Bella Darvi became a 50s symbol for one of the many movie "Cinderellas" whose bright and beautiful Hollywood fairy tale would come crashing down, ending in bitterness and tragedy. A self-destructive brunette beauty, her life was full of misfortune. Of Polish/French descent, she miraculously survived the tortures of a WWII concentration camp as a ...
For Virginia Fox Zanuck, producer Darryl F. Zanuck's wife, Darvi initially became something of a best friend and favorite niece. They went shopping and frequently lunched together, and Bella moved into the Zanucks' Santa Monica beach house in November 1952. But in January 1954, Virginia discovered through her daughter Susan that Darvi and her husband were romantically involved and threw her out. Bella hastily returned to Paris, Zanuck left his wife and followed her, and although the Zanucks never lived together again, they remained married.
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Henry Fine said of her: "She behaved like a most circumspect young lady, but whenever you came near her, you could feel the heat coming out of her. She was one of the sexiest females I have ever encountered, a great lovely ball of shimmering fire--but wrapped up in iron control. But you did have to wonder about her, and who was going to get burned when she did burst into flames.".
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Spoke French, English, German, Italian and Polish.
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She had three brothers (one of whom died in a concentration camp) and one sister.
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Despite scathing reviews for her performance in The Egyptian (1954) following its release in 1954, in recent years Darvi has received some praise from the critics, including Camille Paglia, who described her performance as "hypnotic".
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In 1959 she was forced to curb her bad habits when she was seriously injured in an auto accident and was taken to a Paris nursing home for three months to recover.
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At one point her gambling was so out of control that she was forced to pawn her jewels, furs, clothing, furniture and two poodles to make ends meet.
Marlon Brando was originally scheduled to appear opposite her in the Technicolor epic The Egyptian (1954). During the script read-through before filming began, the pair disliked each other at first sight. Bella, cast as the courtesan Nefer, was also jeered by more experienced star Jean Simmons, who laughed with other cast members that Darvi was "an actress who 'nefer' was." Just as filming was to start, Brando refused to make the film, his agent telling studio head Darryl F. Zanuck, "He doesn't like the director, he doesn't like the role. And he can't stand Bella Darvi!" Edmund Purdom was cast in his place.
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Committed suicide by using her oven to gas herself in her Monte-Carlo apartment. Her body was not discovered for ten days.
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After returning to Europe she regularly called on ex-lover Darryl F. Zanuck to rescue her financially from mounting gambling debts. He ignored her final plea, just before her suicide in 1971.
$950,000
