of which are still fashion staples today, including red painted toenails, fur boots, and turbans. Negri was a favorite photography subject of the famous Hollywood portrait photographer Eugene Robert Richee, and many of her best-known photographs were taken during this period.

Negri's first two Paramount films were Bella Donna (1923) and The Cheat (1923), both of which were directed by George Fitzmaurice and were remakes of Paramount films from 1915. Negri's first spectacle film was the Herbert Brenon-directed The Spanish Dancer (1923), which was based on the Victor Hugo Novel Don César de Bazan. The initial screenplay was intended as a vehicle for Rudolph Valentino before he left the Paramount lot, and was reworked for Negri. Rosita, Lubitsch's film with Mary Pickford, was released the same year, and also happened to be based on Don César de Bazan. According to the book Paramount Pictures and the People Who Made Them, "Critics had a field day comparing the two. The general opinion was that the Pickford film was more polished, but the Negri film was more entertaining."

Initially Paramount utilized Negri as a mysterious European femme fatale and as a clotheshorse as they did with their other major actress Gloria Swanson, and staged an ongoing feud between the two actresses which actor Charlie Chaplin remembered in his autobiography as "a mélange of cooked-up jealousies and quarrels." Negri was concerned that Paramount was mishandling her career and image, and arranged for her former director Ernst Lubitsch to direct her in the critically-acclaimed Forbidden Paradise (1924). It would be the last time the two worked together in any film. By 1925, Negri's on-screen continental opulence was starting to wear thin with some segments of the American audience, a situation which was parodied in the Mal St. Clair-directed comedy A Woman of The World (1925), which Negri starred in.

Paramount then began to cast Negri in international peasant roles in films such as the Mauritz Stiller-directed and Erich Pommer-produced Hotel Imperial (1927) in an apparent effort to give her a more down-to-earth, relatable image. Although Hotel Imperial reportedly fared well at the box office, her next film Barbed Wire (1927) and a number of her subsequent films performed poorly in the United States due to the poor publicity surrounding her behavior at her former lover Rudolph Valentino's New York funeral and her rebound marriage to Georgian prince [Serge Mdivani|Mdivani], although internationally her films continued to fare well.

In 1928, Negri made her last film for Paramount Pictures, The Woman From Moscow, opposite actor Norman Kerry. Negri claims in her autobiography that she opted not to renew her contract with Paramount, choosing instead to retire from films and live as a wife and expectant mother in the Château de Rueil-Séraincourt in Vigny, France, which she owned at the time. That same year, she wrote a short volume featuring her reflections on art and film entitled La Vie et Le Rêve au Cinéma (Life and Dreams in the Movies).

Later Career
Negri's initial 1928 retirement turned out to be short-lived. Negri miscarried her baby, and eventually learned that her husband was gambling her fortune away on speculative business ventures, straining their relationship. She went back into pictures when an independent production company offered her work in a British film production that was to be distributed by Gaumont-British. Initially the film was to be a filmed version of George Bernard Shaw's Cesar and Cleopatra, and Shaw even offered to alter the play to suit the film. When the rights proved to be too expensive, the company settled on an original story and hired German kammerspielfilm director Paul Czinner to direct. The resulting film, The Way Of Lost Souls (also known as The Woman He Scorned), was released in 1929; it would be Negri's final silent film.

Negri returned to Hollywood in 1931 to begin filming her first talking film, A Woman Commands (1932). The film itself was poorly received, but Negri sang the song "Paradise" in the film, and the song became a sizable hit and for many years was considered to be a standard. The song was covered by many other performers, including Russ Colombo and Louis Prima and Keely Smith. Negri went on a successful vaudeville tour to promote the song. She was employed in the leading role of the touring theatre production A Trip To Pressburg, which premiered at the Shubert Theater in New York. However, she collapsed after the final curtain at the production's stop at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania due to gall bladder inflammation and was unable to complete the tour.

Negri returned to France to appear in Fanatisme (Fanaticism, 1934), an historical costume film about Napoleón III. The film was directed by the directorial team of Tony Lekain and Gaston Ravel and released by Pathé. It was her only French film. After this, actor-director Willi Forst brought Negri to Germany appear in the film Mazurka (1935). Mazurka gained much popularity in Germany and abroad, and became one of Adolf Hitler's favorite films, a fact that gave birth to a rumor in 1937 about Negri having had an affair with Hitler. There was no truth to the rumor. Pola sued a French magazine, Pour Vous, that had circulated the libelous rumor and won her case. Mazurka was remade (almost shot-for-shot) in the U.S. as a Kay Francis picture, Confession.

