Olga Petrova was a British-American actress, screenwriter and playwright.
Petrova, c. 1917
The Eternal Question (1916)
Olga Petrova autographed drawing by Manuel Rosenberg, 1921
Daughter of Destiny (1917)
A femme fatale, sometimes called a maneater, Mata Hari, or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype of literature and art. Her ability to enchant, entice and hypnotize her victim with a spell was in the earliest stories seen as verging on supernatural; hence, the femme fatale today is still often described as having a power akin to an enchantress, seductress, witch, having power over men. Femmes fatales are typically villainous, or at least morally ambiguous, and always associated with a sense of mystification, and unease.
The divine femme fatale of Hindu mythology, Apsara Mohini is described to have enchanted gods, demons and sages alike.
Salome in a 1906 painting by Franz von Stuck
Actress Theda Bara, in the film A Fool There Was
Femme fatale Phyllis Dietrichson, played by Barbara Stanwyck, in the classic film noir Double Indemnity