Movie Star Mystery Photo


      Feb. 15, 2010, Mystery Photo
Los Angeles Times file photo

Update: As many people guessed, this is Anna Sten, above, in a 1932 publicity photo.

 
 

Anna Sten; Actress Imported by Goldwyn


Tuesday November 16, 1993

By MYRNA OLIVER,
TIMES STAFF WRITER

2010_0219_mystery_photo_02 Anna Sten, the exotic and beautiful Russian actress brought to Hollywood by Samuel Goldwyn as a second Garbo but eventually tagged "Goldwyn's folly," has died. She was believed to be 84.

Miss Sten, who had lived in Beverly Hills for many years after her acting career sputtered out, died Friday in her Manhattan home of cardiac arrest.

The American producer brought her to Hollywood in the early 1930s and waged an extensive publicity campaign, determined to create another Garbo or Dietrich aura around the sultry beauty.

In 1934, Miss Sten starred in Goldwyn's "Nana" and "We Live Again," and a year later in his "The Wedding Night" with Gary Cooper, Ralph Bellamy and Walter Brennan.

Critic Leonard Maltin, commenting in his 1993 Movie and Video Guide, assailed the first film as "producer Samuel Goldwyn's first attempt to make a new Garbo out of exotic but wooden Sten." He dismissed the last as "producer Samuel Goldwyn's third and final attempt to make Anna Sten a new Garbo."

American audiences never warmed up to Miss Sten. Faced with poor box office response, Goldwyn conceded that he had made one of the few mistakes in his career–a costly one that led to Miss Sten's sobriquet in the industry as Goldwyn's folly. He terminated her contract.

Historians have variously recorded the actress's date of birth as 1907, 1908 or 1910, but generally accept that she was born Dec. 3, 1908, in Kiev, Ukraine. Named Annel (Anjuschka) Stenskaja Sudakevich, she was the daughter of a Russian ballet master and a Swedish mother.

After working as a waitress, she began her acting career with the Moscow Art Theatre and made her screen debut in the 1927 Russian film "The Girl With the Hat Box." With a few more Russian films on her resume, she went to Germany where her work in "The Murderer Dimitri Karamazov" caught Goldwyn's attention.

After Goldwyn dumped her, Miss Sten went to England, where she made "A Woman Alone" and "Two Who Dared" in 1936. She returned to the United States and made a few more films, some for her second husband, independent producer Eugene Frenke.

Her work included "Exile Express" in 1939, "The Man I Married" in 1940, "So Ends Our Night" in 1941, "Chetniks" and "They Came to Blow Up America" in 1943, "Three Russian Girls" in 1944, "Let's Live a Little" in 1948, "Soldier of Fortune" in 1955, "Runaway Girls" in 1956 and "The Nun and the Sergeant" in 1962.

In 1960, Miss Sten appeared briefly on Broadway as Jenny in "The Threepenny Opera" and toured with the play.

But she devoted most of her later life to semiprofessional painting.

Widowed at her death, Miss Sten had been married to Russian film director Fedor Ozep before her marriage to Frenke.

 
Just a reminder on how this works: I post the mystery photo on Monday and reveal the answer on Friday … or on Saturday if I have a hard time picking only five pictures; sometimes it's difficult to choose. To keep the mystery photo from getting lost in the other entries, I move it from Monday to Tuesday to Wednesday, etc., adding a photo every day.

I have to approve all comments, so if your guess is posted immediately, that means you're wrong. (And if a wrong guess has already been submitted by someone else, there's no point in submitting it again).

If you're right, you will have to wait until Friday. There's no need to submit your guess five times. Once is enough. The only reward is bragging rights. 

The answer to last week's mystery star: Louise Beavers!

2010_0216_mystery_photo

Los Angeles Times file photo
Update: Anna Sten in “Nana.”

Here’s another picture of our mystery woman.

Feb. 17, 2010, Mystery Photo
Los Angeles Times file photo
Update: Anna Sten and Robert Barrat in “School for Sabotage,” retitled “They Came to Blow Up America.”

Here’s another photo of our mystery guest with a mystery companion. Please congratulate Anne Papineau, Eve Golden, Dewey Webb, Nick Santa Maria, Pamela Porter, Jenny M, Kylie and Rick Scott for identifying her.

Feb. 18, 2010, Mystery Photo

Los Angeles Times file photo
Update: Anna Sten and Fredric March in a photo dated Aug. 6, 1934.

And here’s a photo of our mystery guest with a (not even slightly) mysterious companion. Please congratulate Mike Hawks and Mary Mallory for identifying her.

Feb. 19, 2010, Mystery Photo

Los Angeles Times file photo

An elegant picture of our mystery lady, Anna Sten, in a 1956 publicity photo for “Runaway Daughters.”   Please congratulate JPS, Carmen, Periwinkle, rdare, James Curtis, Agnieszka, William, Angus, Megan, Joan Y. Compagno, Dru Duniway and Krauma for identifying her.
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About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times
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54 Responses to Movie Star Mystery Photo

  1. Anne Papineau's avatar Anne Papineau says:

    Alice White? Maybe not.

    Like

  2. Mary Mallory's avatar Mary Mallory says:

    Virginia Bruce?

