Lyda Roberti
Lyda Roberti (née Pecjak; May 20, 1906 – March 12, 1938) was an American stage and film actress, and singer. She was born to a Jewish family in Imperial Russia. Early years. Born in Warsaw, then part of Imperial Russia, Lyda Roberti was the daughter of a German father (surnamed Pecjak), a professional clown, and a Polish mother. As a child she performed in the circus as a trapeze artist and bareback rider. She had an elder brother, Robert, also born in Poland. Their Kiev-born younger sister, Mary Pecjak, was briefly an actress, known as Manya Roberti, later  Mrs. Louis Schneider. To escape the upheaval in Russia after the Communist revolution in 1917, the Pecjak family settled in Shanghai, China, where Lyda earned money as a dancer in the Carlton café. Eventually, she saved enough money to pay her passage to the United States, where she performed in vaudeville in both San Francisco and Los Angeles. Career. Roberti made her Broadway debut in "You Said It" in 1931, and with its success became an overnight sensation. During her run with the show, she was nicknamed "Broadway's preferred Polish blonde". Historian Edward Jablonski found that "much of her  appeal to the audiences at the time was due to her Polish accent" and cited instances where her pronunciation of certain consonants would "stir audiences to gales of laughter." One year later, she was signed to Paramount Pictures, where she appeared in Edward F. Cline's comedy film "Million Dollar Legs" (1932). In 1933, she performed in two more Broadway musicals: the short-lived "Pardon My English" and the much more successful "Roberta". Throughout the 1930s, she played in a string of films. Her sexy but playful characterizations, along with the accent she had acquired during her years in Europe  and Asia, made her popular with audiences. In 1936, Roberti replaced Thelma Todd in a couple of films after Todd's death. Personal life. On June 25, 1935, Roberti married aviator Bud Ernst in Yuma, Arizona. They separated one year later but secretly reconciled in January 1937 and remained together until her death. Roberti struggled with health issues for most of her life, mainly related to her heart. In the spring of 1935, she underwent surgery for heart and appendix issues. In 1936, she was forced to withdraw from "Wives Never Know" due to an unnamed illness. A series of  heart attacks forced her to curtail her workload in 1937. Death. On the night of March 13, 1938, Roberti suffered another severe heart attack. Dr. Myron Babcock unsuccessfully administered heart stimulants and Roberti died at age 31 with husband Ernst at her bedside. Her funeral two days later drew 400 people, including many of her Hollywood colleagues. According to her friend and co-star Patsy Kelly, Roberti died from a heart attack while bending to tie her shoelace. In an interview with Leonard Maltin for Film Fan Monthly, Kelly said, "As a child, her father was in the circus, and  he used to throw her on bareback, and we never knew it had affected her heart, and one day – boom!" Roberti is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.