Federico Beltrán Masses Cuba 1885-Barcelona 1949

Pola Negri (born Barbara Apollonia Chalupec) was a popular silent film star in her native Poland and became internationally famous as the star of a number of German films. In 1923 she was offered a $3,000 a week contract by Paramount studios and became Hollywood’s first imported star where her exotic, glamorous appearance and notorious offscreen romances attracted a great deal of publicity. After divorcing her polish husband, Negri became engaged to Charlie Chaplin and when that ended, began an affair with Rudolph Valentino with whom she was still involved at the time of his death aged 31 in 1926. Valentino was an immensely popular film star, appearing in films such as The Sheik (1922), The Eagle (1925) and The Son of the Sheik (1926). The news of his sudden death sparked expressions of grief from his many fans and Negri is said to have thrown herself onto his coffin, epitomising the flamboyant behaviour for which she was famous.