Ganna Walska
| Ganna Walska | |
|---|---|
Passport photo of Ganna Walska (1920)
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| Born |
Hanna Puacz June 26, 1887 Brest, Russian Empire |
| Died | March 2, 1984 (aged 96) Montecito, California |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Known for | Opera Garden design |
| Spouse(s) |
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Ganna Walska (born Hanna Puacz on June 26, 1887 – March 2, 1984) was a Polish opera singer and garden enthusiast who created the Lotusland botanical gardens at her mansion in Montecito, California. She was married six times, four times to very wealthy husbands. The lavish promotion of her lackluster opera career by her fourth husband, Harold Fowler McCormick, inspired aspects of the screenplay for Citizen Kane.
Ganna Walska was born Hanna Puacz on 26 June 1887 in Brest, Russian Empire to Polish parents Napoleon Puacz and Karolina Massalska. Ganna is a Russian form of Hannah, and Walska "reminiscent of her favorite music, the waltz".
In 1922, after her marriage to Harold F. McCormick, Ganna Walska purchased the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. She told the Chicago Tribune that she had invested her own funds, not those of her wealthy husband, and said, "I will never appear in my own theatre until I have gained recognition based solely on my merits as an artist."
Walska pursued a career as an opera singer. The lavish promotion of her opera career by McCormick—despite her apparent reputation as a mediocre singer—inspired aspects of the screenplay for Orson Welles's Citizen Kane.Roger Ebert, in his DVD commentary on Citizen Kane, suggests that the character of Susan Alexander was based on Walska. McCormick spent thousands of dollars on voice lessons for her and even arranged for Walska to take the lead in a production of Zazà by Ruggero Leoncavallo at the Chicago Opera in 1920. Reportedly, Walska got into an argument with director Pietro Cimini during dress rehearsal and stormed out of the production before she appeared. Contemporaries said Walska had a terrible voice, pleasing only to McCormick.
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