Theda Bara - ©Theda Bara

My dear paternal grandfather, Jonathan Jon Goodman (descendant of the Goodmans, from actress Theda Bara’s father), in addition to being very wise, was a visionary man, because from a very young age, as soon as silent films appeared, he acquired some old theater rooms transforming them in (street) cinemas in Los Angeles, California, United States. My family has been involved in cinematic entertainment for decades and today we still have movie theaters in large shopping malls. This love for the seventh art motivated my father, who has the name Goodman in the genealogy of his ancestors, and my mother, a fan of Theda Bara, to baptize me with the name of this great silent film actress Theodosia, a name that comes from Greek culture and means: “gift from God”. I really like my name and I love old films, whether silent or not.

The actress featured in this post is Theda Bara, who for her fair skin and expressive green eyes was nicknamed “Vampira” (equivalent at the time to “femme fatale”). Theda was one of the most popular and highest-paid actresses in the world, surpassed only by iconic actor Charlie Chaplin, who once said that Theda was cinema’s first sex symbol.

From her Jewish childhood in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, to her happy retirement in Hollywood, Theda Bara always dreamed of being an actress and ended up being the most brilliant representative of silent movie. 

Theda married in 1921 the renowned filmmaker and screenwriter born in England, but based in American cinema, Charles J. Brabin (1882-1957) with whom she lived until his death in 1955. She made more than 40 films alongside her husband, to Fox Entertainment Group Inc., only six of which still exist in good condition.

Even without having received any Oscar statuette, Theda Bara has her star on the Los Angeles Walk of Fame, at 6307 Hollywood Boulevard, in the Cinema category, being one of the most visited by fans and tourists.

Theda Bara, born Theodosia Burr Goodman, in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, on July 29, 1885 and died in Los Angeles, California, on April 7, 1955, aged 99, was the daughter of Bernardo Goodman (1853-1936) and Pauline Louise de Coppett (1861-1957) and sister of silent film actress Lori Bara (1903-1965) and Hollywood artist agent Marque Goodman, known as: Mark G. (1888-1954). 

Theda Bara had no children, although she was a very maternal woman.