Oh, Sharlee!

Pola Negri would be appalled at how little we talk of her today. Svelte, petite and exotic, she was one of the true vamps of the silent screen in the tradition of Theda Bara.

Born as Barbara Apollina Chalupiec in Janowa, Poland on the last day of 1894, Pola grew up in a poor single-parent family in Warsaw, where she was trained in ballet and then theatre acting. With the turmoil of World War I, she turned to film, and thus a legend was born. Gaining success and fame throughout Europe with 1919’s sensational Madame Du Berry, she was brought to Hollywood when the film was released stateside (as Passion) and caused immediate shock waves.

Sexual and potent on film, Negri would surpass “It” and take viewers’ minds directly to “Doing It.”


Having met Charlie Chaplin in Berlin on his world tour of 1921, the two were eagerly reunited when the actress was engaged by Paramount in 1922. Chaplin was immediately struck by Pola’s beauty and charisma, and was, no doubt, flattered by the public attention she lavished on the often-shy 5’5” British comedian. However, it is quite certain that, when she announced their engagement in early 1923, Chaplin had not been informed of any such arrangement. Unwilling to publicly deny their forth-coming marriage, he would not make a statement to the contrary, and the press went into full feeding frenzy for months over the world’s reigning king of silent comedies marrying the siren of Paramount. For his part, Chaplin found there were advantages in the relationship (besides the obvious) and used Pola as the model of European sexual and cultural sophistication he was aiming for when he made his magical A Woman of Paris (1923). We can assume that it is no coincidence that the shooting of the film was completed on June 25 and Charlie officially broke off the engagement on June 28th. Still, theirs remains one of Hollywood’s grandest romances, and was one of the top tabloid headlines of the 20s.

Negri’s popularity would fall into sharp decline in 1926 when, after making a public display of her grief at the funeral of matinee-idol Rudolph Valentino, she claimed that the two had been engaged. This fact was roundly denied by many of Valentino’s closest friends, and it is plausible, considering her publicity stunt with Chaplin in 1923, that it had been a product of her overly dramatic mind. That same year the Hays office began to doggedly censor her film behaviour, at the same time that her notoriously thick accent hampered her conversion to sound films, and she returned to Europe in the 30s to work for the Nazi-controlled UFA. However, rumours that she was actually half-Jewish, despite a legendary friendship with Hitler, drove her back to the States in 1941, where she died in retirement in 1987.

Pola Negri was a beautiful and magnetic woman who lived a life filled with as much fantasy and seduction as her screen performances ever held. In her time she held in her palm men who made studios, or nations, rise and fall, armed with acting skill, sexual dynamism and an exotic presence. Although her legend has faded from tabloid covers, she justifiably remains a true star of the silent era, and one of the great mythical creatures of Hollywood lore.