Rebekah Isabelle LaemmleBiodata (with correct birthname)
, laemmle.us; accessed June 25, 2014. (October 20, 1909 – June 12, 2014), known professionally as Carla Laemmle and occasionally as Beth Laemmle, was an American actress and dancer, and the niece of

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

studio founder

Carl Laemmle Carl Laemmle (; born Karl Lämmle ; January 17, 1867 – September 24, 1939) was a German-American film producer and the co-founder and, until 1934, owner of Universal Pictures. He produced or worked on over 400 films. Regarded as one of the ...

. As an actress/dancer, she is known primarily for her roles in '' The Phantom of the Opera'' (1925) and ''

Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...

'' (1931). At the time of her death, she was one of the last surviving actors of the

silent film era A silent film is a film without synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

, with her career spanning nearly 90 years, also with one of the longest gaps.

Career

Laemmle entered films in 1925, as "Carla Laemmle", in an uncredited role as a ballet dancer in the original silent film version of '' The Phantom of the Opera'' (1925) and later had a small role in the early talkie version of ''

'' (1931). In that film, she portrayed (again uncredited) a bespectacled passenger riding in a bumpy horse-drawn carriage with Renfield as he is travelling to Dracula's castle, and had the first spoken line of dialogue in the film.DVD Documentary ''The Road to Dracula'', produced by David J. Skal, included in the 2-DVD set ''Dracula: The Legacy Collection'' (2004), Universal Home Entertainment release # 24455. Laemmle continued to appear in small roles until the late 1930s, when she disappeared from the movie screen. She briefly came out of retirement to play a vampire in ''The Vampire Hunters Club'' (2001). In 2009, the book ''Growing Up with Monsters: My Times at Universal Studios in Rhymes'', co-authored by Laemmle and Daniel Kinske, was released. The book was illustrated by the legendary Jack Davis (of '' Mad'' magazine fame) and details her life at Universal Studios from 1921 to 1937. On October 20, 2009, she celebrated her 100th birthday with a guestlist which included

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury ( ; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, Horror fiction, horr ...

, George Clayton Johnson, Bela Lugosi Jr., Sara Karloff, and Ron Chaney. On October 3, 2010, she appeared in

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

documentary '' A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss'', sharing memories of her early film work with Lon Chaney and

Bela Lugosi Blaskó Béla Ferenc Dezső (; October 20, 1882 – August 16, 1956), better known by the stage name Bela Lugosi ( ; ), was a Hungarian–American actor. He was best remembered for portraying Count Dracula in the horror film classic Dracula (19 ...

. She also recited her opening lines from ''Dracula''. In November 2010, she made an appearance in the documentary ''Moguls and Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood'' for

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...

and in May 2011 she appeared in '' Paul Merton's Birth of Hollywood'' on the BBC. In March 2012, Turner Classic Movies presented a screening of ''Dracula'', where Laemmle appeared at the screening in connection with its Classic Movie Festival.

Death

Laemmle died at her home in Los Angeles at the age of 104 on June 12, 2014. She never married nor had children, but was the companion of actor-writer Raymond Cannon until his death in 1977. She was buried at Home of Peace Cemetery (East Los Angeles).

Filmography

References

External links

Antonia Carlotta's Official Family YouTube Channel
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Laemmle, Carla 1909 births 2014 deaths 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses American film actresses American silent film actresses American people of German-Jewish descent Burials at Home of Peace Cemetery Jewish American actresses Universal Pictures Actresses from Greater Los Angeles Actresses from Chicago American women centenarians Jewish centenarians