Though many of you, your parents, and even some grandparents were just
saplings when Theda Bara owned the silver screen, we’re sure that a few of you
fondly remember her reign in the early days of silent film.

Though she’s best known for her many vampish roles throughout the 1910s,
what remains most fascinating about her is the enigma, practicality and
controversy that followed her throughout life.

For instance, at the onset of her career, Fox Studios released a statement
melodramatically suggesting that she was “born in 1892 in the shadow of the
Pyramids, the daughter of an Italian artist and a French actress.” In actuality,
she was born Theodosia Goodman on July 29,1885 in Avondale, Ohio–a wealthy,
Jewish suburb of Cincinnati.

Did you know that, though she was best known for roles which played up her
knack for vampish villainy such as Sin, Destruction, The Vixen and The Rose of
Blood, she longed and constantly fought to play more sympathetic, courageous
heroines like the ones she embodied in Under Two Flags (where she was a
leader in the Foreign Legion) and Kathleen Mavourneen (in which she
played an unassuming and bright-eyed Irish peasant)?

She was aggressively intellectual and attended college for two years in a
time when women rarely continued post-secondary education. Devoted both to
philosophy and psychology, she was known as a studious and avid
reader.

She wasn’t the only actress of her day fighting for better roles and to
escape typecasting, but unlike the others, when William Fox (of Fox Studios)
began to shift his attention to actresses other than Theda (mainly because of
backlash and bomb threats from Irish and Catholic viewers angry and offended
that a Jewish actress played an Irish peasant), she didn’t grow
embittered.

Instead, she married well and entered an early retirement. Her successful
union with director Charles Brabin in 1921 lasted until her death.

A mixed blessing, very few Theda Bara films have survived the passing of
time. Though this means we may never see the talented actress at her best, it
also helps push the ever-growing fascination and enigma she wore like the train
of an elegrant gown lifelong.