Nathalie Margoulis, later known as Lya, was born on May 18, 1908, in Berlin, Germany, to a Russian banker and a French pediatrician. Her family relocated to Paris when she was young, where she received her education in both Paris and Switzerland. Little is known about her father, but her mother, Ina Löscht (née Blumenfeld),served at a French field hospital during the onset of World War II.
Lya began her career as a model and made her film debut in the 1929 movie Maman Colibri, starring Francis Lederer. MGM took notice of her and signed her, along with other European actors, to appear in French-language versions of Hollywood movies. She starred in the classic Luis Buñuel film L'Age d'Or (1930),which was co-written by Salvador Dalí.
After returning to Hollywood, Lya failed to achieve stardom due to her thick accent. During this challenging period, she married actor Charles Morton in 1931, and they had a daughter together. Her second marriage, to business manager Percy Montague in 1932, was also brief. She became a U.S. citizen in 1933 and toured successfully with the 1936 play "Night of January 16." However, she struggled to find decent film roles and faced financial and emotional difficulties.
Lya made a brief return to Paris to perform in the play "The King's Dough" but was forced to flee due to the rise of Nazism. She attempted suicide but later made a comeback with the film Confessions of a Nazi Spy (1939) under a Warner Bros. contract. This led to roles in The Return of Doctor X (1939) and Murder in the Air (1940),starring Ronald Reagan.
Lya's life was marked by financial and career setbacks, including bankruptcy, and she eventually turned to singing torch songs as a club chanteuse and writing as a fashion newspaper columnist. Her life improved significantly after her stable fourth marriage to George Feit, which lasted until her death. The couple settled in Newport Beach, California, where Lya involved herself in charity work. She passed away on June 2, 1986, at the age of 78, due to a heart ailment.
