Theda Bara

Theda Bara was the stage name of Theodosia Burr Goodman (29 July 1885 – 7 April 1955), a silent film actress popularly known as "The Vamp." One of Hollywood’s first major movie stars, she become known for her exotic style and as a sex symbol in the first few decades of the 1900's. Most of her work has been lost.

Quotes

 * To be good is to be forgotten. I'm going to be so bad I'll always be remembered.
 * As quoted in "The Confessions of Theda Bara" by Agnes Smith, Photoplay Magazine, Vol. 18 No. 1 (June 1920), pp. 57–58, 110–111


 * The reason good women like me and flock to my pictures is that there is a little bit of vampire instinct in every woman.
 * Reportedly said around the time of her retirement, circa 1926, as quoted in Women, Women, Women: Quips, Quotes, and Commentary (1977) by Leta W. Clark, p. 16


 * I will continue doing vampires as long as people sin.
 * As quoted in Sexy Origins and Intimate Things : The Rites and Rituals of Straights, Gays, Bi's, Drags, Trans, Virgins, and Others (1998) Charles Panati, p. 295

Quotes about Bara

 * After Theda Barra appeared in A Fool There Was, a vampire wave surged over the country. Women appeared in vampire gowns, pendant earrings, and even young girls were attempting to change from frank, open-eyed ingenues to the almond-eyed, carmine-lipped woman of subtlety and mystery.
 * Mary Pickford, "To Be Or Not To Be a Vampire", The Day [New London, CT] (16 May 1916), p. 11