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Nita Naldi: Vamp and Female Valentino "The fans just assumed that I was in real life as I appeared on the screen. Woman loathed me. I was warned not to appear on the public beaches and everywhere I went people used to look upon me as something unreal—like griffins and unicorns."
Nita Naldi (1897-1961)  Like many of her contemporaries, Nita Naldi (Anita Donna Dooley) began her professional career in the Ziegfeld 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 recruited by Paramount Pictures. Initially, Nita was cast in the role of a vamp to rival Fox’s preeminent vamp, Theda Bara. It was an onscreen persona that Naldi would capitalize on during her years in the film industry.
She appeared in the film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1920 at Barrymore's request. Naldi’s vampish films also included Last Door (1921), Experience (1921), Divorce of Convenience (1921), Snitching Hour (1922), Reported Missing (1922), The Man from Beyond (1922) and For Your Daughter's Sake (1922 reissue of Common Sin).
Her most memorable role probably 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. In fact, she was often even referred to as the female Valentino.
Arguably the high point of her career came when she appeared in the 1923 epic The Ten Commandments, directed by Cecil B. DeMille, but she never rested on her laurels. Naldi went on to make The Unfair Sex (1926),The Miracle of Life (1926), Fear O'God (1926), La Femme Nue (1926), Cobra (1925), The Lady Who Lied (1925) , and What Price Beauty (1925).
 In the late 1920's, she traveled 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 evaporate. 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. 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.
Nita Naldi died of a heart attack in her New York City apartment at the age of 63. For her contribution to the film industry, Nita Naldi was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
By Jake Horton, who is working on a book profiling these legendary ladies of the silver screen. (You can find Jake on the SK message boards & his erotic stories at Tit-Elation.com.)
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