Nonna Dooley, the future silent screen star, embarked on her illustrious career as a showgirl in a Shubert revue at the Winter Garden, later transitioning to the renowned Ziegfeld Follies.
Following a successful tenure on the stage with the Follies, Nita decided to venture into the world of cinema in Hollywood. Her ascent to fame was meteoric. In 1920, at the age of 25, she starred alongside the legendary John Barrymore in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a role that seemed to solidify her film career from the outset. It was said that she was outstanding and beautiful, with her vamp roles receiving widespread acclaim. In 1921, she appeared in three notable productions: The Last Door, A Divorce of Convenience, and Experience. She was rapidly becoming the leading, sexy lady of filmdom.
However, it was 1922's Blood and Sand that set her apart from others. Nita starred opposite Rudolph Valentino in one of the silent era's epic last truly great productions. This marked the last of the vamp roles, as Clara Bow had recently shown that good girls knew about sex too, rather than just their more worldly counterparts. Nita would go on to become Valentino's most frequent co-star.
Nita played the role of Dona Sol, who leads the Valentino character into dissipation and disgrace. Nita was an absolute hit, as the film was a massive commercial success. Blood and Sand was a smash hit! She made two more hits in 1922, The Snitching Hour and Anna Ascends, but neither measured up to her iconic role as Dona Sol. Nita continued to star in good films in 1923, with the pinnacle that year being Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments. Not the powerful epic as was the 1956 version, Nita played an adventurous woman, Sally Lung. It was a saga of wages-of-sin drama with flashbacks to Moses' time. The film received widespread acclaim.
Nita continued to star in good movies, most of which were from Paramount. In 1926, Nita left for Paris, where she eloped with J. Searle Barclay, whom she had been dating since 1920. The pair would separate in 1931, when Nita returned to New York and filed for bankruptcy. While in Europe, she made her last three films: La Femme Nue, The Golden Mask, and The Mountain Eagle. Despite an attempt in the 1940s, Nita never made another film, despite having an acceptable voice.
In need of money, Nita continued to be active on the stage and later on in the infant medium of television. On February 17, 1961, Nita passed away due to a heart attack in her room at the Wentworth Hotel.
