Nora Ney was born as Sonia Najman in 1906 or 1908 in the small town of Wasilków in Podlasie. She came from a family of assimilated Jews. Her father, Jacob, was a wealthy owner of a lumberyard and sawmill, and her mother died giving birth to her. Sonia had three sisters and a brother. The widowed Jakub needed help with such a large offspring, so he married Esther Walter, with whom he had another daughter. Sonia did not have a good relationship with her stepmother, who openly favored her child. This girl was sent to school in Switzerland, which proves the wealth of the Najman family.
When Sonia was a child, her family moved to Baku, today’s capital of Azerbaijan, where Jakub ran a business. It was there that she went to the cinema with her father for the first time.
I really liked the art of filmmaking. I decided to become a movie star
she mentioned in one of the interviews, which I quote.
In 1921, the Najman family returned to Poland and settled in Białystok. Sonia’s father wanted her to marry a much older man after graduating from high school and to find a profession that would give her stability and security. Sonia didn’t want to hear about it, she dreamed of a career as an artist. Her words indicate that she put everything on one card and ran away from home.
I was just under 18 at the time. Regardless of my family’s vigorous protests, (what a scandal!) I went to see the film by the shortest route – through the window.
– she said.
On the day of her escape, she apparently had only PLN 30 with her. She got on the train and went to Warsaw. Soon after, she started studying at Wiktor Biegański’s film school. Her father found her and probably supported her financially. Years later, he accepted his daughter’s professional choice.
It was rumored that she was having an affair with Eugeniusz Bodo. “Scandal is my middle name”
Sonia Najman tried to hide her Jewish origin, which was not an advantage in pre-war cinema. She began using the pseudonym Nora Ney. She made her debut in 1926, playing an episodic role in the film “Gold Rush”. However, the next production in which she appeared, the film “The Red Jester”, turned out to be more important for her career. She then starred alongside Eugeniusz Bodo.
She earned PLN 60 for four days of shooting. More importantly, she played Bodo’s wife in the film. On the set, the artist took care of Nora. He taught film make-up, and apparently on the day of the film’s premiere, October 13, 1926, she received from him an impressive bouquet of flowers with a witty dedication: ‘To my wife – Bodo’
– I’m writing .
Newspapers began to speculate that Ney and Bodo were having an affair. The actress denied this, but at the same time fueled these rumors, saying that “scandal is her middle name.” The media paid special attention to their joint trip to Krakow in 1933. However, the session of a pair of actors who posed for photos like lovers was a well-thought-out marketing trick.
Nora Ney was gaining more and more popularity. She was considered a femme fatale and built an image of a mysterious one. Although she was not considered a beauty, she was liked by viewers and critics. Apparently, Jan Kiepura admired her, and President Ignacy Mościcki wanted to meet her in person.
She’s not pretty. She’s not handsome either. He has irregular facial features, an unbearable nose, and large lips. But you just need to look into her delicious eyes, see one smile that lights up her entire face, you just need to be an observer of this physiognomy in a few seconds to understand: Nora Ney is not pretty. Nora Ney is charming
– it was written about in the “Kino” magazine in 1931.
From Poland to Russia, from Poland to the USA. Ney’s post-war wandering stripped her of her illusions
When it was rumored that Ney was having an affair with Bodo, she got involved with film cameraman Seweryn Steinwurzel. The couple married in 1928 and divorced six years later. The issue of parenthood was supposed to divide them – Ney wanted to become a mother, Steinwurzel did not want to be a father. The actress realized her dream with her second husband – film critic Józef Fryd. Their daughter Joanna was born in 1936.
After she became pregnant, Ney focused on her role as a mother. After a few years, she tried to return to acting, but her career was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. Józef Fryd was then sent to the gulag, and Nora Ney, along with her daughter and sister, escaped to Białystok. After some time, they left for Moscow. Nora was offered a role in a Soviet film, but it turned out that her knowledge of Russian was too poor to cope in front of the camera. So she read poems on one of the Moscow radio stations. After some time, she went to Kazakhstan. It is possible that her life was saved during this period by her appearance in the interwar film “The Call of the Sea”, copies of which reached the Soviet Union.
After World War II, Ney returned to Poland. She came to Warsaw and saw that only rubble remained of her apartment. For some time, she gave her daughter to a Jewish orphanage in Otwock and went to Białystok. There she learned that none of her family members survived the Holocaust.
Ney saw a chance to return to work in Łódź. There she was supposed to meet director Alexander Ford, who told her that she had no chance for a role in the new, socialist reality. Nora Ney then decided that she had to build a life outside Poland. With the support of the Hebrew Immigrant Relief Society, she boarded a ship to New York with her daughter and sister.
Stanley Kubrick tried to revive her career. My daughter’s knowledge did not help
Starting a new life in the USA proved difficult for Ney. The actress did not know English or Yiddish, so she could not return to work in front of the camera. To earn a living, she found a job in a doll factory, took care of children and seniors, and was an archivist. In 1950, she became involved with a psychiatrist of Czech origin, Eugen Braun. However, their marriage was not successful and quickly fell apart. In the 1960s, she met her last husband, Leon Friedland, who was a Jew from Russia. They lived in California and spent 25 years of their lives together.
For a moment, it seemed that Ney’s daughter, Joanna, who worked in film production and collaborated with, among others, would be a chance to return to acting. with Stanley Kubrick. The famous director allegedly tried to resurrect Ney’s career, but to no avail. Joanna recalled her mother as “strict, too demanding, domineering and overprotective.” At the same time, she claimed that she was an icon of elegance and put on makeup even before going to the shelter.
In the last years of her life, Nora Ney suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. informs that she died on February 21, 2003 in the American hospice in Silverado. Her daughter scattered her ashes in the park.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
