Image Source: The Ultimate Cinemantrap
Welcome to the second installment of the Friday Glam Spam. Today’s beautiful starlet is none other than Olga Baclanova (1896 – 1974), the Russian-born actress who appeared as a conniving seductress in both The Man Who Laughs (1928, dir. Paul Leni) opposite Conrad Veidt, and Freaks (1932, dir. Tod Browning) opposite Harry Earles. Because she was such an integral part of these two ground-breaking classic horror films, I’ve decided to include her as a Glam Spam in the month of October to fit in the with the Horror theme. She’s also a personal favorite, as both the aforementioned films are two of my favorite movies of all time. She is probably more well-known for her role in Freaks, which is a shame, as her performance as the delectably debauched Duchess Josiana in The Man Who Laughs is (in my opinion) far superior and completely breathtaking. She’s also sort of notorious for bearing an uncanny resemblance to Madonna in some photos, if that’s your thing. To learn more about this “Russian Tigress,” and to see more of her stunning photos, I highly recommend Paul Meienberg’s lovingly researched webpage Olga Baclanova: The Ultimate Cinemantrap. I am lucky enough to have in my small collection a postcard of Olga from the 1920s, which I have included as the final photo in this post. Enjoy!
Image Source: Here’s Looking Like You, Kid
Image Source: I Love Everything
With Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs(1928).
A postcard from my own collection.
Garbo Laughs 
molly bot
/ October 15, 2010LOVE IT! She’s so utterly fabulous!
Edgar Wynplane
/ October 4, 2012She was an underrated great actresse. She was able to play and verb anything. ~Edgar
Paul Meienberg
/ October 30, 2012Thank you for your appreciation of my website on OB
Regards, Paul Meienberg