Biography

Valentina Zimina

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Valentina Zimina was born on January 1, 1899 in Moscow, Russia. She was the daughter of a famous opera singer and claimed she was a countess. Valentina started performing on the stage when she was a child. Tragically her entire family was killed in 1917 during the Russian revolution. She married Major Jakovieff, an officer in the ambulance service, shortly before he was summoned to the front. Valentina spent three years serving in the Battalion for Women in Russia. She was briefly imprisoned in Siberia but managed to escape by bribing a guard. After reuniting with her husband they moved to the United States. She earned a living singing Russian songs in vaudeville.

In 1923 she made her film debut in Cecil B. Demille's epic The Ten Commandments. She had a featured role in the 1925 drama A Son of His Father. Her performance got rave reviews and her career in Hollywood seemed bright. She costarred with Lillian Gish in La Boheme and with Pola Negri in The Woman On Trial. Valentina divorced her husband and married publisher Elwood E. Hopkins in 1926. Tragically on December 3, 1928 she died on from influenza. She was only twenty-nine years old. Valentina was buried at Hollywood Forever cemetery in Los Angeles, California.
- IMDb mini biography by: Elizabeth Ann

Her last movie was "The Scarlet Lady" (28) where she ironically played a Russian revolutionist. It nearly seems that the life cycle had been closed with it because shortly after the movie she fell ill with the then raging influenza and died at the age of only 29. She was not able to witness first night of her last movie.
She was in a Siberian prison, from which she escaped and made her way across Asia and onto Hollywood. The rest of her family were killed in the Russian Civil War.
Zimina served with the Women's Battalion of Death for three years, having been in a Siberian prison, from which she escaped, made her way across Asia and onto Hollywood. Her family was killed in the Russian Revolution. Her mother was a famous stage actress in Moscow.
She was born in Russia as the daughter of a famous stage actress.
During the Russian revolution in 1917 she lost her whole family who were murdered.

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