Theda Bara, born Theodosia Goodman on July 29, 1885, in Cincinnati, Ohio, was the daughter of a local tailor and his wife. As a teenager, she was fascinated with the theatrical arts and after completing high school, she dyed her blonde hair black and pursued her dream.
By 1908, she had moved to New York, seeking roles in the entertainment industry. She appeared in the stage play "The Devil" that year and later joined a touring company in 1911. Following her return to New York in 1914, she visited various casting offices, eventually landing a role as an extra in "The Stain" (1914),although she was placed so far in the background that she went unnoticed on screen.
However, her ability to take direction led to her being cast as the lead role in "A Fool There Was" (1915),also known as "The Vamp," and it was in this film that she gained widespread recognition. She became the screen's first fabricated star, with publicists creating a fictional backstory for her, claiming she was the daughter of an artist and an Arabian princess, and that her stage name "Theda Bara" was an anagram for "Arab Death."
The public became enamored with her, and she went on to make six more films in 1915, including "Kreutzer Sonata" (1915) and "Carmen" (1915). In 1916, she starred in eight films, all of which were commercial successes and helped establish her as a major star. Fox Films took her to California in 1917, where she starred in the mega-hit "Cleopatra" (1917) and "The Rose of Blood" (1917).
Theda continued to work in the film industry throughout the late 1910s, starring in films such as "The Soul of Buddha" (1918),which she also wrote, and "Lure of Ambition" (1919). However, her contract with Fox Films was terminated in 1919, and she struggled to regain her former success.
In 1921, she married director Charles Brabin and retired from acting. She made a brief attempt to return to the stage in the 1930s, but ultimately failed to regain her former fame. Theda Bara passed away on April 7, 1955, at the age of 69, due to abdominal cancer in Los Angeles, California.
