Actress. Nicknamed "The Spider Woman", she was one of the early silent screen's most effective femme fatales. Entering films with the Nestor company in 1912, Glaum initially played comic ingenues, including a co-starring role in 35 episodes of the "Universal Ike" series in 1914. After winning critical praise as a debauched saloon girl in William S. Hart's western "Hell's Hinges" (1916), and as the devious Milady de Winter in "The Three Musketeers" (1916), she switched to vamp roles and became a star in such steamy (for the time) melodramas as "Shackled" (1918), "Love" (1920), and "Sex" (1920). The latter, her most famous film, caused controversy for its title alone. For a few years Glaum rivalled original sex siren Theda Bara in popularity, and one critic called her "The best actress of all the screen vamps". But by 1921 the Vamp Craze was over, and Glaum was too typecast (and had gotten too plump) to find work. After a failed comeback attempt in 1925 she married and left films for good. In 1965 she emerged from obscurity to appear in "The Love Goddesses", a documentary survey of sex in the cinema.
Actress. Nicknamed "The Spider Woman", she was one of the early silent screen's most effective femme fatales. Entering films with the Nestor company in 1912, Glaum initially played comic ingenues, including a co-starring role in 35 episodes of the "Universal Ike" series in 1914. After winning critical praise as a debauched saloon girl in William S. Hart's western "Hell's Hinges" (1916), and as the devious Milady de Winter in "The Three Musketeers" (1916), she switched to vamp roles and became a star in such steamy (for the time) melodramas as "Shackled" (1918), "Love" (1920), and "Sex" (1920). The latter, her most famous film, caused controversy for its title alone. For a few years Glaum rivalled original sex siren Theda Bara in popularity, and one critic called her "The best actress of all the screen vamps". But by 1921 the Vamp Craze was over, and Glaum was too typecast (and had gotten too plump) to find work. After a failed comeback attempt in 1925 she married and left films for good. In 1965 she emerged from obscurity to appear in "The Love Goddesses", a documentary survey of sex in the cinema.
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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