Nina Vanna

Nina Kind Hakim Provatoroff, known by her stage name of Nina Vanna (née Yazykova; 27 September 1899 – 8 November 1953),[1] was a Russian-born British film actress who appeared in a number of silent films during the 1920s.

Nina Vanna
Nina Vanna and Ivor Novello in "The Man Without Desire"
Born
Nina Yazykova

(1899-09-27)27 September 1899
Minsk, Belarus
Died8 November 1953(1953-11-08) (aged 54)
Battle, East Sussex, England, UK
OccupationActress
Years active1923–1937

She sometimes played in historical dramas, playing Lady Jane Grey in the first of three film versions of her life (Lady Jane Grey; Or, the Court of Intrigue) and Lucrezia Borgia in what may be the first of several versions.

Vanna was married three times, first to Robert Kind from whom she was later divorced, secondly to film director Eric Hakim (1900–1967), whom she also divorced, and finally to an importer/exporter and art collector Peter Provatoroff[2] from 1946 until her death in Banstead, Surrey, UK.[3][4][5]

Career

Vanna began her film career in England where she made her debut in Scrooge (1923) as Alice. In the next years followed her leading roles in films, among them A Christmas Carol (1923), Lucrezia Borgia; Or, Plaything of Power (1923), Lady Jane Grey in Lady Jane Grey; Or, The Court of Intrigue (1923),[6] The Man Without Desire (1923),[7] The Cost of Beauty (1924) and The Woman Tempted (1926).[8][9]

Just before beginning of filming of The Man Without Desire, in which the actress played a young socialite, she was persuaded by Ivor Novello, appearing as a Venetian aristocrat, to change her name to "something that sounded less emetic".[10]

She extended her career to France, Germany and Austria from 1924 with the new films La closerie des Genets (1924), Veille d'armes (1925), Männer vor der Ehe (1927), Café Elektric (1927), Die raffinierteste Frau Berlins (1927), A Murderous Girl (1927), Youth Astray (original title: Was die Kinder ihren Eltern verschweigen, 1927),[11] Was weisst Du von der Liebe/Gefährdete Mädchen (1927), La vie miraculeuse de Thérèse Martin (1930). After a longer pause followed her first and last sound film at the same time with The Show Goes On (1937).[12]

Other movies included Love in an Attic (1923)[13] The School for Scandal (1923), Guy Fawkes (1923),[14] The Money Habit (1924), We Women (1925), Before the Battle (1925), Graziella (1926), The Triumph of the Rat (1926),[15] and Adventure Mad (1926).

Selected filmography

References
  1. England & Wales, Death Index: 1916–2005
  2. Taylor, Tobi Lopez (18 January 2016). Orzel: Scottsdale's Legendary Arabian Stallion. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 9781625854964.
  3. Find-a-grave entry
  4. "BFI Film and TV Database: Hakim, Eric". Archived from the original on 4 September 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2010.
  5. England & Wales, Marriage Index: 1916–2005
  6. Kramer, Kaley A. (19 November 2014). Women During the English Reformations: Renegotiating Gender and Religious Identity. Springer. ISBN 9781137465672.
  7. Brunel, Adrian (1 January 1949). Nice Work: The Story of Thirty Years in British Film Production. Forbes Robertson.
  8. "Portrait of the actress Nina Vanna by Thomas Staedeli". www.cyranos.ch. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  9. Parrill, Sue; Robison, William B. (26 February 2013). The Tudors on Film and Television. McFarland. ISBN 9780786458912.
  10. Room, Adrian (1 July 2010). Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins, 5th ed. McFarland. ISBN 9780786457632.
  11. Schaefer, Eric (1 January 1999). "Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!": A History of Exploitation Films, 1919-1959. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822323745.
  12. Vasilʹev, Aleksandr (1 November 2000). Beauty in Exile: The Artists, Models, and Nobility who Fled the Russian Revolution and Influenced the World of Fashion. Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 9780810957015.
  13. Gifford, Denis (1 April 2016). British Film Catalogue: Two Volume Set - The Fiction Film/The Non-Fiction Film. Routledge. ISBN 9781317740636.
  14. Paietta, Ann C. (1 July 2005). Saints, Clergy and Other Religious Figures on Film and Television, 1895-2003. McFarland. ISBN 9781476610160.
  15. Morgan, Charles (31 May 2013). Dramatic Critic: Selected Reviews (1922-1939). Oberon Books. ISBN 9781849439411.
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