Silent start nita5/29/2023 ![]() ![]() In 1929, seven years after the success of Blood and Sand, Naldi was named as a party in the divorce proceedings between 54-year-old millionaire J. Īlso in the 1950s, Naldi appeared on the television series Omnibus. Channing would be nominated for a Tony award for Best Actress in a Musical for that role.ĭuring the 1952 presidential election, she supported Adlai Stevenson in his campaign. In 1955, she coached Carol Channing how to vamp, for Channing's new musical The Vamp. In 1952, she had a notable role in the play In Any Language, co-starring the legendary stage actress Uta Hagen. That same year she began appearing in a revue in New York with Mae Murray reciting the 1897 poem "A Fool There Was." In 1942, Naldi was considered for For Whom the Bell Tolls but did not receive the part. The press had been critical of her weight since 1924, but reviews of her appearances in both plays were especially harsh this time around - so harsh in fact that Naldi filed suit against one paper in 1934 for $500,000. She went back to the stage with Queer People and The Firebird in 1933. Later life ĭue to the financial reversals caused by her retirement from films, as well as the Great Depression, Naldi filed for bankruptcy in 1932. Despite having an acceptable voice, Naldi never made a “ talkie”. ![]() Naldi made two films in France and one in Italy before retiring. She is often mistakenly credited for appearing in Hitchcock's The Pleasure Garden. 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. ![]() Īfter finishing the Dorothy Gish film Clothes Make the Pirate, Naldi left for France for a short vacation, where she married J. Naldi starred in Rambova's 1925 production What Price Beauty? The film suffered distribution problems, was barely noted at the time, but is noteworthy for being actress Myrna Loy's first screen appearance. She was given her own film as a consolation. After Valentino signed a contract with United Artists, he banned Rambova from the set. The Valentinos' marriage was ending around this time. The film was not well received, and Cobra became the last film in which Naldi and Valentino starred together. Upon returning to California, the duo made Cobra. In 1924, the Valentinos and Naldi traveled to France in order to do research for the film The Hooded Falcon. Naldi featured in the August 1924 issue of Photoplay, where she is described as “Sloe-eyed, and darkly beautiful”. Brady in 1920 offered her a role in his play Opportunity. Working under her new name, Naldi continued acting on Broadway and after her well-received performance in The Bonehead, producer William A. It was at this time when Nonna Dooley changed her name to "Nita Naldi," which she adapted from the name of a childhood friend, Florence Rinaldi. Her appearance in that Broadway production led to more stage jobs, and soon Naldi found herself in the Ziegfeld Follies of 19. ![]() She soon entered vaudeville with her brother Frank, and by 1918 she was performing as a chorus girl at the Winter Garden Theatre in The Passing Show of 1918. To support them and herself she took several jobs, including work as an artist's model and a cloak model. Her mother's death in 1915 required Nonna to care for her two younger siblings. The Academy was located directly across Linwood Avenue from Willat/Fox film studio. Later, in 1910, young Nonna herself attended the Catholic school, the same year her father “'left the family'”. Known in her youth as Nonna, she was named in honor of her great aunt, Mary Nonna Dunphy, a nun who in 1879 had founded Academy of the Holy Angels in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Four of her siblings died in infancy, with only her younger brother, Daniel Aloysius, surviving to adulthood. Nita Naldi was born in a tenement in New York City to working class Irish parents, Julia ( née Cronin) and Patrick Dooley, in 1894. She was often cast in theatrical and screen productions as a vamp, a persona first popularized by actress Theda Bara. Nita Naldi (born Mary Nonna Dooley Novem– February 17, 1961) was an American stage performer and silent film actress. ![]()
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