Valentina Zimina

Superstitous contemporaries could adjudge the movie "The Scarlet Lady" (28) an ominous aura because not only Valentina Zimina but also some other involved persons died prematurely in the next ten years. The director Alan Crossland died at the age of 41 in 1936 due to a road accident, the leading actress Lya De Putti died at the age of 34 in 1931 due to a pneumonia she contracted after an operation because she swallowed a chicken bone, the leading actor Warner Oland died at the age of 58 in 1938 due to a bronchial pneumonia because of alcohol abuse and the actor Otto Matieson dies at the age of 38 in 1932.

Hopkins in 1926.

She had a featured role in the 1925 drama A Son of His Father. Her performance got rave reviews and her career in Hollywood seemed bright. She costarred with Lillian Gish in La Boheme and with Pola Negri in The Woman On Trial. Valentina divorced her husband and married publisher Elwood E.

In 1923 she made her film debut in Cecil B. Demille's epic The Ten Commandments.

Tragically her entire family was killed in 1917 during the Russian revolution. She married Major Jakovieff, an officer in the ambulance service, shortly before he was summoned to the front. Valentina spent three years serving in the Battalion for Women in Russia. She was briefly imprisoned in Siberia but managed to escape by bribing a guard. After reuniting with her husband they moved to the United States. She earned a living singing Russian songs in vaudeville.

Valentina Zimina was born on January 1, 1899 in Moscow, Russia. She was the daughter of a famous opera singer and claimed she was a countess. Valentina started performing on the stage when she was a child.