Another in my occasional series devoted to women who lived fascinating lives....
La Belle Otero (born Agustina del Carmen Otero Iglesias in Spain, 1868) was a famous singer, dancer, and.....courtesan. When still in her young teens, a cafe owner paid her to dance for his customers, though her boyfriend Paco kept all the money. She had no formal training, but she was well received as a singer her first night on stage. By age 21, she was traveling and performing in shows all across Europe, as well as in New York. Newspapers spoke of her great beauty, of how her dark eyes melted one's heart, and her sexual escapades.
She collected lovers (and their money) everywhere she went. She had affairs with several powerful and wealthy men who happily gave her whatever she wanted. One of them spent his entire fortune on her, then blew his brains out. There were rumors of other men killing themselves over her, so she became known as the "Suicide Siren." Two men fought a duel over her. Once while performing onstage, the jealous mistress of a man she had been with stood and fired a gun at her.
During the first World War, she devoted herself to charitable causes. Once the war ended, she decided she was too old to go back to her previous life, so she retired. By this time, she had amassed a fortune that would be worth about $25 million (US) today. However, she gambled virtually all of it away in the casinos of Monte Carlo. She died in 1965, living in a one room apartment in Nice, France.
Fortunately, she lived long enough to see a movie made about her. The last pic shows her in 1954 with Maria Felix, the actress who played in the movie.