Sari Maritza

Who was Sari Maritza?

Sari Maritza was an actress in British films of the early 1930s.

Born Dora Patricia Detring-Nathan in Tianjin, China, Maritza was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist and his Viennese wife. Her stage name was taken from the titles of two then famous European operettas – Sari and Countess Maritza. She entered films in 1930 and gained some notoriety for dancing a tango with Charles Chaplin at the premiere for his film City Lights in 1931. Although her behaviour was described as lurid, which was silly publicity, she attracted attention and was cast in several low budget, but relatively popular British films.

She made the German-UK film Monte Carlo Madness in Germany in 1932 before travelling to Hollywood, but her few films there for Paramount Studios and RKO Radio Pictures were poorly received.

In America, she was portrayed as an exotic European vamp with emphasis placed on her mother's Austrian heritage, but Maritza had lived most of her life in Britain, and disapproved of the studio's attempts to create a more mysterious facade for her.