ANNA STEN ,RUSSIO-AMERICAN ACTRESS BORN
1908 DECEMBER 3 - 1993 ,NOVEMBER 12
Anna Sten (Ukrainian: А́нна Стен; born Anna Petrovna Fesak, December 3, 1908 – November 12, 1993) was a Ukrainian-born American actress. She began her career in stage plays and films in the Soviet Union before traveling to Germany, where she starred in several films. Her performances were noticed by film producer Samuel Goldwyn, who brought her to the United States with the aim of creating a new screen personality to rival Greta Garbo. After a few unsuccessful films, Goldwyn released her from her contract. She continued to act occasionally until her final film appearance in 1962.[2][
Early life and education
Sten was born December 3, 1908, in Kiev, then part of the Russian Empire.[4][5] There are other conflicting dates of birth: 1910 and 1906 from self-written dates in application forms from college. Her mother, Alexandra, listed Anna's
birthdate as October 29, 1906, upon her arrival in the United States, although some of the discrepancies may be owing from the switch from the Julian calendar (still used in the Russian Empire up to 1918) to the Gregorian calendar. According to the official biography, her father was born into a Cossack family, worked as a theater artist and producer. Her mother was a Swede by birth and was a ballerina. In Kiev in the middle of the 1920s she married entertainer and variety actor Boris Sten (né Bernstein), and took his stage name as her own.
In most foreign sources her maiden names are Stenska and Sudakevich, or a combination thereof (such as a common variant Anel (Anyushka) Stenska-Sudakevich or Annel (Anjuschka) Stenskaja Sudakewitsch), which is why Sten has been mistakenly identified with the Russian actress Anel Sudakevich, who starred in Soviet cinema at the same time and with some of the same directors as Anna Sten. The actresses have often been confused for one another.
Sten received her education at Kiev State Theatre College, worked as a reporter and simultaneously played in Kiev Maly Theater, attended classes at the studio theater where she worked within the Stanislavsky System. In 1926, she successfully passed her exams in the first working Proletcult theater in Moscow.
Career
In 1926, after completing her studies at Kiev theater school, Sten was invited by Ukrainian film director Viktor Turin to appear in his film Provokator, based on the book by Ukrainian writer Oles Dosvitnyi.[Note 1] Sten was discovered by the Russian stage director and instructor Konstantin Stanislavsky, who arranged an audition for her at the Moscow Film Academy.[2] Sten went on to act in other plays and films in Ukraine and Russia, including Boris Barnet's comedy The Girl with a Hatbox (1927). She and her husband, Russian film director Fedor Ozep, traveled to Germany to appear in a film co-produced by German and Soviet studios, The Yellow Ticket (1928). After the film was completed, Anna Sten and her husband decided not to return to the Soviet Union.[2]
Photo of Gary Cooper and Anna Sten embracing each other
Gary Cooper and Anna Sten publicity photo for The Wedding Night, 1935
Making a smooth transition to talking pictures, Sten appeared in such German films as Salto Mortale (1931) and The Murderer Dimitri Karamazov (1931) until she came to the attention of American movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn. Goldwyn was looking for a foreign-born actress that he could build up as a rival to Greta Garbo, and possible successor to Vilma Bánky, with whom Goldwyn had great success in the silent era. For two years after bringing Sten to America, Goldwyn had his new star tutored in English and taught Hollywood screen acting methods. He poured a great deal of time and money into Sten's first American film, Nana (1934), a somewhat homogenized version of Émile Zola's scandalous 19th century novel. But the film was not successful at the box office, nor were her two subsequent Goldwyn films, We Live Again (1934) and The Wedding Night (1935), playing opposite Gary Cooper. Reluctantly, Goldwyn dissolved his contract with his "new Garbo."[2][3] Goldwyn's tutoring of Sten is mentioned in Cole Porter's 1934 song "Anything Goes" from the musical of the same name: "When Sam Goldwyn can with great conviction / Instruct Anna Sten in diction / Then Anna shows / Anything goes."
