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
thumb|left|
thumb|Olga Baclanova as Lou in [[The Docks of New York (1928)]]
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horror movie, which featured actual carnival freaks, was highly controversial and screened only briefly before being withdrawn.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
thumb|upright|right|[[Harry Earles and Baclanova in Freaks (1932)]]
left|thumb|Baclanova in [[Freaks (1932 film)|Freaks]]
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
{| class="wikitable"
! 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
{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 1927 || The Dove || Minor Role || Uncredited <br /> 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 ||