Olga Baclanova

Olga Vladimirovna Baklanova August 1893 September 1974 was a sultry Russianborn naturalized American actress of stage and screen, radio host and performer, operatic singer, and ballerina. She achieved prominence during the silent film era, after taking several years off her age and changing the spelling of her Russian surname from Baklanova. She was often billed under her last name only, as Baclanova, similarly to the surnameonly nomenclature of her fellow countrywoman Nazimova.

She was born onAugust 1893. in Moscow, Russia. Baclanova was the daughter of Vladimir Baklanoff and his wife Alexandra, herself an actress in early Russian films. Baclanova studied drama at the Cherniavsky Institute before being accepted into the prestigious Moscow Art Theatre with such contemporaries as Maria Ouspenskaya in 1912. Over the next decade she appeared in Russian films, and also performed extensively on stage, touring and performing in many countries of the world, in the 1930s had a program called Olga Baclanovas Continental Review and she often appeared as a guest on radio programs singing songs in her native Russian, she had trained in operatic voice at the Moscow Arts Theatre. In 1925 she was given the award Worthy Artist of the Republic the highest soviet artist honour. Baklanova appeared in aroundfilms in her native Russia, including th efirst Soviet agitprop. dil Bread, before heading to the United States

Source: Wikipedia