Silent Film Star: Alla Nazimova.

Alla Nazimova (May 22 1879 – 13 July 1945), was a Russian/American theater and film actress, screenwriter, and producer. She is perhaps best known as simply Nazimova, but also went under the name Alia Nasimoff. Nazimova has been portrayed in film three times. The first two were biographical films about Rudolph Valentino: 1975's The Legend of Valentino, in which she was portrayed by Alicia Bond; and 1977's Valentino, in which she was portrayed by Leslie Caron. The most recent film portrayal was in Return to Babylon of 2004, a film about Hollywood's silent movie era, in which Laura Harring played Nazimova. The character of Nazimova appears also in Dominick Argento's opera Dream of Valentino in which she plays the violin.