Actress born into a comfortable Russian lifestyle until her father was arrested by the Czarist Secret Police and sent to a Siberian prison camp. Fleeing to Warsaw, Poland in 1902, she spent her formative years in poverty but as a teenager auditioned for the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet and was accepted, later attending the Warsaw Imperial Academy of Dramatic Arts. Pola was a stage star in Poland by the age of 17 and later became a sensation in Europe. She was so well received that she was given a contract to make films in Hollywood and her vamp roles were highly popular and she was a direct rival of Theda Bara. But her popularity was short-lived. Pola made a dramatic scene at the funeral of fellow actor Rudolph Valentino. The fans turned against her and her popularity went into a downward spiral. Her final film was “The Moon Spinners” in 1964. She lived the remainder of her life in San Antonio, Texas where she died in 1987 and is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles.
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