Her godmother was silent-film-star Alla Nazimova.

The film, mostly under the control of Rambova and Nazimova, was considered too avant garde by critics and the public.

In 1919, just before the rise of his career, Valentino impulsively married actress Jean Acker who was involved with actresses Grace Darmond and Alla Nazimova.

What can be said is that Nazimova herself was usually thought of as a lesbian ( despite occasional flings with men including Paul Ivano ), the two guard characters ( who, next to Salomé, have the most screen time ) are at least played very stereotypically gay, and several of the female courtiers are men in drag.

Her first film for Nazimova was Billions in 1920.

It was also the last film Nazimova and Rambova would work on together.

When Rambova was offered a position by Nazimova she was finally able to leave Kosloff.

When Nazimova was a student in Russia she wanted to “ play Regina for my graduation piece at the dramatic school at Moscow, but they would not let me.

Trained as a dramatic actor, in 1906, he was signed to tour the country with the troupe led by actress Alla Nazimova.

Nazimova included Acker in what was dubbed the " Sewing circles ", a group of actors who were forced to conceal the fact that they were lesbian, bisexual, and romantically and sexually attracted to women, thus living secret lives.

He was nephew of actress Alla Nazimova.

Chaplin accused her of infidelity, and, though he would not name her lover publicly, Alla Nazimova was suspected.

In 1918, while in Hollywood, she began an affair with the great actress Alla Nazimova, who was at her height of fame, and who at that time wielded much power in the acting community.

It was Nazimova who coined the phrase " Sewing circles ", to describe the intricate and secret lesbian relationships lived by many actresses of the day.

Kosloff sent Rambova to show sketches to Nazimova, claiming they were his own when they were actually Rambova's.

In a time when actors were defined by the type of role they played, Thomas felt she had no film type, saying, " But I want to create a certain role, you see Mary is the kid in pictures ; Norma does drama ; Constance is the flippant, flighty wife ; Dorothy the hoyden ; Nazimova is exotic and steeped in mystery, my Jack does boys, while I -- I -- why don't you see, I am just nothing at all!

In 1916 she began an affair with actress Alla Nazimova and later with dancer Isadora Duncan.

Though Nazimova later sold the property, she continued to live in one of the villas on the grounds.

In 1917, while still in distribution, the Warners had secured the rights for War Brides, a film that featured Alla Nazimova as " a woman who kills herself rather than breed children for an unidentified country whose army looks suspiciously Teutonic.

Many popular actresses have played the role of Hedda: they include Eleonora Duse, Alla Nazimova, Asta Nielsen, Eva Le Gallienne, Anne Meacham, Ingrid Bergman, Jill Bennett, Janet Suzman, Diana Rigg, Isabelle Huppert, Kate Burton, Kate Mulgrew, Kelly McGillis, Fiona Shaw, Maggie Smith, Annette Bening, Amanda Donohoe, Judy Davis, Erin Berger, Emmanuelle Seigner, Harriet Walter, Rosamund Pike and Cate Blanchett, who won the 2005 Helpmann Award ( Australia ) for Best Female Actor in a Play.

Kosloff met fellow Russian Alla Nazimova and convinced her to use his services for her an upcoming planned project based on Aphrodite.

She next designed for a film Nazimova wrote titled, A Doll's House.

It became notorious for the wild parties allegedly held there by the openly lesbian Nazimova.

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 Vilma Bánky, Alla Nazimova, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Ingrid Bergman, Sophia Loren, and many others.

* Coauthored by Thinking Eye Productions & Filmakers Library, Some Spirit in Me ( N. Y .: Filmakers Library, VHS 1 / 2 " tape video 1993 ) ( 58 minutes ; cinematography by Sarah Nazimova ; as stated in WorldCat's entry for responsibility, " Thinking Eye Productions presents ... a historical documentary produced and directed by Eva Moskowitz ") ( as stated in WorldCat's abstract, " look at the feminist movement from the point of view of women who were not high-profile activitists, but whose lives were affected by the changes in society.

Rambova, Mathis, Ivano, and Valentino began work on the Alla Nazimova film Camille.

Valentino first met Winifred Shaughnessy, known by her stage name, Natacha Rambova, an American silent film costume and set designer, art director, and protégée of Nazimova, on the set of Uncharted Seas in 1921.

Nazimova offered Rambova a position on her production staff as an art director and costume designer.

By 1922 Rambova had left Metro to join Nazimova on her artistic productions.

Russian actress Alla Nazimova, a friend of the family, had been taught English by Barthelmess's mother.

Rambova's work had been used in four DeMille films, including, Why Change Your Wife ?, which featured Gloria Swanson and Thomas Meighan, before her signing with Nazimova.

Acker had an affair with the actress Alla Nazimova.

Among the movies Cromwell directed are Little Lord Fauntleroy ( 1936 ) starring Freddie Bartholomew and Dolores Costello ; The Prisoner of Zenda ( 1937 ) starring Ronald Colman and Madeleine Carroll, with Raymond Massey, Mary Astor, David Niven, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr .; Algiers ( 1938 ) starring Charles Boyer and Hedy Lamarr ; Abe Lincoln in Illinois ( 1940 ) starring Raymond Massey, Gene Lockhart, and Ruth Gordon ; Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake ( 1942 ) starring Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney ; Since You Went Away ( 1944 ) starring Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Shirley Temple, Robert Walker, and Monty Woolley, with Hattie McDaniel, Agnes Moorehead, Alla Nazimova, Lionel Barrymore and Keenan Wynn ; Anna and the King of Siam ( 1946 ) starring Irene Dunne, Rex Harrison, Linda Darnell, Lee J. Cobb, and Gale Sondergaard ; Dead Reckoning ( 1947 ) starring Humphrey Bogart and Lizabeth Scott ; the women's prison drama Caged ( 1950 ) and the noir crime / drama The Racket ( 1951 ) starring Robert Mitchum, Lizabeth Scott, and Robert Ryan, which Cromwell had appeared in onstage in New York and on tour.

Directors such as Albert Capellani ( a French director who also did work in America directing Alla Nazimova films ) and Maurice Tourneur insisted on naturalism in their films.

* 1879 – Alla Nazimova, Russian-American actress, scriptwriter, and producer ( d. 1945 )

* July 13 – Alla Nazimova, Russian actress ( b. 1879 )

* May 22 – Alla Nazimova, Ukrainian-born stage and film actress ( d. 1945 )

Nazimova convinced Barthelmess to try acting professionally and he made his first film appearance in 1916 in the serial Gloria's Romance as an extra.

His next role, in War Brides opposite Nazimova, attracted the attention of legendary director D. W. Griffith, who offered him several important roles, finally casting him opposite Lillian Gish in Broken Blossoms ( 1919 ) and Way Down East ( 1920 ).

The two worked together on the Nazimova production of Camille, by which time they were romantically involved.

Salomé ( 1923 ), a silent film directed by Charles Bryant and starring Alla Nazimova, is a film adaptation of the Oscar Wilde play of the same name.