In the 1940s, Sten appeared in several films, including The Man I Married (1940), So Ends Our Night (1941), Chetniks! The Fighting Guerrillas (1943), They Came to Blow Up America (1943), Three Russian Girls (1943), and Let's Live a Little (1948). Sten continued making films in the United States and England, but none of them were successful. Attempting to rectify this situation by studying at The Actors Studio,[4][6] Sten appeared in several television series during the 1950s, including The Red Skelton Show (1956), The Walter Winchell File (1957), and Adventures in Paradise (1959).
Later life
Most of Sten's later film appearances were favors to her husband. She had an uncredited bit in the Frenke-produced Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), and a full lead in her final film (also produced by Frenke), The Nun and the Sergeant (1962).
Sten died on November 12, 1993, in New York City at the age of 84.[3]
Personal life
Sten was married to film producer Eugene Frenke, who flourished in Hollywood after following his wife there in 1932. Anna Sten had a daughter Anya Sten who was a student at the Monticello School in Los Angeles in the early 1930s.
Anna Sten was born in Russia, her father was a Ukranian ballet master, who pasypt away when Anna was only 12. Anna began to work as a waitress, to help her mother pay the bills. She was 15 years old, when she auditioned and won the role, in an amateur play. Anna began studying at, Kiev’s school for the dramatic arts. After appearing in more plays, she caught the eye of Stanislavsky, the famous Russian film director. Through the 1920’s Anna was praised in Germany and Russia, for her silent films. Samuel Goldwyn saw her picture, in a European fan magazine and rushed to see one of her films. He fell in love with her face & made a deal with Sten to come to America, to work for him. Anna had made a smooth transition to Russian & German, talkies but what Goldwyn overlooked, was that Anna couldn’t speak ANY English. Sam Goldwyn had a private tutor teach Anna English, prepare her for American films and gave her the over-all starlet, treatment for, two years. He was bragging before a picture was even made, that Anna Sten would be a rival of Dietrich & Garbo.
Goldwyn poured big bucks into Sten’s film debut, “Nana” (1934) and it flopped with a heavy thud. Goldwyn didn’t give up hope and put her in tow more films, one of them co-starring, Gary Cooper. Though the publicity, big names, and beauty was there, Anna failed to bring an audience. Goldwyn sadly dissolved his contract with his “new Garbo”, in 1935. Cole Porter wrote a song about Goldwyn’s high ambitions for Sten called, “Anything Goes”, for the musical of the same name. The passage goes, “If Sam Goldwyn can with great conviction / Instruct Anna Sten in diction / Then Anna shows / Anything goes.” Sten appeared in films as a favor to her husband, Russian film director, Fedor Ozep. One thing is for certain, Anna Sten may not have rivaled Garbo’s acting skills, but her beauty did! Anna lived a long life and passed away, peacefully in NYC, at age 85.
| Born | in Kiev, Russian Empire [now Ukraine] |
| Died | in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA (cardiac arrest) |
Mini Bio (1)
Born in Russia to a Ukrainian father and a Swedish mother, Anna Sten studied at the Russian Film Academy and joined the Moscow Art Theater. Strikingly beautiful, she went on to appear in a number of Russian silent films, but it was in the German film Der Mörder Dimitri Karamasoff (1931) that Anna gained notice. Samuel Goldwyn saw a picture of Anna in the paper and rushed to view the film. After the first reel he sent word to sign her, hoping to develop her into a star of the magnitude of Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich. His agent did sign Anna to a contract but forgot to mention the fact that Anna didn't speak a word of English, which made her appearance in sound pictures questionable. She spent a year studying English every day and working out makeup and acting. Goldwyn publicity called her "The Passionate Peasant" and sold her image to papers all over America. However, her first picture, Nana (1934), even though almost completely rewritten and reshot from the original, didn't bring audiences into the theaters. While Anna was looked great, the script and picture were average. Her second film, We Live Again (1934), marginally better suited to her style, also died within weeks at the box office. After her third film for Goldwyn, The Wedding Night (1935), also flopped, she and Goldwyn parted company after it became known around Hollywood as "Goldwyn's Last Sten." Anna made a few more movies, but by the end of the decade she was forgotten.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>
Spouse (2)
| Eugene Frenke | (1932 - 10 March 1984) ( his death) |
| Fyodor Otsep | (1927 - 1931) ( divorced) |
Trivia (6)
Salary (2)
| Nana (1934) | $1,500 /week |
| The Wedding Night (1935) | $2,500 /week |
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