After the success of Mazurka, Negri's former studio, the now-Joseph Goebbels controlled UFA, signed Negri to a new contract. Negri lived in France while working for UFA, making five films with them: Moskau-Shanghai (Moscow-Shanghai, 1936), Madame Bovary (1937), Tango Notturno (1937), Die Fromme Lüge (The Secret Lie, 1938), and Die Nacht der Entscheidung (The Night of Decision, 1939).

After the Nazis took over France, Negri found the oppression of the regime too much to bear, and fled back to America. She sailed to New York from Lisbon, Portugal, and initially lived by selling off her jewelry collection. Negri was hired in a supporting role as the temperamental opera singer Genya Smetana for the 1943 comedy Hi Diddle Diddle. After the success of this film, Negri was offered numerous roles which were essentially rehashes or her role in Hi Diddle Diddle, all of which she turned down. In 1944, Negri was engaged by booking agent Miles Ingalls for a nationwide vaudeville tour. According to her autobiography, she also appeared in a Boston supper club engagement in 1945 for a repertoire centered around the song "Paradise", and soon after decided to retire from the entertainment business altogether.

Personal Life
Negri's first marriage was with Count Eugeniusz Dambski, and would prove to be short lived. Negri married Dambski in St Mary's Assumption Church in Sosnowiec in November 5th, 1919, thus becoming Countessa Apolonia Dambska-Challupiec. After a long separation period, Negri and Dambski were divorced on 1922. During their separation period, Negri met industrialist Wolfgang George Schleber, whom she called "Petronious" after the main character in Quo Vadis. Negri would be Schleber's mistress for most of the remainder of her stay in Germany.

After Negri began working in the United States, she began making headlines and gossip columns with a string of celebrity love affairs with stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Rod La Rocque, and Rudolph Valentino. Negri had met Chaplin while in Germany, and what began as a platonic relationship there became a well-publicized affair and marriage speculation which received the headline, "The Queen of Tragedy To Wed The King of Comedy". The relationship soured, and Negri became involved for a time with actor Rod La Rocque, who also appeared opposite her in Forbidden Paradise (1924).

Negri then met Rudolph Valentino at a costume party held by Marion Davies and William Randolph Hearst at the San Simeon estate, and was Valentino's lover until his time of his death in 1926. Negri caused a media sensation at this New York funeral in August 24, 1926, at which she "fainted" several times, and, according to actor Ben Lyon, arranged for a large floral arrangement, which spelled out "P-O-L-A", to be placed on Valentino's coffin. The press dismissed her actions as a publicity stunt. At the time of his death and for the remainder of her life, Negri would state that Valentino was the love of her life.

Negri followed this with her second marriage, this one to Georgian prince Serge Mdivani, which caused public opinion in the United States to sour against her because it happened so quickly after Rudolph Valentino's death. Negri and Mdivani were married on May 14, 1927 (less than nine months after Valentino's death), and were divorced on April 2, 1931.

While residing at the Ambassador Hotel in New York in April 1932, Negri was romantically involved with Russ Columbo and performed with him in the George Jessel Variety Revue at The Schubert Theatre. After the premier of Negri's film A Woman Commands in Hollywood, Russ Columbo performed Negri's signature song "Paradise" with his orchestra, and dedicated the song to Negri. Columbo also recorded and released the song as a 78 rpm single that year with slightly altered lyrics, and the single became a huge sensation with audiences across the country.

Negri was close friends with actresses Mae Murray and Marion Davies, and in fact was sister-in-law to Murray for a time, who was married to David Mdivani, brother to Negri's husband Serge Mdivani. Davies allowed Negri to live in her bungalow when Negri initially emigrated back to California in the 1940's.

Retirement and Later Life
After Negri retired from films, she became close friends with Margaret West, an oil heiress and vaudeville actress the she had originally met in the 1930's. The two became housemates, and moved to from Los Angeles to San Antonio, Texas, in 1957. Negri would live with West until the latter's death in 1963. Negri became a naturalized citizen of the United States on January 12, 1951.

After Mae Murray and Mary Pickford declined the role, director Billy Wilder approached Negri to appear as Norma Desmond in the film, Sunset Boulevard (1950). Negri also declined the role, which eventually went to Gloria Swanson, her former "rival" at Paramount.

Negri came out of retirement once to appear in the Walt Disney film The Moon-Spinners (1964), which starred Hayley Mills and Eli Wallach. Negri's appearance in the film as eccentric jewel collector Madame Habib was shot over the course of two weeks. During the time that Negri was filming The Moon-Spinners in London, she made a sensation by appearing before the London press at her hotel in the company of a feisty cheetah on a steel chain leash.

After West's death, Negri moved out of the home she had shared with West into a townhome located at 7707 Broadway in San Antonio. She spent the remainder of her years there, largely out of the public eye. In 1964, Negri received an honorary award from the German film industry for her film work, followed by a Hemis-Film award in San Antonio in 1968. In 1970 she published her autobiography, Memoirs of a Star, which was published by Doubleday.

