LIA MARA – silent cinema star (1897-?)

An actress of a Latvian-Polish origin, her real name was Līze Alexandra Gudovich. She had also been a ballet dancer and a vaudevillian. Lia Mara was born and went to school in Riga therefore later she always stressed her connection to Latvia and loved to be photographed wearing a Latvian national costume. After she finished the Polish catholic girl boarding school and Riga Ballet school she was engaged for the Opera ballet troupe and very soon she was invited to be a prima donna of the Warszaw Opera. There her film career started and it continued in Austria and Germany. She married Friedrich Zelnik, a film director. In 1920\'s and 1930\'s they work together in a co-founded company Zelnik-Mara Film.