Lori_Bara
Lori Bara
American screenwriter, director and silent film actress (1897–1965)
Lori Bara (born Lori De Coppet Bara Goodman; October 30, 1897 – August 4, 1965), also known as Esther Goodman, was an American screenwriter, director, and silent film actress. She is best known for writing the screenplays of The Soul of Buddha (1918) and Samarang (1933) which she also directed along with Ward Wing, her then-husband.
Lori Bara | |
|---|---|
 Bara in Seven Chances (1925) | |
| Born | Lori De Coppet Bara Goodman (1897-10-30)October 30, 1897 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | August 4, 1965(1965-08-04) (aged 67) Los Angeles County, California, U.S. |
| Burial place | Holy Cross Cemetery |
| Other names | Esther Goodman |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1918–1941 |
| Spouse(s) |
Francis William Getty
(m. 1920, divorced) |
| Relatives | Theda Bara (sister) Charles Brabin (brother-in-law) |
 | This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. (May 2024) |
Bara was born Lori De Coppet Bara Goodman on October 30, 1897, in Avondale, Cincinnati, as the youngest child of Pauline Louise Françoise De Coppet and Bernard Berek Goodman.[1] She had a brother, Mark J.N. Goodman, and a sister, Theda Bara.[1]
Bara married Francis William Getty in London, England, on July 20, 1920,[1] but the marriage was later. On July 6, 1925, Bara moved into a two-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles, California, with actress Nola Luxford.[2] She later married Ward Wing, a writer, in Mexico, on November 23, 1927.[3][4] In 1930, Bara resided in Beverly Hills, California.[1] She divorced Wing in 1935.[3]
Bara started her career by working as an actress along with Nola Luxford.[2] She then appeared in a few films as an extra and in bit parts before turning down her acting career to become a writer.[3] Bara later explained the reason for turning down her acting career in an interview: "I never really wanted to act and never liked it, because you've always got to be thinking of how you look."[3] She made her writing debut with the screenplay for The Soul of Buddha (1918) which starred her sister, Theda Bara.[5] Bara later appeared in Buster Keaton's comedy Seven Chances (1925). She made her last film appearance in George Hill's Tell It to the Marines (1926), which starred Lon Chaney, playing a Navy nurse.[6][7]
In 1931, Bara began to work as a screenwriter at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[8] In 1933, she traveled with her husband to British Malaya and resided there for six months while they filmed Samarang (1933), a romance film with all native cast, in which Bara was screenwriter and director.[3][9][10][11] She then wrote the screenplay for Tea Leaves in the Wind (1938). Her last screenplay was The Shark Women (1941), a documentary film about Malaysian pearl divers.[6][12]
| Title | Year | As actress | Role | As screenwriter | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Soul of Buddha | 1918 | Yes | [5] | |||
| Seven Chances | 1925 | Yes | Mother of Underage Girl | Uncredited | [6] | |
| Tell It to the Marines | 1926 | Yes | Navy Nurse at Mission | Uncredited | [7] | |
| Samarang | 1933 | Yes | Also a director | [11] | ||
| Tea Leaves in the Wind | 1938 | Yes | [6] | |||
| The Shark Women | 1941 | Yes | [12] |
Bara suffered from a cardiovascular disease and was hospitalized at Marycrest Manor in Culver City, Los Angeles.[13] She died there on August 4, 1965, at the age of 67 and was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery.[13][1]
Citations
- Lori De Coppet Bara Goodman, Ancestry
- Grondelle 2000, p. 64.
- Golden 1998, p. 227.
- "Lori Bara Weds Ward Wing". The New York Times. November 23, 1927. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
- Golden 1998, p. 155.
- Nash & Ross 1985, p. 146.
- Blake 2001, p. 161.
- Town Journal. Farm Journal, Incorporated. June 1931. p. 27.
- Pitts 2019, p. 220.
- Uhde & Uhde 2010, p. 19.
- Langman 1998, p. 122.
- Langman 1998, p. 149.
- Golden 1998, p. 236.
General and cited sources
- Nash, Jay Robert; Ross, Stanley Ralph (1985). The Motion Picture Guide. Cinebooks. ISBN 978-0-933997-00-4.
- Golden, Eve (May 5, 1998). Vamp: The Rise and Fall of Theda Bara. Vestal Press. ISBN 978-1-4617-3077-4.
- Langman, Larry (1998). Return to Paradise: A Guide to South Sea Island Films. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-3268-8.
- Grondelle, Carole Van (2000). Angel of the Anzacs: The Life of Nola Luxford. Victoria University Press. ISBN 978-0-86473-397-9.
- Blake, Michael Francis (2001). The Films of Lon Chaney. Madison Books. ISBN 978-1-56833-237-6.
- Uhde, Jan; Uhde, Yvonne Ng (2010). Latent Images: Film in Singapore. Ridge Books. ISBN 978-9971-69-456-2.
- Pitts, Michael R. (January 10, 2019). Thrills Untapped: Neglected Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy Films, 1928-1936. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-7351-6.