Born 1894 as Mary Nonna Dooley, American stage performer and silent film actress Nita Naldi was selected by Spanish author Vicente Blasco Ibáñez for the role of Doña Sol in the film version of his novel, Blood and Sand (1922). She was signed by Famous Players-Lasky for the role, and it became her first pairing with screen idol Rudolph Valentino. The film was a major success, giving Naldi the image of a vamp, which would follow her for the rest of her life.
After finishing the Dorothy Gish film Clothes Make the Pirate, Naldi left for France for a short vacation, where she married J. Searle Barclay. Despite multiple rumors that she had retired, Naldi began work on several films, including Alfred Hitchcock’s second directorial effort, 1926’s The Mountain Eagle.
Naldi made two films in France and one in Italy before retiring. Despite having an acceptable voice, she never made a “talkie”. She spent her final years in New York City, where she died of a heart attack in her hotel room at the Wentworth Hotel on West 46th Street in 1961.
Take a look at these vintage photos to see the beauty of young Nita Naldi in the 1920s.
The lady in the white pearls (headband, bracelets, etc.) is actress Kay Francis not Nita Naldi.
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