Carroll Borland (February 25, 1914 – February 3, 1994) better known by the stage-spelling Carol Borland, was an American professor, writer, and

actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. She is best known for having portrayed Luna, the daughter of

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 ...

's character, Count Mora, in ''

Mark of the Vampire ''Mark of the Vampire'' is a 1935 American horror film directed by Tod Browning, and starring Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allan (British actress), Elizabeth Allan, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, and Jean Hersholt, produced by Metro Goldwyn Mayer. ...

'', and for creating the iconic look of the female vampire with her waist-length dark hair and

Adrian Adrian is a form of the Latin given name Adrianus or Hadrianus. Its ultimate origin is most likely via the former river Adria from the Venetic and Illyrian word ''adur'', meaning "sea" or "water". The Adria was until the 8th century BC the ma ...

-designed shroud in this film.

Biography

Borland was born February 25, 1914, in

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

. She was raised in

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for "Avenue (landscape), tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States, located in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is built on an informal archipe ...

, where she studied ballet in her early childhood. Borland was a drama student at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

at the time she took the role of Luna in ''

'' (1935). She had previously appeared in a stage production of ''

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 ...

'' with Lugosi, in the role of Lucy. Borland got the attention of Lugosi—and a part in the play—by writing to him and suggesting that Dracula did not die at the end of the novel, but rather turned to dust just as the sun was setting. However, she was known to exaggerate the closeness of Lugosi's paternal relationship to her; in Richard Bojarski's ''The Films of Bela Lugosi'', she describes his funeral as if she had been there, and claims to have been, though she was not actually in attendance. Borland retired from acting in 1953, though her other screen appearances were limited to a short film in 1933 and an unbilled appearance in the 1936 serial ''

Flash Gordon Flash Gordon is the protagonist of a space adventure comic strip created and originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by, and created to compete with, the already established ''Buck Rogers'' ...

'', until

Fred Olen Ray Fred Olen Ray (born September 10, 1954) is an American film producer, director and screenwriter of more than 200 low- to medium-quality feature films in many genres, including Horror film, horror, science fiction, action film, action/adventure f ...

cast her in his films '' Scalps'' (1983) and ''

Biohazard A biological hazard, or biohazard, is a biological substance that poses a threat (or is a hazard) to the health of living organisms, primarily humans. This could include a sample of a microorganism, virus or toxin that can adversely affect huma ...

'' (1985). Her novel, ''Countess Dracula'', was published by Magicimage Filmbooks in March 1994, one month after her death.

Death

Borland, suffering from

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

and other health issues in her later life, relocated from her home in the

Napa Valley Napa Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Napa County, California. The area was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on February 27, 1981, after a 1978 petition submitted by the Napa Valley Vin ...

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

, to be closer to her daughter. Borland resided in a retirement community there, where she died on February 3, 1994, of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. She was cremated, and her ashes were scattered in the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...

by her daughter.

Filmography

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * *

External links

*
The Devil Doll
(Archive link) {{DEFAULTSORT:Borland, Carroll 1914 births 1994 deaths Actresses from Fresno, California Actresses from San Francisco American film actresses Deaths from pneumonia in Virginia 20th-century American actresses