    Like

  3. Cold in PHX's avatar Cold in PHX says:

    Dorothy Jordan.

    Like

  4. Jenny M's avatar Jenny M says:

    Vivien Leigh?

    Like

  5. Greg Clancey's avatar Greg Clancey says:

    Lucille Ball

    Like

  6. Cold in PHX's avatar Cold in PHX says:

    Colleen Moore?

    Like

  7. Gerald McCann's avatar Gerald McCann says:

    Anita Loos?

    Like

  8. william's avatar william says:

    Ida Lupino

    Like

  9. Rick Scott's avatar Rick Scott says:

    Joan Bennett.

    Like

  10. Nick Santa Maria's avatar Nick Santa Maria says:

    Margaret Sullavan?

    Like

  11. Claire Lockhart's avatar Claire Lockhart says:

    Margaret Sullavan

    Like

  12. Claire Lockhart's avatar Claire Lockhart says:

    Ina Claire

    Like

  13. Gerald McCann's avatar Gerald McCann says:

    Joan Bennett

    Like

  14. Arye Michael Bender's avatar Arye Michael Bender says:

    Even without her arrow, it’s Clara Bow.

    Like

  15. Mary Mallory's avatar Mary Mallory says:

    Mary Nolan.

    Like

  16. Anne Papineau's avatar Anne Papineau says:

    Anna Sten?

    Like

  17. Eve's avatar Eve says:

    Anna Sten? The second shot looks like a still from “Nana.”

    Like

  18. Carol Gwenn's avatar Carol Gwenn says:

    Veronica Lake?

    Like

  19. Dewey Webb's avatar Dewey Webb says:

    Anna Sten

    Like

  20. Aunt Flo's avatar Aunt Flo says:

    Madonna’s mother?

    Like

  21. Annmarie's avatar Annmarie says:

    Constance Bennett

    Like

  22. Nick Santa Maria's avatar Nick Santa Maria says:

    Anna Sten?

    Like

  23. Pamela Porter's avatar Pamela Porter says:

    Anna Sten

    Like

  24. Lorenzo's avatar Lorenzo says:

    Tallulah Bankhead and her ever present cigarette.

    Like

  25. Jenny M's avatar Jenny M says:

    Anna Sten

    Like

  26. Mary Mallory's avatar Mary Mallory says:

    Claire Luce.

    Like

  27. Mary Mallory's avatar Mary Mallory says:

    dorothy Revier.

    Like

  28. Kylie's avatar Kylie says:

    Anna Sten

    Like

  29. Gregory Moore's avatar Gregory Moore says:

    Isa Miranda

    Like

  30. Rick Scott's avatar Rick Scott says:

    Anna Sten?

    Like

  31. Mary Mallory's avatar Mary Mallory says:

    Michele Morgan.

    Like

  32. Mike Hawks's avatar Mike Hawks says:

    Is the lady Anna Sten.

    Like

  33. Mary Mallory's avatar Mary Mallory says:

    It’s Anna Sten.

    Like

  34. Gerald McCann's avatar Gerald McCann says:

    Ann Corio?

    Like

  35. Carmen's avatar Carmen says:

    Anna Sten – Her looks differ from photo to photo. And of course, the great Fredric March!!

    Like

  36. Mary Mallory's avatar Mary Mallory says:

    Today’s mystery guest is Fredric March, and the film is SO ENDS OUR NIGHT.

    Like

  37. Pat in Michigan's avatar Pat in Michigan says:

    esther ralston

    Like

  38. Periwinkle's avatar Periwinkle says:

    Anna Sten.

    Like

  39. rdare's avatar rdare says:

    Frederic March & Anita Louise in Anthony Adverse

    Like

  40. James Curtis's avatar James Curtis says:

    Okay, then, it’s Anna Sten. She’s pictured here with Fredric March in “We Live Again.”

    Like

  41. Agnieszka's avatar Agnieszka says:

    this one is very easy. Its definitely Anna Sten.

    Like

  42. Julie Merholz's avatar Julie Merholz says:

    Phoebe Foster

    Like

  43. jane Ellen WAyne's avatar jane Ellen WAyne says:

    madeline carroll

    Like

  44. Steve Stoliar's avatar Steve Stoliar says:

    Anna Sten.

    Like

  45. Angus's avatar Angus says:

    Could this be Anna Sten, Goldwyn’s mid-thirties attempt to trump Garbo and Dietrich?

    Like

  46. waldo lydecker's avatar waldo lydecker says:

    I’m going to try the name June Lang…..

    Like

  47. Cold in PHX's avatar Cold in PHX says:

    Fredrick March with June Lang?

    Like

  48. Megan's avatar Megan says:

    Anna Sten

    Like

  49. Joan Y. Compagno's avatar Joan Y. Compagno says:

    Lizabeth Scott

    Like

  50. Joan Y. Compagno's avatar Joan Y. Compagno says:

    Anna Sten

    Like

  51. Dru Duniway's avatar Dru Duniway says:

    Anna Sten
    Fredric March

    Like

  52. kauma's avatar kauma says:

    Anna Sten?

    Like

  53. kauma's avatar kauma says:

    Krauma? It’s kauma!
    ; )

    Like

Comments are closed.