Anna Sten

 Anna Sten, December 3, 1908, Kyiv, Russia (as it was then a part of Russia) - November 12, 1993, New York, NY. She was a stage actress appearing in plays in the Ukraine and in Russia and then traveled to Germany with her husband, Feder Ozep, and she made the film, "The Yellow Ticket" 1928. She transitioned easily to sound films in Europe, and she made ten of them before Sam Goldwyn signed her for the diluted adaptation of Emile Zola's "Nana". She was tutored in English and in techniques of Hollywood style film acting. It is said he thought she would be a successor for Vilma Banky and a rival for Greta Garbo at MGM and Marlene Dietrich at Paramount. Goldwyn financed a huge publicity campaign for his discovery and her American screen debut. She became a household name for all of the wrong reasons and the public resented having her pushed on them.

"Nana" 1934, did not recoup all of the lavish money spent on it. It is a well-done and a polished film co-starring Lionel Atwill, Phillips Holmes, and Mae Clarke. It was followed by "We Live Again" 1935 based on Leo Tolstoy's "Resurrection" and co-starred Fredric March then "The Wedding Night" 1935 directed by King Vidor and also starring Gary Cooper. These films did not fare well, and Goldwyn and Sten parted ways.

Sten, who was married to film producer Eugene Frenke who came to the US in 1932, appeared in a few films from 1939 to 1943 and a very few times thereafter. Her final film was "The Nun and the Sergeant" in 1962.