Alla Aleksandrovna Nazimova (Russian: Алла Александровна Назимова, born Marem-Ides Leventon; June 3 [O.S.

[8] The youngest of three children born to Jewish parents Yakov Abramovich Leventon, a pharmacist, and Sarah Leivievna Gorowitz (later known as Sofia or Sophie Lvovna Gorovitz/Horovitz/Herowitz), who moved to Yalta in 1870 from Kishinev,[9] Nazimova grew up in a dysfunctional family.

She joined Constantin Stanislavski's Moscow Art Theatre using the name of Alla Nazimova for the first time.

She toured Europe, including London and Berlin, with her boyfriend Pavel Orlenev,[7] a flamboyant actor and producer.

[11] She was signed by the American producer Henry Miller and made her Broadway debut in New York City in 1906 to critical and popular success.

[14] A young actor with a bit part in the movie was Richard Barthelmess, whose mother, Caroline W. Harris, had taught Nazimova English.

She moved from New York to Hollywood, where she made a number of highly successful films for Metro that earned her considerable money.

She wrote screenplays under the pseudonym Peter M. Winters, and was a director for films credited to the name of her partner Charles Bryant.

[4] In her film adaptations of works by such notable writers as Oscar Wilde and Ibsen, she developed filmmaking techniques that were considered daring at the time.

[7][20] To bolster this arrangement with Bryant, Nazimova kept her marriage to Golovin secret from the press, her fans, and even her friends.

[24] Bridget Bate Tichenor, a Magic Realist artist and Surrealist painter, was rumored to be one of Nazimova's favored lovers in Hollywood during 1940–1942.

[25] The two had been introduced by the poet and art collector Edward James, and according to Tichenor, their intimate relationship angered Nazimova's longtime companion Glesca Marshall.

[25]It is believed that Nazimova coined the phrase sewing circle as code to refer to lesbian or bisexual actresses of her day who concealed their true sexuality.

[21]: 289 Edith Luckett, a stage actress and the mother of future U.S. First Lady Nancy Reagan, was a friend of Nazimova, having acted with her onstage.

[20] Nazimova's private lifestyle gave rise to widespread rumors of outlandish and allegedly debauched parties at her mansion on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California, known as The Garden of Alla, which she leased in 1918 and bought outright the next year.

[21] On July 13, 1945, Nazimova died of a coronary thrombosis, at age 66,[2] in the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles.

Nazimova was also featured in make-up artist Kevyn Aucoin's 2004 book Face Forward, in which he made up Isabella Rossellini to resemble her, particularly as posed in a certain photograph.