Olga Petrova
Olga Petrova | |
---|---|
![]() Petrova, c. 1917 | |
Born | Ellen Constance Muriel Harding May 10, 1884 |
Died | November 30, 1977 Clearwater, Florida,U.S. | (aged 93)
Other names | Madame Petrova |
Occupation(s) | Actress, screenwriter, playwright |
Years active | 1911–1928 |
Spouse(s) | Louis Willoughby (1939-1968; his death) Dr. John Dillon Stewart (physician) (1913-1938; his death) |
Olga Petrova(bornMuriel Harding;10 May 1884 – 30 November 1977) was a British-American actress, screenwriter and playwright.[1]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/The_Eternal_Question.jpg/170px-The_Eternal_Question.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Olga_Petrova_autographed_drawing_for_Manuel_Rosenberg%2C_1921.jpg/170px-Olga_Petrova_autographed_drawing_for_Manuel_Rosenberg%2C_1921.jpg)
Origins
[edit]In adulthood, Olga Petrova insisted that she had been born inWarsaw,Poland, then part of theRussian Empire,and throughout her life she spoke with an appropriate accent, even in private.[2]However, it was widely accepted later in her career that she was in reality Muriel Harding, born in England (but not in London, as sometimes stated erroneously). It is probable that her birth name wasEllen Constance Muriel Harding,born inPortsea,Hampshire,the daughter of Ellen and Herbert Harding, who was a municipal tax collector. The family moved shortly after her birth toTuebrook,Liverpool,where she grew up and where her younger siblings were born.[3][4][5]
Career
[edit]Harding left home after feeling stifled by her father's strict rules. According to her memoir she became agoverness,but soon moved to London for a career on the stage. She probably chose the name and persona of Madame Olga Petrova herself, though later publicity suggested that the name was chosen by a producer, to reflect the penchant at the time for elegant Russian stars such asAnna Pavlova.In any event, Petrova began to present herself as a glamorous Russian or Polish actress. She made her first notable appearance under that name at theLondon Pavilionin April 1911, and her success led to her being quickly signed up for theFolies-Bergerecabaret inNew York.[2][6]
She first performed in New York in mid-1911, and later that year took a leading role in themusical comedyThe Quaker GirlonBroadwaybefore returning to vaudeville. She insisted on, and gained, top billing on a show at theFifth Avenue Theatre,where she was described inVarietyin 1912 as "one of the cleverest, classiest, and most attractive of turns".[2]In 1913, she met local physician John Dillon Stewart in Indianapolis, Indiana, and they married cthat year inKansas City.Stewart moved his practice to New York City to be near her primary base of operations.[7][8]
Petrova returned to theatre performance in 1914, and was offered a film contract, appearing first inThe Tigress,directed byAlice Guy-Blaché,and then in a succession of silent films through 1917. She disliked playing weak female characters, and spending time idle when making films.[6]She set up her own film company, and wrote for a number of periodicals.[2]She starred in a number of films forSolax StudiosandMetro Pictures,where she was usually given the role of afemme fatale.During her seven years in film, Petrova appeared in more than two dozen films and wrote the script for several others. Most of her films are nowlost,including what she considered her best pictures, those directed byMaurice Tourneur.[9]The Library of Congress Silent Feature Film Database indicates three of her films survive:The Vampire(1915),Extravagance(1916) andThe Waiting Soul(1918).[10]
She was a skilled self-publicist,[6]and was described as "an extraordinarily strong and determined female,"[11]and as "highly eccentric".[12]Both on stage and on screen, Petrova became noted for her insistence on portraying independent and free-thinking women with strong personalities. She said in 1918: "The only women I want to play are women who do things. I want to encourage women to do things – to take their rightful place in life."[2]She also wrote that she preferred to play "the woman of today: a modern, quick thinking and wholly human woman".[6]
