Interesting Death of the Day: Lya De Putti

You know with the John Bunny post FTT officially hit 100 posts! YAY for us! I'm still highly amused that we're nearing 2,000 hits a month on average, and to think I thought no one would ever read this dribble! Anyways on to my "Interesting Death of the Day".

Lya De Putti was amazing. I've never seen a film of hers, and only found her name through Carol Dempster (who I was looking up alongside Clarine Seymour...watch for that article soon!). However what a life...and what a death! Man if you think Vilma Banky had it bad...

Lya De Putti was also a Hungarian actress, just a year older (or two years younger depending who you believe) than Vilma. She got married in 1913 and had two children. For unknown reasons she eventually took some acting classes and partook in Hungarian Vaudeville, eventually rising to German Vaudeville where she performed ballet. In 1918 she made her film debut, which was apparently only a mild success because she didn't perform in film again till 1920. By 1924 she was the top dancer at the Berlin Winter Gardens.

She continued to make a handful of films and depending who you ask her breakthrough was either in 1921 or 1924. I'm inclined to believe 1921. All agree by 1925 her performance in "Variety" was her peak. She made films in Germany until 1926, at which time she ventured to the US to find fame there (whatever became of her kids and husband is a little unknown here, she and hubby apparently divorced in 1918).

She acted in D.W.s "Sorrows of Satan" and continued to play vampy roles. In 1927 she made two English films, went back to Germany to shoot her first German one in sometime, and injured herself by FALLING OUT A WINDOW. The press thought she tried to kill herself, but she recovered and returned to the US where she shot her last film (a silent) "The Informer" in 1929.

Rumor has it ala the talkie myth that she was told she would be unable to transition because of her accent. There could (for once) be truth in this...she seemed to only speak Hungarian and German. If she spoke English it surely was in the beginning phase, and surely ala Vilma it was accented. After "The Informer" she ventured to England to study English and work on her accent. Then it just gets hilariously tragic (sorry Lya).

She returned to America ready to take on talkies, but in November 1931 she apparently (somehow) choked on a chicken bone so badly it had to be surgically removed from her throat. She contracted a throat infection and had to be moved from the Hotel Buckingham, to a Sanitarium in New York.

She got out of bed and eluded nurses and hid in a corridor. She developed Pleurisy in her right side, and eventually pneumonia in both lungs. She was roughly 32 or so. She was buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum in Hartsdale, New York. She never did get to make that talkie (in any language).

Such an un-vampy way to go! But I do feel bad for her...had this been the modern era (much like Rudy) she probably wouldn't have developed an infection let alone such a severe one, and most likely would have survived. Poor Lya! I'm not sure how many of her films survive, but most being German and English she probably has a better rate then Vilma. Click here to purchase some of her films that have been released on DVD.