biography
| name: |
Bara, Theda
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née Theodosia Goodman, nickname the Vamp
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| sex:
| female
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| lived:
| (1890–1955)
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| biography:
| 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. |
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