ANNA HELD ,POLISH-AMERICAN ACTRESS BORN 1872 MARCH 19 - 1918 AUGUST 12
ANNA HELD ,POLISH-AMERICAN ACTRESS BORN 1872 MARCH 19 - 1918 AUGUST 12 Anna Held (19 March 1872 – 12 August 1918) was a Polish stage performer and singer on Broadway. While appearing in London, she had been spotted by impresario Florenz Ziegfeld , who brought her to America as his common-law wife. Her fame seems to have owed more to Ziegfeld's promotional flair than to any intrinsic talent, and she did not gain critical acclaim. But her uninhibited style inspired the long-running series of popular revues, the Ziegfeld Follies . Early life [ edit ] Born in Warsaw , Congress Poland , Russian Empire , Held was named Helene Anna Held, daughter of a German Jewish glove maker, Shimmle (aka Maurice) Held, and his French-Jewish wife, Yvonne Pierre. [1] Sources of her year of birth range from 1865–73, but 1872 has been accepted in general. In 1881, anti-Semitic pogroms forced the family to fle...