Olga Baclanova

Olga Vladimirovna Baklanova (;

Baclanova, a student of the Moscow Art Theatre spent her early years in her native land appearing in theatre production and silent film from 1914 until 1918, reducing her age by several years and changing the spelling of her surname Baklanova. She was often billed under her surname only, similar to her fellow countrywoman Nazimova.

She emigrated to the United States in 1925, and started appearing on stage and subsequently in Hollywood films, where she was celebrated for the Universal Pictures silent The Man Who Laughs as the evil Duchess Josiana and in Tod Browning's cult-classic horror film Freaks (1932) at MGM, as scheming circus trapeze artist, Cleopatra.

Early life, Moscow Arts Theatre and Russian career (radio, stage and film)

Olga Vladimirovna Baklanova was born on 19 August 1893 (other sources state 1883, 1884, 1896 or even 1900, according to her obituary) in Moscow, Russia.

In 1925 she was given the award "Merited Artist of the Republic", the highest Soviet artist honour. Baclanova appeared in around 17 films during her career in Russia.

American career

Baclanova came to New York City with the 1925 touring production of the Moscow Art Theatre's Lysistrata. When the rest of the company returned to Russia the following year, she stayed in America. (1932). This horror movie, which featured actual carnival freaks, was highly controversial and screened only briefly before being withdrawn. It would be 30 years before Freaks gained a cult following. The movie did not revive Baclanova's film career, which ended in 1943.

Baclanova worked extensively on stage in London's West End and in New York, for about 10 years starting in the mid-1930s. In 1943 she appeared in Claudia at the Moore Theatre in Seattle, Washington.

Personal life Baclanova's father died of natural causes in 1922. She was married three times. Her first husband was a lawyer named Vladimir Zoppi with whom she had her first son. Her second husband was actor Nicholas Soussanin with whom she had her second son. The birth of her second son was front-page news and was covered quite extensively in the press in 1930. Her third marriage was to Russian-born David Judovitch, better known as Richard Davis (1900–1984), who owned the Fine Arts Theatre in New York. In 1931, Baclanova became a naturalized American citizen.

Legacy

In Russia, Baclanova's departure from the USSR made room for the success of Soviet movie star Lyubov Orlova, a struggling ex-pianist with a certain likeness to Olga. In 1926, Orlova was promoted from a choir after two months in a theatre, by the heart-broken Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, a rumored lover or admirer of Baclanova, his favorite student. Fashion historian Alexandre Vassiliev remembered in 2018: "He [Vladimir] loved her [Olga] in letters, he was thinking deeply about her. The only time he cried [publicly], at the piano in the Art Theatre foyer, was when he had found out about Olga Vladimirovna Baclanova [emigration]... He really began to cry. I'm sure of this, not because I was there but because I was a friend of who was also closely connected to Nemirovich-Danchenko and could have known this from the wife of the famous director... Lyubov Orlova blossomed as Baclanova's substitute."

Later years After her retirement she migrated to Switzerland. She died at a rest home on 6 September 1974 from lung cancer in Vevey, aged 81, and apparently had Alzheimer's disease, although this is unconfirmed. She was interred at Corsier cemetery, in Corsier-sur-Vevey.

Filmography

Russian films Year Title Role Notes 1914 Simfoniya lyubvi i smerti 1914 Kogda zvuchat struny serdtsa 1915 Velikiy Magaraz 1915 Title role 1915 1915 Lyubov pod maskoy 1916 Tot, kto poluchaet poshchechiny L'écuyère Consuella, qu'il tue par amour 1918 Khleb

United States silent films Year Title Role Notes 1927 The Dove Minor Role Uncredited Incomplete film 1928 The Czarina's Secret Catherine the Great – The Czarina Short 1928 Three Sinners Baroness Hilda Brings Lost film 1928 The Man Who Laughs Duchess Josiana 1928 Street of Sin Annie Lost film 1928 Forgotten Faces Lilly Harlow 1928 The Docks of New York Mrs. Lou Roberts 1928 The Woman Disputed Countess (scenes deleted) 1928 Avalanche Grace Stillwell Lost film

United States sound films Year Title Role Notes 1929 The Wolf of Wall Street Olga Lost film 1929 A Dangerous Woman Tania Gregory 1929 The Man I Love Sonia Barondoff 1930 Cheer Up and Smile Yvonne 1931 Are You There? Countess Helenka 1931 The Great Lover Mme. Savarova 1932 Freaks Cleopatra 1932 Downstairs Baroness Eloise von Burgen 1933 The Billion Dollar Scandal Anna aka GoGo 1943 Claudia Madame Daruschka

Stage roles (US and UK) The Miracle (west coast production, 1926) The Farewell Supper (After on anatol), 1929 Silent Witness (1931) Grand Hotel (1932) Twentieth Century (1932) The Cat and the Fiddle (west coast, 1932) $25 an Hour (Germaine Granville, 1933) Murder at the Vanities (Broadway Production, 1933) Mahogany Hill, Broadway, 1934) Going Place (London debut, 1936) Idiot's Delight (US tour), 1936 Twentieth Century (US Tour revival, 1937) Claudia 1941–1943, US tour The Cat and the Fiddle (revival, New Jersey), 1945 Louisiana Lady (summer stock, East Coast production, mid 1947) A Copy of Madame Aupic (East Coast, New Milford, summer stock, 1947)