Natalia Pavlovna Wilson Paley (Natalia Paley)
Russian Royalty. The first cousin of Tsar Nicholas II, she was the daughter of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich by his second wife Princess Olga Paley. When she was still a young girl she had to escape from Russia due to the Revolution (her father and her brother Vladimir were murdered by the Bolsheviks) and went to France with her mother and sister. In 1927 she married Lucien-Camille Lelong, a talented French fashion designer and also a war hero, but had no issue and divorced him in 1937. After working for a while as a fashion model for her husband enterprises and appearing several times in “Vogue”, she became a movie actress and was in several European movies, including Sir Alexander Korda’s “The Private Life of Don Juan” (1931) and Marcel L’Herbier “L’epervier” (1933). She eventually moved to the United States, acted in George Cukor’s “Sylvia Scarlett” (1935) and began a close friendship with the film’s main star, Katherine Hepburn, which would last all through her life. After charming spectators with her beauty and experiencing a brief success, she quited acting, married in 1937 the theatre producer John Chapman Wilson and settled with him in Manhattan, where for many years she worked in public relations for the fashion designer Main Boucher. (bio by: Jorge) Family links: Parents: Paul Alexandrovich Romanov (1860 – 1919) Siblings: Maria Pavlovna Romanov (1890 – 1958)* Dmitri Pavlovitch Romanov (1891 – 1942)* Vladimir Pavlovitch Paley (1897 – 1918)* Irina Pavlovna Paley de Monbrison (1903 – 1990)* Natalia Pavlovna Wilson Paley (1905 – 1981) *Calculated relationship
Born
- December, 05, 1905
- France
Died
- December, 12, 1981
- USA
Cemetery
- First Presbyterian Church of Ewing Cemetery
- USA