Actress. Star of the silent screen and a noted playwright, poet and author, Madame Petrova moved to Oldxmar from Long Inland, N.Y. with her second husband and leading man Louis "Bunny" Willoughby. At the five-acre estate they called "The Oasis" the couple lavishly -.entertained famous persons and many of their close friends until he died. A strong-willed woman, Madame Petrova spurned scripts she did not like and wrote her own. She wrote seven of the 20 silent films in which she appeared. At age 81 she wrote her last play, a three-act tragedy she named Adrasteia. In the fall of 1971, at age 87, she appeared on stage in Tampa for the first time since her retirement in 1929. The occasion was a fund-raising "Evening with Olga Petrova" for the University of Tampa. Madame Petrova was born in Warsaw, Poland and educated in London, Paris and Brussels. She made her European stage debut in London in the early 1900s, performing Shakesperean drama. She made her American debut in the mid-1920s in New York City. H. L. Mencken commented that her autobiography Butter With My Bread was "the best I have ever read." There are no known survivors. There was no funeral service. Olga was cremated, the location of her ashes is unknown.
Actress. Star of the silent screen and a noted playwright, poet and author, Madame Petrova moved to Oldxmar from Long Inland, N.Y. with her second husband and leading man Louis "Bunny" Willoughby. At the five-acre estate they called "The Oasis" the couple lavishly -.entertained famous persons and many of their close friends until he died. A strong-willed woman, Madame Petrova spurned scripts she did not like and wrote her own. She wrote seven of the 20 silent films in which she appeared. At age 81 she wrote her last play, a three-act tragedy she named Adrasteia. In the fall of 1971, at age 87, she appeared on stage in Tampa for the first time since her retirement in 1929. The occasion was a fund-raising "Evening with Olga Petrova" for the University of Tampa. Madame Petrova was born in Warsaw, Poland and educated in London, Paris and Brussels. She made her European stage debut in London in the early 1900s, performing Shakesperean drama. She made her American debut in the mid-1920s in New York City. H. L. Mencken commented that her autobiography Butter With My Bread was "the best I have ever read." There are no known survivors. There was no funeral service. Olga was cremated, the location of her ashes is unknown.
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