When thinking back to the Golden Age of Hollywood, with its glitz and glamour, we tend to only think of the timeless beauties that dominated the silver screen: the Monroes, the Hepburns, and the Crawfords. But the women and early stars that founded this golden age are often forgotten. One said pioneer of the silver screen, one of the first women to be known as a sex icon in the 19th century, was Jewish actress Theda Bara.
Born Theodosia Goodman, her career began in New York, where she was cast as a vampire seductress in A Fool There Was in 1914. Her name was then changed to Theda Bara because it was “exotic” sounding and had more star quality. Name change or not, Bara was a sensation. The New York Dramatic Mirror wrote: “Miss Bara misses no chance for sensuous appeal in her portrayal of the Vampire.” Because of this iconic role, Bara was nicknamed “the Vamp” by many of her fans.
Hollywood became a haven for the waves of Jewish immigrants who arrived in the United States during the early 20th century. Those seeking an opportunity to express creative talent were able to access this relatively open space to express their artistic visions. Several major studios were established by Jewish entrepreneurs, many of whom transitioned from careers in vaudeville or the garment industry. However, casting Jewish women in leading roles, especially as sexy femme fatales, was still a rarity and considered bold for the time.
Hollywood audiences, growing weary of the traditional WASP aesthetic, were drawn to Bara, whose distinctively Jewish features set her apart. With her long, dark hair and voluptuous figure draped in sheer, low-cut gowns, Bara embodied the "vamp" archetype—a seductive figure steeped in European mystique. Whether she was playing biblical heroines or Cleopatra, her characters drew on familiar stereotypes of passion and exoticism. Her role as a temptress would usually be to lure men into her life so she could ruin them for her own benefit.
Jews, especially Jewish women, were rarely seen as a physical symbol of admiration in the early 1900s. It was this rarity that made the emergence of Bara as a Hollywood Starlet so groundbreaking. The fact that she was not a cookie-cutter replica of other Hollywood actresses allowed her to become an icon during her very short career. Her distinct Jewish features were central to her allure, redefining beauty standards in an industry dominated by conventional ideals.
There is a feminist quality to Bara’s roles. As she once explained, “The vampire that I play is the vengeance of my sex upon its exploiters. You see, I have the face of a vampire but the heart of a feminist”. Traditionally, sexually liberated women in the media have been portrayed as, at best, careless and, at worst, evil. Bara plays into the Femme Fatale trope. Femme Fatales reject the traditional expectations of women as submissive. Instead, they assert their autonomy through their sexuality and wit and use them as tools of control and power. This subversion makes her portrayal not just iconic but quietly revolutionary for its time.
But in Hollywood, you can be a star one day and forgotten the next. By 1919, Bara had been pushed out of the spotlight. As movies became more mainstream, niche beauties like Bara were no longer in demand. The film industry wanted to clean up the “vamp” image in an effort to appeal to a wider audience. Stars like Clara Bow and Louise Brooks, who were neither menacing nor mysterious, exuded a cleaner image of what it meant to be an “it girl.” Today, because of a major fire in the Fox archives, only seconds of Bara’s movies survive. Though much of her work has been lost to time, her legacy endures as a symbol of bold creativity and cultural change. In remembering Bara, we not only honour her contributions to film but also celebrate the courage it takes to stand out in a world that often demands conformity.
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