Pola Negri: Hollywood's First Femme Fatale

by Mariusz Kotowski

Pola Negri (1897–1987) rose from an impoverished childhood in Warsaw, Poland, to become one of early Hollywood's greatest stars. After tuberculosis ended her career as a ballerina in 1912, she turned to acting and worked under legendary directors Max Reinhardt and Ernst Lubitsch in Germany. Negri preceded Lubitsch to Hollywood, where she quickly became a fan favorite thanks to her beauty, talent, and diva personality. Known for her alluring sexuality and biting artistic edge, she starred in more than sixty films and defined the image of the cinematic femme fatale.

Author Mariusz Kotowski brings the screen siren's story to English-speaking audiences for the first time in this fascinating biography. At the height of her fame, Negri often portrayed exotic and mysterious temptresses, headlining in such successes as The Spanish Dancer (1923) and Forbidden Paradise (1924), before returning to Europe in the 1930s. The devastating effects of World War II soon drove her back to the United States, where she starred in Hi Diddle Diddle (1943) and pursued her vaudeville career before retiring from the entertainment industry.

Kotowski also illuminates Negri's dramatic personal life, detailing her numerous love affairs―including her engagement to Charlie Chaplin and her romance with Rudolph Valentino―as well as her multiple marriages. This long-overdue biography not only paints a detailed portrait of one classic Hollywood's most intriguing stars and the film industry's original Jezebel, but also explores the link between Hollywood and European cinema during the interwar years.

Genres: Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published February 24, 2011

Reviews

[Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Polish born Pola Negri began her career at an early age in Poland and later in Berlin.

Once in America she accomplished Hollywood film star status in silent films in a relatively short time.
She was courted by Charlie Chaplin and Rudolf Valentino.

I didn’t consider this a very good ‘biography’, not especially well written, but I was glad to read it as Pola Negri was new to me.

Negri was a fascinating woman by all accounts and I was certainly pleased at the many photographs included in the book.

[Ewa (rvdzik) · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's quite a brief biography for someone who just wants to broaden one's horizons, not for die-hard Old Hollywood fan. I didn't like either the style of writing or the fact that while one movie was described in detail, next one was just mentioned without further descriptions. There are some mistakes ( for example, title of Garbo's movie "Camille" is translated as "Kamilla" instead of "Dama Kameliowa"), which only worsen the effect. It's clear that the author adores Pola, but that's not enough if we want a great biography.

[Carl Rollyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kotowski's biography of Pola Negri is an engaging account of an actress who became one of Hollywood's first stars and, as the subtitle reveals, perfected the part of the femme fatale. Kotowski writes with special feeling and kinship for his subject, a fellow Pole whose life and career remain a vivid story in her native land. The author began his study of Negri by producing a well-received documentary about her (Pola Negri: Life is a Dream in Cinema, 2006) and then working on a biography in Polish. The present title reflects a deep and abiding understanding of his subject, who appeared in more than 60 silent films in Poland, Germany, and the US, and whose work is vital to understanding the development of the star system and the impact of international cinema. That Negri did not make a transition to talkies can be partly attributed to her accent and to an acting style that seemed dated just a few years after her enormous success. Since only a few of her directors were first-class, interest in her films has waned. Yet her significance remains.

[JC · Rating 1 out of 5]

A very badly written biography. Half the book was inundated with meticulously written summaries of Pola's film plots. Perhaps, it's because the author had no real idea on how to write a true biography. Pola Negri had an exciting life. She was truly an interesting , drama filled character. However , the fact that it has taken me weeks to finish a 199 page book is very telling. It was a complete mess, jumping from one topic to another within each chapter.

I feel I need to read her memoir to get a true account of her accomplishments.

[James O'Brien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wildly inaccurate account of Rudolph Valentino’s breakup with/divorce from Natacha Rambova and the final months of his life. Crazy editorial intrusions and the author evidently feels animosity toward Rambova. If the material prior to those two chapters (about which I know something) is as compromised as those (I don’t know enough about Pola to say), this biography is a disservice to readers.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biografia jak biografia. Jednak pokazuje wielką gwiazdą kina niemego eksportowaną z Polski do Hollywood. Pokazuje bardziej prywatną stronę sławy.