Gaby Deslys (born Marie-Elise-Gabrielle Caire, 4 November 1881 â€" 11
February 1920) was a singer and actress during the early 20th century.
She selected her name for her stage career. It is a contraction of
Gabrielle of the Lillies. During the 1910s she was exceedingly popular
worldwide, making $4,000 a week in the United States alone. She
performed several times on Broadway, at the Winter Garden Theater, and
performed in a show with a young Al Jolson. Her dancing was so popular
that The Gaby Glide was named for her.Renowned for her beauty, she was
courted by several wealthy gentlemen including King Manuel II of
Portugal. She eventually made the leap to silent films, making her
only U.S. film Her Triumph with Famous Players-Lasky in 1915. She
would make a handful of films in France before her death. In 1919 she
contracted Spanish influenza and underwent several operations trying
to cure a throat infection caused by the disease. She died from
complications of the infection in Paris in 1920, at the age of
38.Deslys had many admirers among royalty, most notably King Manuel II
of Portugal, and her origins became the subject of dispute. A private
detective claimed her true name was Hadiwga Nawrati, or Hedvika
Navrátilová, and that she was a Czech peasant girl, born in the
village of Horní Moštěnice, then part of the Kingdom of Hungary.
The investigator reported that Deslys had denied her alleged mother's
claim to kinship when he brought her to see the dancer, paying her a
large amount of money to leave. Deslys replied the story was
ridiculous and that she was French, not Czech. Gaby Deslys Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter