Nazimova is enjoying something of a renaissance these days, but this latter day interest is focused more on her sexual orientation than on her unique film career. She entered films in 1915 in the critically acclaimed, but now lost anti-war film War Brides. She appeared in a series of films for Metro playing a variety of types, though critics usually referred to her screen persona as "bizarre" and didn't always find her choice of roles appropriate. Most of these films are lost. She demanded and received more artistic control of her films and produced some extraordinarily stylized films which were hated by contemporary audiences. She hired talented designer Natasha Rambova for Camille (1921) and Salome (1923), two of the most unusual films ever to come out of Hollywood. The foremost interpreter of Ibsen in the theatre, it is unfortunate that her own production of A Doll's House (1922) does not survive. She went back to the theatre where her talents were more appreciated, returning to Hollywood in the late 30s in distinguished character roles.

©2001, by Greta de Groat. All Rights Reserved

Last revised November 11, 2011