Name
Lyda Roberti
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1906-05-20
Deathday
1938-12-03 (32 years old)
Place of Birth
Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire [now Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland]
Biography
Lyda's father was German clown Roberti, her mother a Polish trick rider. As a child performer, she toured Europe and Asia with the Circus in which she was born, leaving it (and her reportedly abusive father) in Shanghai, China. In this truly international city, Lyda became a child cafe entertainer and learned the fractured English that became her trademark. Around 1927, she emigrated to California, finding work in vaudeville, where she was "discovered" in 1930 by Broadway producer Lou Holtz and became an overnight star in his 1931 show 'You Said It'. Lyda's unforgettable stage and screen character was a sexy blonde whose charming accent and uninhibited man-chasing were played for hilarious laughs. From 1932-35 she made 8 comedy and musical films mainly at Paramount, with Fields, Cantor, and other great comedians; her unique singing style was also popular on the radio and records. Her health declining from premature heart disease, she briefly replaced the late Thelma Todd in Hal Roach comedy shorts with Patsy Kelly and appeared in 3 features for MGM and Columbia, then retired from film work a few months before her fatal heart attack at age 31.
Date of Birth 20 May 1906, Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire [now Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland]
Date of Death 12 March 1938, Los Angeles, California, USA (heart attack)
Known For
4.786
A Cinderella story of a young country girl who comes to Hollywood and achieves movie stard...
6.818
A small country on the verge of bankruptcy is persuaded to enter the 1932 Los Angeles Olym...
5.35
When she can't support her illegitimate child, an abandoned young woman puts her up for ad...
6.6
Eddie and his Mexican friend Ricardo are expelled from college after Ricardo put Eddie in ...
5.833
Two-bit radio station owner Spud Miller doubles as the station's sole announcer. On the ve...
- 1933 Torch Singer as Dora Nichols
- 1933 Three Cornered Moon as Jenny
- 1937 Pick a Star as Dagmar
- 1932 The Kid from Spain as Rosalie
- 1932 Million Dollar Legs as Mata Machree
- 1937 Nobody's Baby as Lena Marchetti
- 1935 The Big Broadcast of 1936 as Countess Ysobel de Naigila
- 1935 George White's 1935 Scandals as Manya
- 1938 Wide Open Faces as Kitty Fredericks
- 1932 Dancers in the Dark as Fanny Zabowolski
- 1929 The Roof Garden Revue as Herself
- 1936 At Sea Ashore as Lyda Roberti
- 1936 Hill-Tillies as Lyda Roberti
- 1933 Meet the Baron as College Girl (uncredited)
- 1934 College Rhythm as Mimi
- 1934 Hollywood Rhythm
