- Anna Sten
Infobox Actor
imagesize = 275px
caption = Anna Sten inBoris Barnet 's comedy film "The Girl with a Hatbox " (1927).
birthname = Anel Sudakevich
birthdate = birth date|1908|12|03
birthplace =Kiev, Ukraine ,Russian Empire
deathdate = death date and age|1993|11|12|1908|12|03
deathplace =New York City, New York ,U.S.
othername =
occupation =
yearsactive =
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website =Anna Sten (
December 3 ,1908 –November 12 ,1993 ) was a Russian-born actress, who became the most famous, or rather, the most notorious of the many "newGreta Garbo s" of the 1930s.Early years
Anel Sudakevich was born
December 3 1908 . Anna's father was a Russian ballet master who died when she was 12. Anna herself worked as a waitress until she was discovered at the age of 15 while acting in an amateur play inKiev . Her discoverer was the influential Russian stage director and instructorKonstantin Stanislavsky , who arranged for her to get an audition at the Moscow Film Academy. She acted in plays and films in Russia (includingBoris Barnet 's 1927 comedy "The Girl with a Hatbox"), then traveled to Germany to appear in films co-produced by German and Russian studios, international productions common in the years prior to World War II.Talking Pictures
Making a smooth transition to talking pictures, Anna appeared in such German films as "Trapeze" (1931) and "
The Brothers Karamazov " (1931) until she came to the attention of American movie mogulSamuel Goldwyn . Goldwyn was looking for a foreign-born actress that he could build up as the rival of, and possible successor to,Greta Garbo . For two years after bringing Sten to America, Goldwyn had his new star tutored in English and taught Hollywood screen acting methods. He poured a great deal of time and money into Sten's first American film, "Nana", a somewhat homogenized version of Émile Zola's scandalous nineteenth century novel. But the film was not successful at the box office, nor were her two subsequent Goldwyn films, "We Live Again " (1934) and "The Wedding Night " (1935), playing opposite Gary Cooper. Reluctantly, Goldwyn dissolved his contract with his "new Garbo."Speculation in recent years that Sten's failure to connect with American movie fans was due to a lack of talent is incorrect. Anna Sten could act quite well, but audiences were resistant to her Hollywood-fabricated "exotic" image and Goldwyn's overenthusiastic publicity campaign.
Goldwyn's tutoring of Sten gets a mention in
Cole Porter 's 1934 song "Anything Goes" from the musical of the same name: "If Sam Goldwyn can with great conviction / Instruct Anna Sten in diction / Then Anna shows / Anything goes."Later Years
Sten continued making films in the United States and England, but none of them were remarkable, and a few of them - notably a late 1950s "juvenile delinquent" epic produced at cellar-dwelling American International Pictures - were downright horrible. Happily, Sten did not have to rely on acting to support her comfortable lifestyle. She was married to film producer
Eugene Frenke , who flourished in Hollywood after following his wife stateside in 1932. Most of Anna Sten's latter-day film appearances were, in fact, favors to her husband. She had an uncredited bit in the Frenke-produced "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison " (1957), and a full lead in her final film (also produced by Frenke), "The Nun and the Sergeant" (1962).Anna Sten died
November 12 1993 at the age of 85.External links
*imdb|0826479
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