1. Theda Bara was an American silent film and stage actress.
26 Facts About Theda Bara
1. 2.
Theda Bara made more than 40 films between 1914 and 1926, most of which were lost in the 1937 Fox vault fire.
3.
Theda Bara left Fox in 1919 and was unable to recapture her previous success.
4.
Theda Bara was born Theodosia Burr Goodman on July 29,1885, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
5.
Theda Bara was named after the daughter of US Vice President Aaron Burr.
6.
Theda Bara's father was Bernard Goodman, a prosperous Jewish tailor from Poland.
7.
Theda Bara's mother, Pauline Louise Francoise, was born in Switzerland.
8.
Theda Bara had two younger siblings: Marque and Esther, who went by the nickname "Lori".
9.
Theda Bara was the Fox studio's biggest star between 1915 and 1919, but tired of being typecast as a vamp, she allowed her five-year contract with the company to expire.
10.
Theda Bara's fame drew large crowds to the theater, but her acting was savaged by critics.
11.
Theda Bara's career suffered without Fox Studios' support, and she did not make another film until The Unchastened Woman for Chadwick Pictures.
12.
Theda Bara retired after making only one more film, the short comedy Madame Mystery, directed by Stan Laurel for Hal Roach; in this, Bara parodied her vamp image.
13.
At the height of her fame, Theda Bara earned $4,000 per week.
14.
Theda Bara appeared as Juliet in a version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
15.
The Guinness Book of Movie Facts and Feats says it came from director Frank Powell, who learned Theda had a relative named Baranger, and that Theda was a childhood nickname.
16.
Theda Bara was known for wearing very revealing costumes in her films.
17.
The studios promoted Theda Bara with a massive publicity campaign, billing her as the Egyptian-born daughter of a French actress and an Italian sculptor.
18.
Theda Bara married British-born American film director Charles Brabin in 1921.
19.
Theda Bara owned and often enjoyed extended stays in a villa-style home in Cincinnati.
20.
Theda Bara did not appear in the play but instead announced her plans to make a movie comeback, which never materialized.
21.
Theda Bara appeared on radio again in 1939 as a guest on Texaco Star Theatre.
22.
Theda Bara was survived by her husband, her mother, and her younger sister, Lori.
23.
Theda Bara was interred as Theda Bara Brabin at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
24.
Theda Bara bequeathed $100,000 to her sister, $8,000 to her husband, and $1,000 to her sister-in-law.
25.
Theda Bara never appeared in a sound film, lost or otherwise.
26.
Theda Bara made more than 40 films between 1914 and 1926, but complete prints of only six still exist: The Stain, A Fool There Was, East Lynne, The Unchastened Woman, and two short comedies for Hal Roach.