Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Nita Naldi


Nita Naldi, was one of the most successful actresses in Hollywood during the "Roaring Twenties", she was often cast in the role of the femme fatale. Nita first performce was in a short film with comedian Johnny Dooley. Naldi quit after finding out he was involved with another woman. She was offered a role in "A Divorce of Convenience". She performed in many small roles in independent films before Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. After which Barrymore and Naldi became friends for many years. Naldi was selected for the role of Dona Sol in the film Blood and Sand. It was her first pairing with Rudolph Valentino and the film was a major success. Naldi became good friends with his wife Natacha Rambova. Naldi performed in many important roles including The Ten Commandments(1923), directed by Cecil B. DeMille. When Valentino fixed his contract problems they performed together in his final Famous Players-Lasky film, A Sainted Devil(1924). Valentinos and Naldi traveled to France to research for their film, The Hooded Falcon (1924). The film was never made but after returning to California they did make Cobra which would be the last film Naldi and Valentino starred together. The Valentinos marriage was in trouble by this time and he banned Rambova from the set. She was given her own film in Rambova's production "What Price Beauty?". Best known for Myrna Loy's first on screen performance. Soon after finishing the Dorothy Gish film "Do Clothes Make the Pirate?" Naldi headed for France, where she married J. Searle Barclay. Soon after Naldi began work on several films including Alfred Hitchcock's second directorial film, The Mountain Eagle (1926). She is often credited, mistakenly, as performing in Hitchcock's, The Pleasure Garden.
Please click here, to view Hala Pickfords Awesome : Nita Naldi Biography.

6 comments:

  1. Very informative! Never knew of Naldi before now. Thanks!

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  2. Sarah, that makes two of us.

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  3. http://rudolphvalentino.org/nita.html

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  4. Thank you for the link, Hala.

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  5. Welcome. I'm the one who wrote her biography, but Wikipedia sucks so hard they wouldn't let me link (a particular user stalks classic film pages and reverts all edits). There's still a lot of mysteries, like if she actually married Barclay and WHEN. Someday I'll figure it out :D. Her films are popping up all the time too, "An Even Break" was apparently dug up recently...

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  6. Hala, Awesome!!! Please keep us updated on your research findings. Sorry.. to hear that Wikipedia, is giving you such a hard time with your Nita Naldi, biography.

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