- Born
- 2 June 1879Yalta, Russian Empire
- Died
- 13 July 1945Los Angeles, California, USA · aged 66
Alla Nazimova
A Broadway star who became a Hollywood producer, she took artistic risks and helped shape its queer social circles.
Alla Nazimova was born in Yalta in 1879. She trained in Moscow, where she worked with Konstantin Stanislavski, and arrived in New York with a Russian theatre company in 1905. She stayed, establishing herself on Broadway, particularly in plays by Henrik Ibsen.
Her film debut came in “War Brides” in 1916. She soon became one of Hollywood’s best-paid actresses and gained unusual control over her productions. “Salomé” (1923), adapted from Oscar Wilde with designs inspired by Aubrey Beardsley, was an ambitious experiment in visual style. Its commercial failure helped end her career as an independent producer.
Nazimova’s Sunset Boulevard estate, the Garden of Allah, became a gathering place for performers and artists before its conversion into a hotel. Her relationships with women, including the actress Eva Le Gallienne, place her within the queer networks that flourished behind early Hollywood’s public image.
She returned to the theatre and appeared in several more films during the 1940s. Nazimova died in Los Angeles in 1945. One unexpected connection extended beyond the stage and screen: she was godmother to Nancy Davis, the future Nancy Reagan.