She left the film industry in 1918 but continued to act in Broadway productions, including many performances at the prestigiousPalace Theatre.During the 1920s, she wrote three plays, in which she starred;Hurricanedealt withbirth controlandWhat Do We Know?withspiritualism,both controversial subjects. She toured the U.S. with a theater troupe, before returning to vaudeville successfully in 1923.[2]She also interviewed a number of prominent film stars on paid assignment forShadowlandmagazine,Motion Picture Magazine,andPhotoplay Journal,includingMarion Davies,Mary Pickford,Theda Bara,Alla Nazimova,Norma Talmadge,Charlie Chaplin,Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.,andRudolf Valentino.[13]
Later life and death
[edit]She made several visits toSaranac Lake, New Yorkat the height of her fame at the request of theatrical agentWilliam Morris.In the summer of 1921, she turned the first shovel of earth for a housing project sponsored by the chamber of commerce at a lot on Lake Street donated by Walter Jenkins. The Petrova School and Petrova Avenue bear her name.[14]
She retired to live in thesouth of Francein the late 1920s. At the start ofWorld War II,she returned to the U.S., and settled inClearwater, Florida,with her second husband, Louis Willoughby. In 1942, she published her autobiographyButter with My Bread.[2]
Olga Petrova died in 1977 in Clearwater, Florida, aged 93. She had no children.[15]
She has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame.[16]
Publications
[edit]- The White Peacock: A Play in Three Acts(Boston: Four Seas Company, 1922)
- Hurricane: Four Episodes in the Story of a Life(Boston: Four Seas Company, 1924)
- What Do We Know?: A Drama in Three Acts(Boston: Four Seas Company, 1930)
- Butter with My Bread(New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1942)
Filmography
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a5/Daughter_of_Destiny_2.jpg/220px-Daughter_of_Destiny_2.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/85/Olga_Petrova_with_Knox_Riding_Hat%2C1915.jpg/170px-Olga_Petrova_with_Knox_Riding_Hat%2C1915.jpg)
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1912 | Departure of a Grand Old Man | Sofia Tolstaya | Short |
1914 | The Tigress | Stella | Lostfilm |
1915 | The Heart of a Painted Woman | Martha Redmond | Lostfilm |
1915 | The Vampire | Jeanne Lefarge | |
1915 | The Bludgeon | Incompletefilm | |
1915 | My Madonna | Lucille | Lostfilm |
1916 | What Will People Say? | Persis Cabot | Lostfilm |
1916 | The Soul Market | Elaine Elton | Lostfilm Credited as Olya Petrova |
1916 | Playing With Fire | Jean Serian | Lostfilm Credited as Mme. Petrova |
1916 | The Scarlet Woman | Thora Davis | Lostfilm Credited as Madame Petrova |
1916 | The Eternal Question | Bianca | Lostfilm |
1916 | Extravagance | Norma Russell | Credited as Mme. Olga Petrova |
1916 | The Black Butterfly | Sonia Smirnov/Marie, the convent girl | Lostfilm Credited as Mme. Petrova Also writer |
1917 | Bridges Burned | Mary O'Brien | Lostfilm Credited as Madame Petrova Also writer |
1917 | The Secret of Eve | Eve, in the Garden of Eden/ Hagar, the Gypsy Woman/ Eve, the Quakeress/ Eve, the Wife of Brandon | Lostfilm Credited as Mme. Olga Petrova |
1917 | The Waiting Soul | Grace Vaughan | Credited as Madame Olga Petrova |
1917 | The Soul of a Magdalen | Heloise Broulette | Lostfilm Credited as Mme. Petrova |
1917 | The Undying Flame | The Princess / Grace Leslie | Lostfilm Credited as Madame Olga Petrova |
1917 | Law of the Land | Margaret Harding | Lostfilm |
1917 | To the Death | Bianca Sylva | Lostfilm Credited as Mme. Olga Petrova Also writer |
1917 | The Silence Sellers | Laura Sutphen | Lostfilm Credited as Mme. Petrova |
1917 | Exile | Claudia Perez | Lostfilm Credited as Mme. Olga Petrova |
1917 | More Truth Than Poetry | Elaine Esmond/Vera Maitland | Lostfilm Credited as Mme. Olga Petrova Also writer |
1917 | Daughter of Destiny | Marion Ashley | Lostfilm Credited as Madame Olga Petrova Also writer and producer |
1918 | The Light Within | Laurel Carlisle, M. D. | Lostfilm Credited as Madame Olga Petrova |
1918 | The Life Mask | Anita Courtland | Lostfilm Credited as Madame Olga Petrova |
1918 | Tempered Steel | Lucille Caruthers | Lostfilm Credited as Madame Olga Petrova |
1918 | The Panther Woman | Patience Sparhawk | Lostfilm |
1928 | Kira Kiralina | Kira's Mother | Lostfilm |
References
[edit]- ^"The Green Book Magazine".Story-Press association. 23 April 1916.Retrieved23 April2021– via Google Books.
