Nita Naldi was as others have put it 'a salty old broad'. A Brooklyn girl at heart she was said to tell such naughty stories in proper company that her shins would be bruised from her friends kicking her under the table, trying to quiet her.
Its hard to say, but likely Nita never made a talkie. If she did it was a European (likely Italian) film, but likely it was a silent. Nita ''retired'' in 1929 and never returned to film. She did stage and such...but towards the end of her life she was in obscure poverty.
One of the few surviving excerpts of her voice comes from interviews conducted by Columbia University's Oral History Research Offices in 1959 (two years before her death). A small excerpt of this interview is online, detailing how she got her first Valentino role in "Blood and Sand". In typical Naldi fashion its hilarious and well...salty.
Click here to hear Nita Naldi! Real Player required.
Please keep in mind much like Mary it is possible age affected her voice some what. But it still gives us a good idea. I find it funny because it sounds like a Brooklyn woman trying to sound regal...I'm sure had Nita wanted to she COULD have transitioned the talkies; playing an older version of the hellfire she was. Unfortunately she most likely never tried.
Nita Naldi's Talkie Career
*Nita's last two films are lost but both were foreign and made before 1929. Its likely they were not talkies and thus she never made a talkie.
*Nita went on to have a stage career which she must have been successful to a point in
Verdict: Talkie or Silent?
Since I really haven't heard her ACT in a talkie its a little harder to say. I have a feeling she would have been excellent in both much like Karl Dane. As I said in her complete filmography Nita always looked like she was taking the piss out of her vampy roles; an attitude that matched her ''accent'' perfectly. Had she picked appropriate roles I think she would have been equally good in talkies as she had been in silents.
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