TRAGIC FILM STAR

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 171, 12 March 1932, Page 7

TRAGIC FILM STAR

NOBLEWOMAN WJIO WON METEORIC FILM TRIUMPH. MISS LYA DE PUTTI. Death at the early age of 27 brought an end to the extraordinary sequence of misfortunes which dogged the career of Miss Lya de Putti, the worldfamous Hungarian film star. Her ill-fated destiny was remorseless, both in public and private life. It lifted her to the giddy heights of triumph, only to sweep her the next moment into the background. It brought her love and romance, and, as cruelly, disillusionment and grief. Barely a fortnight ago, in New York, she was eating chicken when a small bone lodged in her throat. The obstruction was removed by operation, but blood-poisoning set in. The infection led to pneumonia, and five doctors failed in the fight for her life. A sensation was caused subsequently by rumours that the film star's death was primarily due to other means* It is alleged that she had swallowed a packet of pins with the idea of eommitting suicide. The health authorities, states Reuter, have refused to accept the death certificate, and a post-mortem examination is to be held. Gifted with exceptional beauty, with scarlet lips and dark, langorous eyes Lya de Putti was one of the few j noblewomen to seek film fame. She ! was born at Vecci, near Budapest, her father being an Italian and her mother, Countess Heyes, a Hungarian. After a convent education, she married, at the age of 16, Baron de Putti, an officer in the Hungarian Army, but when she was 17 the marriage was dissolved. A year later she hecame the wife of Count Louis Christiansen, who was attached to the Norwegian Embassy in Berlin, but again fate was cruel, for the count died six years ago, leaving Lya a widow at 21. She was refused admission to her native country after the war, and was never allowed to go back. Her public career commenced as a premiere danseuse in the Winter Garden Ballet in Berlin, and she won a meteoric triumph when she appeared on the films with Emil Jannings in "Vaudeville." ! The film world was at her feet, and away she went to Hollywood with a dazzling prospect of enduring world fame and wealth. For a time she held her own, and then malign luek again exerted its influence. The vogue of the "talkies" came like an avalanche, and swept her, in common with other established stars, into temporary oblivion. Vainly she tried to fight her way back,. but her Hungarian accent was against her. She soug'ht a fresh reputation on the New York stage, but the play was withdrawn after a few perforinances. , Two years ago she came to London, where she was engaged by British International Pictures to appear in "The Informer," a screen version of Liam O'Flaherty's novel, made at Elstree. Owing to her broken accent a talking "double" had to be introduced. Death nearly claifiied her -six years ago, when she f ell from a seeondfloor window to the street. She explained that she had quarrelled with a man friend, who wanted her to go to St. Moritz, and as he left the house she went to the window to call him back. Unable to see the front door, she climbed on to the window-si'll, and lost her balance.