Background
Theda Bara was born on 29 July 1890 in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States.
Theda Bara was born on 29 July 1890 in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States.
She was the first woman offered commercially, in movies, as an object of sexual fantasy. In addition, the Fox Film Company was built on her dithery sultriness.
For in 1914, William Fox bought the stage play A Fool There Was. and its director, Frank Powell, discovered Theodosia to play the vamp— “the woman who did not care.” The success of the film encouraged Fox to form his company. He launched the first major publicity promotion for Bara and worked her hard for a few years in “Theda Bara Superproductions.”
She made over thirty-five films, most of them directed by Edwards, before rivals overtook her: among others, Lady Audley’s Secret (15); Carmen (15); The SerpenI (16); The Eternal Sappho (16); East Lynne (16); Under Two Flags (16); Romeo and Juliet (16); The Vixen (16); 7'he Tiger Woman (17); Camille (17); Madame Dubarry (18); The Soul of Buddha (18); When a Woman Sins (18); Salome (18); The She Devil (18); When Men Desire (19); The Siren 's Song (19); and A Woman There Was (19). A new director, Charles Brabin, could not save her from a disastrous Boucicault adaptation, Kathleen Mavourneen (19), and after The Lure of Ambition (19), Fox dropped her. Unchastened Woman (25, James Young) and Madame Mystery (26, Richard Wallace and Stan Laurel).
(She made over thirty-five films, most of them directed by...)
The anagrammatie connection between Theda Bara and Arab Death so often evoked in awed tones is today like an archaeological find, proving only that we live in a different culture. But if Theda Bara is no longer perceived as sexy, there is at least an historical significance attached to her as securely as the flower-bloom bra she wore as Cleopatra (17, Gordon Edwards).
She married Charles Brabin.