Theda Bara (born Theodosia Burr Goodman; July 29, 1885 – April 7, 1955) was an American Silent Movie star whose Femme Fatale persona established her as Hollywood's first sex symbol. Her Star-Making Role as "The Vampire" in A Fool There Was (1915) popularized the word "vamp" as a term for a dangerous seductress.
Fox Studios played up her reputation, promoting her as a mysterious, occult woman from an "exotic" foreign background. She was billed as the Egyptian daughter of a French actress and an Arab sheikh (or, according to some versions, an Italian sculptor). Publicity agents claimed she was born in the Sahara and raised in the shadow of the Sphinx. In reality, she was from Cincinnati.
She made over 40 films during her career, which lasted from 1914 to 1926. All but six of these were lost when Fox's film storage vault burned in 1937. A few, such as Cleopatra (1917) and Salome (1918), survive only as brief clips, though promotional photos of Bara in costume still exist and film fragments are still being found.
She eventually tried to break out of being typecast as a villainous vixen, taking on ingenue roles and trying her hand at a stage career, but neither brought her as much success as the trope her image was built on. She married director Charles Brabin in 1921 and retired from acting in 1926, moving back home to Cincinnati. The couple had no children and remained together until Bara's death from stomach cancer on April 7, 1955.
Extant films:
- The Stain (1914)
- A Fool There Was (1915)
- East Lynne (1916)
- The Unchastened Woman (1925)
- Madame Mystery (1926)
- 45 Minutes From Hollywood (1926)
Associated tropes:
- Beam Me Up, Scotty!: She never said “kiss me, you fool” in A Fool There Was. The line was “kiss me, my fool”.
- Betty and Veronica: In films involving a Love Triangle, she was the Veronica.
- Creator Backlash: She became burned out with vampy roles toward the end of her career and tried to branch out, with limited success, which ultimately led to her retirement. On the other hand, she was unapologetic about her legacy. In response to moral backlash over her portrayals of dangerous female sexuality, she replied "I will continue doing vampires as long as people sin."
- Excessive Evil Eyeshadow: Her signature look.
- Fake Nationality: The studio claimed (in one of several contradictory stories) that she was born in Egypt and studied acting in Paris. In truth, she was American, had never been to Egypt, and had only visited France briefly.
- Femme Fatale: Her evil seductress characters were a precursor to, and influence on, the Film Noir incarnation of this trope.
- Foreign Fanservice: She played a lot of scantily clad "Eastern" women. Her fictitious "exotic" background was also meant to evoke this.
- Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Often played the cruel and sultry Dark Feminine counterpart to the hero's wholesome Light Feminine Love Interest. She eventually tried to push back against typecasting by playing Light Feminine characters herself.
- Missing Episode: Most of her films are lost media, since the negatives (which were made of highly flammable silver nitrate) burned up in a fire.
- Mysterious Veil: Her publicity team encouraged her to wear them even when not in character.
- Named After Somebody Famous: She was named after Theodosia Burr Alston, daughter of the third U.S. Vice President, Aaron Burr.
- Orientalism: Middle Eastern stereotypes abound. Just as one example, her stage name is an anagram of "Arab Death". It's unknown how the name was chosen or whether this was intentional, but the studio was happy to mention it in promotional materials when advertising her as Cleopatra.
- Playing Against Type: She did this a few times in her later career, such as when she played Juliet in a stage production of Romeo and Juliet.
- Referenced by...: She's the woman on the cover of the The Lumineers album Cleopatra: [1]
- The Vamp: The Trope Namer.
