Trivia

Henry Fine said of her: "She behaved like a most circumspect young lady, but whenever you came near her, you could feel the heat coming out of her. She was one of the sexiest females I have ever encountered, a great lovely ball of shimmering fire--but wrapped up in iron control. But you did have to wonder about her, and who was going to get burned when she did burst into flames.".

Despite scathing reviews for her performance in L'égyptien (1954) following its release in 1954, in recent years Darvi has received some praise from the critics, including Camille Paglia, who described her performance as "hypnotic".

After returning to Europe she regularly called on ex-lover Darryl F. Zanuck to rescue her financially from mounting gambling debts. He ignored her final plea, just before her suicide in 1971.

Committed suicide by using her oven to gas herself in her Monte-Carlo apartment. Her body was not discovered for ten days.

Marlon Brando was originally scheduled to appear opposite her in the Technicolor epic L'égyptien (1954). During the script read-through before filming began, the pair disliked each other at first sight. Bella, cast as the courtesan Nefer, was also jeered by more experienced star Jean Simmons, who laughed with other cast members that Darvi was "an actress who 'nefer' was." Just as filming was to start, Brando refused to make the film, his agent telling studio head Darryl F. Zanuck, "He doesn't like the director, he doesn't like the role. And he can't stand Bella Darvi!" Edmund Purdom was cast in his place.

At one point her gambling was so out of control that she was forced to pawn her jewels, furs, clothing, furniture and two poodles to make ends meet.

Romantically linked to many high-powered and famous men in mostly brief relationships. They included Jean-Pierre Aumont, Alexander D'Arcy, Robert Stack, Prince Aly Khan, Brad Dexter, Erich Maria Remarque, Renato Grassi, Marc Michel, Jerry Haskell, French matinée idol Philippe Lemaire and John Ireland. Her love life was always juicy fodder for the tabloids.

Spoke French, English, German, Italian and Polish.

Bella Darvi tried to seduce Robert Wagner, but she was Darryl Zanuck's mistress and Zanuck was Wagner's boss, so Wagner refused. But he said that Darvi had a great personal presence that didn't come across on camera.

She had three brothers (one of whom died in a concentration camp) and one sister.

For Virginia Fox Zanuck, producer Darryl F. Zanuck's wife, Darvi initially became something of a best friend and favorite niece. They went shopping and frequently lunched together, and Bella moved into the Zanucks' Santa Monica beach house in November 1952. But in January 1954, Virginia discovered through her daughter Susan that Darvi and her husband were romantically involved and threw her out. Bella hastily returned to Paris, Zanuck followed her, leaving his wife, but they remained married and reconciled as his health failed in the early seventies.

In 1959 she was compelled to curb her bad habits after she was seriously injured in an auto accident and was taken to a Paris nursing home for three months to recover.