Review Summary
Billed as "Madame Petrova," actress Olga Petrova once more collaborated with her favorite director Alice Guy Blache for the five-reel Metro drama My Madonna. Inspired by a Robert W. Service poem, the story concerns a Parisian demimonde named Lucille (Petrova) who becomes the model of an aspiring artist named Robert (Guy Coombs). Falling in love with Robert, Lucille endeavors to spare him disappointment by secretly buying his "unsaleable" paintings. Luck of luck, one of his portraits of Lucille, "My Madonna," wins first prize in an art contest. Ecstatic over this sudden gust of good fortune, Robert marries Lucille. Eventually, however, success goes to his head, and he decides to divest himself of his wife, feeling that her questionable past will hold back his future. Cutting her losses, Lucille devotes herself to charitable work, while a villainous former suitor stands on the sidelines, hoping to have a second chance at her. The villain is subsequently murdered, and Robert is held responsible. At Robert's trial, Lucille once again comes to his rescue by claiming that she is the murderer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
SOLAX STOCK
Olga Petrova
MADAME PETROVA
FEMME FATATE
SOLAX COMPANY FIRST DIVA
| Olga Petrova | ||
|---|---|---|
 Olga Petrova | ||
| Birth name | Muriel Harding | |
| Born | May 10, 1884 Tur Brook, England United Kingdom | |
| Died | November 30, 1977 (aged 93) Clearwater, Florida, United States | |
| Spouse(s) | Louis Willoughby (?-1968) (his death) Dr. John Stewart Dillon (physician) (?-?) (divorced) | |
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Olga Petrova (May 10, 1884 – November 30, 1977) was an actress, screenwriter and playwright.
Born Muriel Harding in Tur Brook, England, she moved to the United States where she became a star of vaudeville using the stage name Olga Petrova. She was cast in her first silent film in 1912, a Russian production titled Ukhod Velikovo Startsa (Departure of a Grand Old Man). She went on to appear in a number of films for Solax Studios and was Metro Pictures first diva, usually given the role of a femme fatale. During her seven years in film, Petrova appeared in more than two dozen films and wrote the script for several others.
Petrova left the film industry in 1918 but continued to act in Broadway productions. During the 1920s, she wrote three plays and toured the country with a theater troop. In 1942, she published her autobiography, Butter With My Bread.
Olga Petrova died in 1977 in Clearwater, Florida. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Solax Stock Alice Guy Olga Petrova by Alice Guy Jr
