Profile of Nita Naldi on Famous Like Me

Nita Naldi (April 1, 1897 - February 17, 1961) was one of the most successful silent film actresses of the Roaring Twenties.

Born Anita Donna Dooley in New York City into a working class Irish-Italian family, Nita began her professional career in the Ziegfield Follies, changing her decidedly Irish sounding surname to the more exotic Naldi as an homage to a childhood friend with the surname Rinaldi.

Discovered in 1919 by actor John Barrymore, Nita soon took Hollywood by storm. With her sultry, exotic looks, she was immediately snapped up for a Paramount Pictures contract. She appeared in her first film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1920 at Barrymore's request. Initially, Nita was often cast in the role of the vamp; A sort of paean to earlier Hollywood starlet and rival Theda Bara. It was an onscreen persona that Naldi would wonderfully capitalize on during her years in the film industry.

Her most memorable role came when she was teamed with Italian screen idol Rudolph Valentino in the enormous 1922 hit Blood and Sand. The pairing of the overtly seductive duo was so appealing to the public that Naldi was twice more Valentino's co-star in 1924's A Sainted Devil, and Cobra in 1925. Naldi was often even referred to as the female Valentino.

At her career's peak, Naldi appeared in the collossal 1923 epic film The Ten Commandments, directed by Cecil B. DeMille. In 1926 Nita Naldi starred in Alfred Hitchcock's second film The Mountain Eagle.

In the late 1920's, she travelled to Europe and made several films before returning to America and appearing on Broadway in the 1933 productions of The Firebird and Queer People. Like so many other silent film stars however, the advent of the talkies saw Naldi's career wane. By the end of the 1920's, with America entering the Great Depression, her vamp persona seemed passé to American film-goers. Nita eventually retired and married J. Searle Barclay. Although, she occasionally came out of retirement to appear in minor parts in films, television, and the stage - most notably her role in the 1952 play In Any Language, co-starring the legendary stage actress Uta Hagen.

Nita Naldi died of a heart attack in her New York City apartment at the age of 60 and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Woodside, Queens County, New York, USA.

For her contribution to the film industry, Nita Naldi was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6316 Hollywood Blvd.

Nita Naldi filmography

Life (1920)

Common Sin (1920)

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)

Last Door (1921)

Experience (1921)

Divorce of Convenience (1921)

Snitching Hour (1922)

Reported Missing (1922)

The Man from Beyond (1922)

For Your Daughter's Sake (1922 reissue of Common Sin)

Channing of the Northwest (1922)

Blood and Sand (1922)

Anna Ascends (1922)

You Can't Fool Your Wife (1923)

The Ten Commandments (1923)

Lawful Larceny (1923)

Hollywood (1923)

The Glimpses of the Moon (1923)

A Sainted Devil (1924)

Don't Call It Love (1924)

The Breaking Point (1924)

Mountain Eagle (1925)

Marriage Whirl (1925)

Lady Who Lied (1925)

Cobra (1925)

Clothes Make the Pirate (1925)

The Unfair Sex (1926)

The Miracle of Life (1926)

Fear O'God (1926)

La Femme Nue (1926)

What Price Beauty? (1928)

The Model From Montmartre (1928)

La Maschera d'Oro (The Golden Mask) (1929)

You Can't Fool Your Wife (1940)

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