Pola Negri

Pola Negri was definitely not shy when it came to men. She apparently had been married in Poland to Count Eugeniusz Dabski, therefore becoming Countess Apolonia Dabska-Chalupec. They were married for only about three years, most of the time though separated. When Pola Negri arrived in Hollywood, she made headlines with her high-profile affairs.

Charlie Chaplin, who she had met in Germany, was her first serious relationship – so much so that the media headlines even read „The Queen of Tragedy to Wed the King of Comedy“. But, the relationship fell apart. She got involved with actor Rod La Rocque, one of her co-stars afterwards. And then, Pola met Rudolph Valentino. They apparently met at a costume party at the estate of Marion Davies ad William Randolph Hearst. And for the next two years until his death, they are reported to have been lovers. Her dramatic behavior during his funeral, including uncontrolled crying and fainting as well as large floral arragenemnt spelling out POLA caused a media sensation. Pola Negri insisted that Rudolph Valentino had been the love of her life. 

Nevertheless, she got married less than nine months later to the Georgian self-styled „Prince“ Serge Mdivani. 

Short sidenote about Mdviani: When researching Old Hollywood, you will encounter the name Mdivani more than once … actually many times. Why? Because there are actually five siblings that have become known as the „Marrying Mdivanis“. They fled to Paris after the Soviet Invasion of Georgia and got engaged and married to high-profile entertainment people. The two girls, Nina and Isabelle actually weren’t that notorious,  Nina Mdivani got married eventually of Denis Conan Doyle, a son of Sir Arthur Canon Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Isabelle married Spanish painter Josep Maria Sert. But the three brothers really took on the United States. 

David Mdviani was the first Mdviani to marry into entertainment royalty. In 1926, aged 22, he married actress Mae Murray – once he had bankrupted her, she divorced him and the two had a fierce custody battle about their son Koran David. He than dated French actress Arletty, who is known for her quote „My heart is Fresh, but my butt is international“, when being imprisoned for her affair with a German Nazi soldier. David than married Virginia Sinclair, heiress of Sinclair Oil millions, which also produced a son, Michael. This Mdviani was to become 80 years old. His brothers weren’t that lucky. 

Alexis Mdivani married Louise Astor Van Alan, a member of the high-profile Astor family at age 26, but divorced her to marry Barbara Hutton, Woolworth heiress and one of the world’s richest women at that time. At the time of his death he was 30 years old.  He died in an automobile accident in Spain – he was traveling with beautiful, married, 23 year old German Baroness Maud Thyssen. 

Serge met and married Pola Negri in 1927, when he was only 24 years old (and Pola Negri 28). When most of her money had gone, he abonded her, married opera singer Mary McCormick and then former sister-in-law Louise Aster van Allen Mdviani and died that same year at age 33 .

So, Mdivani had left Pola Negri and they got divorced shortly after. When Negri returned to the US, she became friends with oil heiress and vaudevielle actress Margaret West, whom she had known for almost 20 years then, and moved in with her and Negri’s mother into a beachfront home in LA  and later in Bel Air. When Negri’s mother died, West and Pola relocated to Austin, Texas. It is unclear wether these two had a love affair or whether they were mere friends. 

Negri dies age 90 from the complications of pneumonia and a brain tumor that she had refused treatment for.