Nils Chrisander — Pola Negri’s First Leading Man (1927) 🇺🇸

The man with the beard, at the bottom of this page, is Nils Chrisander, who was leading man for Pola Negri in her first four pictures made in Europe.

You wouldn’t think it, would you? Yet, back of all the shrubbery is a face which would give the Greek gods something to think about. Glance at the transformation at the left, and the mystery is explained.

Nils Chrisander, globetrotter, art student, and one of the most widely known of European stage and screen stars, glories in the fact that he has been a wanderer on the face of the earth during, recent years. Independently wealthy, possessor of a beautiful villa in Denmark filled with works of art and a wonderful library, he withdrew himself from the world at the very height of his dramatic career. Just why, he never has told. And he grew a beard!

Then, a few years ago, the wanderlust struck him. He packed his portmanteau and started away. He roamed through the art galleries and the ruins of Athens. He went to Constantinople, Smyrna, Damascus, Cairo, Jerusalem.

Chrisander arrived in Hollywood recently and was greeted by Miss Negri, Ernst Lubitsch, and other old European friends. He may produce pictures of his own in movieland. But he has shaved off that beard!

Collection: Picture Play Magazine, January 1927