La Belle Otero

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Carolina Otero
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La Belle Otero
La Belle Otero by Léopold-Émile Reutlinger
Born
Agustina del Carmen Otero Iglesias[1]

(1868-11-04)4 November 1868
Valga, Galicia, Spain
Died10 April 1965(1965-04-10) (aged 96)
Nice, France
Occupation(s)Dancer, actress, courtesan

Agustina del Carmen Otero Iglesias (4 November 1868 – 10 April 1965), better known as Carolina Otero or La Belle Otero, was a Spanish actress, dancer and courtesan. She had a reputation for great beauty and was famous for her numerous lovers.

Biography

Early years

Agustina del Carmen Otero Iglesias was born in Valga Galicia, Spain, daughter of a Spanish single mother, Carmen Otero Iglesias (1844–1903), and a Greek army officer named Carasson.[2] Her family was impoverished, and as a child she moved to Santiago de Compostela working as a maid.[3] At age 10, she was raped, and at 14, she left home with her boyfriend and dancing partner Paco and began working as a singer/dancer in Lisbon.

Career as artiste and courtesan

Cléo de Merode in a fashionable crowd in the Bois de Boulogne drawn by Guth
, 1897

Within a short number of years, Otero was said to be the most sought-after woman in Europe. She was serving, by this time, as a courtesan to wealthy and powerful men of the day, and she chose her lovers carefully. She associated herself with

Russian Grand Dukes Peter and Nicholas, the Duke of Westminster and writer Gabriele D'Annunzio. Her love affairs made her notorious, and the envy of many other notable female personalities of the day. Six men reportedly committed suicide after their love affairs with Otero ended, but this has never been substantiated beyond a doubt. It is a fact, however, that two men did fight a duel over her.[3]

Early film

In August 1898, in St-Petersburg, the French film operator Félix Mesguich (an employee of the Lumière company) shot a one-minute reel of Otero performing the famous "Valse Brillante." The screening of the film at the Aquarium music-hall provoked such a scandal (because an officer of the Tsar's army appeared in this frivolous scene) that Mesguich was expelled from Russia.[8]

Later life

Otero retired after World War I, purchasing a mansion and property at a cost of the equivalent of US$15 million.[3] She had accumulated a massive fortune over the years, about US$25 million, but she gambled much of it away over the remainder of her lifetime, enjoying a lavish lifestyle, and visiting the casinos of Monte Carlo often. She lived out her life in a pronounced state of poverty until she died of a heart attack in 1965 in her one-room apartment at the Hotel Novelty in Nice, France.

Of her heyday and career, Otero once said "Women have one mission in life: to be beautiful. When one gets old, one must learn how to break mirrors. I am very gently expecting to die."[9]

Notable published works

  • Les Souvenirs et la Vie Intime de la Belle Otero (1926).
    ISBN 9782402042819

A Jose Martí poem "El alma trémula y sola" was inspired and dedicated to Carolina Otero

In film and literature

Gallery

  • La Belle Otero circa 1890
    La Belle Otero circa 1890
  • La Belle Otero at Folies-Bergère, 1894
    La Belle Otero at Folies-Bergère, 1894
  • An 1894 Folies Bergère poster
    An 1894 Folies Bergère poster
  • A 1905 postcard of La Belle Otero
    A 1905 postcard of La Belle Otero
  • La Belle Otero, by Léopold-Émile Reutlinger
    La Belle Otero, by Léopold-Émile Reutlinger
  • La Belle Otero by Léopold-Émile Reutlinger
    La Belle Otero by Léopold-Émile Reutlinger
  • La Belle Otero by Léopold-Émile Reutlinger
    La Belle Otero by Léopold-Émile Reutlinger
  • La Belle Otero by Jean Reutlinger
    La Belle Otero by Jean Reutlinger
  • La Belle Otero by Jean Reutlinger
    La Belle Otero by Jean Reutlinger
  • La Otero from a 1912 publication
    La Otero from a 1912 publication
  • Vintage postcard of La Belle Otero
    Vintage postcard of La Belle Otero
  • Vintage postcard of La Belle Otero by Léopold-Émile Reutlinger
    Vintage postcard of La Belle Otero by Léopold-Émile Reutlinger
  • Hand tinted postcard of La Belle Otero by Léopold-Émile Reutlinger
    Hand tinted postcard of La Belle Otero by Léopold-Émile Reutlinger

See also

References

  1. ^ "Bella Otero". Municipality of Valga. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  2. ^ a b Les Souvenirs et la Vie Intime de la Belle Otero, Place des Libraires
  3. ^ a b c d e f Caroline "La Belle" Otero by Lockkeeper. Lockkeeper.com. Retrieved on 16 November 2010.
  4. ^ "Cultura e Conhecimento: Teatro". www.brasilcult.pro.br.
  5. ^ Icqurimage Electronic magazine: A brief history of the Courtesan Archived 19 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Icqurimage.com. Retrieved on 16 November 2010.
  6. ^ la belle Otero Archived 11 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Membres.multimania.fr. Retrieved on 16 November 2010.
  7. ^ "Familien-Saga Adlon: Was ist wahr und was ist Erfindung im großen TV-Epos? – TV – Bild.de". 10 January 2013. Archived from the original on 10 January 2013.
  8. ISBN 2-903528-43-8
    (in french)
  9. ^ World: Suivez-Moi, Jeune Homme. Time (23 April 1965). Retrieved on 16 November 2010.
  10. ^ "La Belle Otero (1954)". UniFrance. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  11. ISBN 9780767910828
    .

Further reading

  • Arruíname pero no me abandones. La Bella Otero y la Belle Époque. De Marie-Helène Carbonel i Javier Figuero. Ed. Espasa Calpe, 2003. In Spanish
  • A Bela Otero, pioneira do cine, Miguel Anxo Fernández In Galician
  • La passion de Carolina Otero Ramón Chao, 2001. French novel about the fictional life of the dancer.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to La Belle Otero.
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