THEDA BARA

By: Casandra Vicario

This time, it's worth getting a little retro and looking back at one of the women who was, in a way, one of the first femmes fatales in history and a pioneering female figure associated with vampirism — I'm talking about the great Theda Bara.

Theodosia Burr Goodman was the official name of this quintessential vampish diva; she was born in 1880 to a middle-class immigrant family that had come to the United States. Always showing a strong inclination toward acting, Theda Bara decided to try her luck in show business, and unlike many girls today, Theda decided to dye her hair from blonde to black, and so she began working as an extra in several films.

"A Fool There Was," directed by Frank Powell, was her first major film at the age of 30, and from there came success and the name Theda Bara, which means "Arab death" — and around her grew an entire fabricated backstory in which she was the daughter of an Egyptian concubine, born in the middle of the Sahara desert, who knew certain magical rituals from the Eastern world.

The role that brought her fame and immortality was the 1917 film "Cleopatra." One of her most famous lines is "Kiss me, my fool." She died in 1955 at the age of 69, and we remember her with one of her quotes: "I have the face of a vamp but the heart of a feminist."