Cambridge Encyclopedia :: Cambridge Encyclopedia Vol. 74

Theda Bara - Timeline

Silent film actress, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. She acted briefly in stock companies and then in Hollywood as an extra. Following the creation of the Hollywood studio machine, she was assigned her new name, billed as the daughter of an Eastern potentate, and turned into an overnight star in A Fool There Was (1915). She received her nickname because of her screen portrayal of exotic ‘man-hungry’ women, her famous line ‘Kiss me, my fool!’ (delivered in subtitles), and the offscreen image she cultivated (such as giving interviews while stroking a snake). She made some 40 more silent movies, mostly by 1919, when she went to New York to become a Broadway actress. Handicapped by her reputation, she was forced to return to Hollywood, where she found tastes had changed. After a few unsuccessful movies, she retired in 1926.

Year No. Title Role
1914 1 The Stain Gang moll
1915 2 A Fool There Was The Vamp
3 The Kreutzer Sonata Celia Friedlander
4 The Clemenceau Case Iza
5 The Devil's Daughter La Gioconda
6 The Two Orphans Henriette
7 Lady Audley's Secret Helen Talboys
8 Sin Rosa
9 Carmen Carmen
10 The Galley Slave Francesca Brabaut
11 Destruction Fernade
1916 12 The Serpent Vania Lazar
13 Gold and the Woman Theresa Decordova
14 The Eternal Sappho Laura Bruffins
15 East Lynne Lady Isabel Carlisle
16 Under Two Flags Cigarette
17 Her Double Life Mary Doone
18 Romeo and Juliet Juliet
19 The Vixen Elsie Drummond
1917 20 The Rose of Blood Lisza Tapenka
21 The Darling of Paris Esmaralda
22 The Tiger Woman Princess Petrovitch
23 Her Greatest Love Hazel
24 Heart and Soul Jess
25 Camille Marguerite Gauthier
26 Cleopatra Cleopatra
27 Madame Du Barry Jeanne Vaubernier
1918 28 When a Woman Sins Lilian Marchard/Poppea
29 Under the Yoke Maria Valverda
30 The She Devil Lorette
31 The Forbidden Path Mary Lynde
32 The Soul of Buddha Priestess
33 Salome Salome
1919 34 The Siren's Song Marie Bernais
35 The Lure of Ambition Olga Dolan
36 The Light Blanchette Dumond, aka Madame Lefresne
37 When Men Desire Marie Lohr
38 A Woman There Was Princess Zara
39 Kathleen Mavourneen Kathleen Cavanagh
40 La Belle Russe Fleurett Sackton
La Belle Russe
1925 41 The Unchastened Woman Caroline Knollys
1926 42 Madame Mystery Madame Mysterieux
43 45 Minutes from Hollywood Herself

In Disney's Country Bear Jamboree, one of the bear's names is Teddy Barra

Timeline

1885 Birth 1900 US Census in Ohio 1921 Marriage 1926 Retirement 1955 Death

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