- ^abcdefgAnthony Slide, "Olga Petrova",The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville,University Press of Mississippi, 2012, pp.396-400
- ^Birth record, Ellen Constance M Harding, 1884, in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915
- ^Ellen C. M. Harding, 1901 England Census, Class: RG13; Piece: 3502; Folio: 96; Page: 14
- ^Virginia, U.S., Marriage Records, 1939, for Olga E C M Harding Stewart
- ^abcdWendy Holliday, "Olga Petrova", in Jane Gaines, Radha Vatsal, and Monica Dall’Asta, eds.Women Film Pioneers Project,Columbia University Libraries, 2013.Retrieved 27 March 2024
- ^Dunster, Edward Swift; Hunter, James Bradbridge; Foster, Frank Pierce; Sajous, Charles Eucharist de Medicis; Stragnell, Gregory; Klaunberg, Henry J.; Martí-Ibáñez, Félix (23 April 1913)."International Record of Medicine and General Practice Clinics".MD Publications. p. 796.Retrieved23 April2021– via Google Books.
- ^Petrova,Butter with my Bread,pp. 244-245
- ^Petrova,Butter with My Bread,p. 284
- ^"American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: The Survival of American Silent Feature Films, 1912-1929 (Performing Arts Encyclopedia, The Library of Congress)".Memory.loc.gov.Retrieved23 April2021.
- ^Anthony Slide, "Olga Petrova",Silent Players: A Biographical and Autobiographical Study of 100 Silent Film Actors and Actresses,2002
- ^Trav S.D., "Olga Petrova: Vaudeville’s Fake Russian",Travalanche,May 10, 2010.Retrieved March 27, 2024
- ^Petrova,Butter with My Bread,pp. 313-316
- ^"Theatrical Star Plays Leading Part in Beginning of Saranac Lake's Campaign for Greater Housing Facilities",Adirondack Daily Enterprise,July 10, 1921]
- ^"Olga Petrova, Actress and Playwright, Was 93",New York Times,December 7, 1977, p.44
- ^"Olga Petrova",Hollywood Walk of Fame.Retrieved 27 March 2024
External links
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Olga Petrovaat theInternet Broadway Database
- Olga PetrovaatIMDb
- Olga Petrovaat the Women Film Pioneers Project
- Images of Olga Petrova,held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
- portrait gallery(University of Washington, Sayre collection)
- Paramount performer slide
- Olga Petrova(kinotv)
- 1884 births
- 1977 deaths
- American silent film actresses
- American stage actresses
- American vaudeville performers
- American women dramatists and playwrights
- British emigrants to the United States
- British silent film actresses
- British stage actresses
- British vaudeville performers
- British women dramatists and playwrights
- Women film pioneers
- 20th-century American actresses
- 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
- 20th-century American women writers
- 20th-century British actresses
- 20th-century British dramatists and playwrights
- 20th-century British women writers