1893190519051901ca. 1905ca. 1895
carolina "la belle" otero (4 november, 1868 - 12 april, 1965) was born agustina otero iglesias in barcelona spain to a poor family. at 10 she was raped which left her sterile. she left home at age 14 & began working as a singer/dancer in lisbon - she reportedly married an italian nobleman, count guglielmo, that same year. in 1888 she moved to france and became a star of les folies bérgere.
taking on the name of la belle otero, she became the most sought after woman for the richest men in the world. during her career as a courtesan she was associated with prince albert I of monaco, king edward VII of england, the russian grand dukes peter & nicholas, the duke of westminster & the writer gabriele d'annunzio as well as spanish & serbian kings. men committed suicide over their love affairs with her. the twin cupolas of the hotel carlton in cannes were said to have been modeled after her breasts. admirers gave her gilded carriages, buckets of jewels, and a mansion on the champs-elysées. an american millionaire invited her to a supper of caviar & oysters where each oyster held a pearl. by 1894 she was so rich that she spurned an offer of 10,000 francs for one night....the luckless man killed himself in humiliation.
in 1898, an empolyee of the lumiére company, félix mesguich shot a one minute reel of her performing the famous "valse brillante" making her perhaps the first film star in history. the screening at the aquarium music hall provoked such a scandal that mesguich was expelled from russia.
in 1922 she retired after 25 years as the queen of courtesans. she was wildly rich - amassing a fortune of around $25 million, but she gambled & squandered most of it away. in her later years she lived in near poverty in her one room apartment at the hotel novelty in nice, france. she died of a heart attack in 1965 at the age of 96. what a beauty, what a life!