Negri made an appearance at The Museum of Modern Art on April 30, 1970, for a screening event in her honor, which featured her film A Woman of the World (1925) and selections from her films. Negri was also guest of honor at a 1972 screening of Carmen held at the Witte Memorial Museum in San Antonio. In 1975, director Vincente Minelli approached Negri to appear as the Contessa Sanziani in his film A Matter of Time, but Negri was unable to accept the part due to poor health. The role ended up going to Ingrid Bergman instead.

Negri's final high-profile coverage in her lifetime was for a "Where Are They Now?" feature on silent film stars, which appeared in Life magazine in 1980.

Death and legacy
Pola Negri died on August 1, 1987, at the age of 90. Her death was caused by pneumonia, however she was also suffering from a brain tumor (for which she had refused treatment). At her wake at the Porter Loring Funeral Home in San Antonio, her body was placed on view wearing a yellow golden chiffon dress with a golden turban to match. Negri's death received extensive coverage in her hometown newspapers San Antonio Light and San Antonio Express-News, and in publications such as Los Angeles Times , New York Times , and Variety magazine.

Negri 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 Częstochowa, in San Antonio, Texas.

Pola Negri donated her collection of memorabilia to St. Mary's University in San Antonio, who also set up a scholarship in her name. The Polish Film Festival of Los Angeles remembers Negri with a Pola Negri Award given top outstanding film artists, and the Pola Negri Museum in Lipno gives a Polita award for outstanding artist achievement.

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. She has also received, along with Roman Polanski, a star in Poland's Walk of Fame in Łódź. The Polish post office issued a Stamp honoring Negri in 1996.

In 2006, a feature-length documentary about Negri's life, directed by Mariusz Kotowski and entitled Pola Negri: Life is a Dream in Cinema, premiered at the Seventh Annual Polish Film Festival of Los Angeles. The documentary is notable for its in-depth interviews with film stars Hayley Mills and Eli Wallach, who were starring actress and supporting actor respectively in the Walt Disney film The Moon-Spinners (1964), Pola Negri's final film. Pola Negri: Life is a Dream in Cinema has played at Pola Negri retrospective screenings in The United States and Europe, most notably at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and La Cinémathèque Française in Paris.

Additional references

 * Barry, Iris. Let's Go to the Movies. Payson & Clarke, Ltd., 1926.
 * Basinger, Jeanine. Silent Stars. Alfred a Knoff, 2000.
 * Botham, Noel, and Peter Donnelly. Valentino: The Love God. Everest Books, Ltd., 1976.
 * Cawthorne, Nigel. Sex Lives of the Hollywood Idols. Prion Books, Ltd., 1997.
 * Chaplin, Charles. My Trip Abroad. Harper & Brothers, 1921.
 * Clarke, David. Location: Cornwall. Bossiney Books, 1990.
 * Guiles, Fred Lawrence. Marion Davies. McGraw-Hill, 1972.
 * Hake, Sabine. Passions And Decptions: The Early Films of Ernest Lubitsch. Princeton University Press, 1992.
 * Endres, Stacey, and Robert Cschman. Hollywood At Your Feet:The Story of the World-Famous Chinese Theatre. Pomegranate Press, 1992.
 * Everson, William K. American Silent Film. Da Capo Press, 1998.
 * Eyman, Scott. Ernst Lubitsch: Laughter in Paradise. Simon & Schuster, 1993.
 * Keylin, Arleen, and Suri Fleischer. Hollywood Album. Arno Press, 1977.
 * Kreimeier, Klaus. The UFA Story: A Story of Germany's Greatest Film Company 1918-1945. University of California Press, 1999.
 * Lamparski, Richard. Whatever Became Of? Crown Publishers, Inc., 1967.
 * Lanza, Joseph and Dennis Penna. Russ Columbo and the Crooner Mystique. Feral House, 2002.
 * Oberfirst, Robert. Rudolph Valentino:The Man Behind The Myth. The Citadel Press, 1962.
 * Parish, James Robert. The Hollywood Scandals. McGraw-Hill, 2004.
 * Leider, Emily W. Dark Lover:The Life and Death of Rudolph Valentino. Farrar Strauss and Giroux, 2003.
 * Swanson, Gloria. Swanson On Swanson. Random House, 1980.
 * Villecco, Tony. Silent Stars Speak. McFarland & Company, Inc., 2001.
 * Jerzy Nowakowski "Boska Pola i inni" wyd. TO MY, Warszawa, 2005
 * Jerzy Nowakowski "Boska Pola i inni" wyd. TO MY, Warszawa, 2005
 * Jerzy Nowakowski "Boska Pola i inni" wyd. TO MY, Warszawa, 2005