Nadya Mateeva Nozharova (1916-2014), also known as Countess Nadya de Navarro Farber was a Bulgarian

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

singer and actress, American entrepreneur,

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

and Spanish

countess Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility.L. G. Pine, Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty'' ...

Biography

Early life and career

Nadya Nozharova was born in

Pleven Pleven ( bg, Плèвен ) is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality. It is the biggest ...

, Bulgaria on 21 November 1916. Her father was a tradesman for electrical materials. She studied at the American girls' school in

Lovech Lovech ( bg, Ловеч, Lovech, ) is a List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, city in north-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the Lovech Province and of the subordinate Lovech Municipality. The city is located about northeast f ...

, before she returned to Pleven and in 1934 started her career at the operetta theatre Angel Sladkarov with which she toured in Bulgaria. After the disassembly of the theatre group, Nozharova played in the Odeon, Bulgaria, and Corporate Theatres. She subsequently moved to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where she studied singing. Nozharova returned to Bulgaria in 1942 and starred in the film ''Izpitanie'' (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: ''Trial'').

Family

After she started playing at the operetta theatre Angel Sladkarov in 1936, Nozharova married its namesake in the

Troyan Monastery The Monastery of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God ( bg, Троянски манастир „Успение Богородично“) or, as it is more commonly called, the Troyan Monastery is the third largest monastery in Bulgaria. I ...

. In 1940 they divorced and the same year she married the

Papal count The papal nobility are the aristocracy of the Holy See, composed of persons holding titles bestowed by the Pope. From the Middle Ages into the nineteenth century, the papacy held direct temporal power in the Papal States, and many titles of papal ...

de Navarro, a Spanish diplomat in

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

, from who she received the title "

". They lived in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

. Following her second husband's death in 1949, Nozharova moved to the US and in 1953 married Sid Farber, who owned a building and real-estate company. The couple built a faux Moorish-style castle as a holiday home on

St Croix Saint Croix; nl, Sint-Kruis; french: link=no, Sainte-Croix; Danish and no, Sankt Croix, Taino: ''Ay Ay'' ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorpo ...

in the

US Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...

. After his death in 1985, she received a large estate and married Yuriy Farber.

Charity

In the United States, she supported several organizations for assistance to Jewish and Venezuelan immigrants: the Red Cross in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, the American Hospital in Paris, and the Princess Grace hospital in Monaco.

Death

Nozharova died on 18 April 2014 on Long Island and was survived by her husband Yuri Farber, her daughter Evgenia and three grandchildren.

Gallery

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nozharova, Nadya 1916 births 2014 deaths American businesspeople Bulgarian film actresses Bulgarian stage actresses Bulgarian philanthropists Bulgarian emigrants to the United States Spanish countesses 20th-century Bulgarian actresses 20th-century philanthropists