On Thursday, June 12, 2014, me, my family, and the world of entertainment said farewell to my beloved Great Aunt Carla Laemmle at the ripe age of 104. She was born Rebecca Isabelle Laemmle in Chicago, Illinois on October 20, 1909, to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Lammle and was the niece of famed Universal Studios founder Carl Laemmle. In her infancy, she and her moved to sunny California upon receiving a telegram from Carl inviting them to come live with him at his lavish estate.

Carla was a successful actress and dancer whose career went all the way back to the days of the silent film era. Part of Carla’s legacy includes portraying a dancer in the silent film classic The Phantom of the Opera in 1925 starring Lon Chaney Sr. She also had the distinction of speaking the first line in the original 1931 Dracula starring Bela Lugosi. She played a passenger on the stagecoach that picked up Renfield and took him to Borgo Pass.

Carla also appeared in such films as Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1927), The Broadway Melody (1929), Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935), His Last Fling (1935), The Adventures of Frank Merriwell (1936) and as a ballet dancer in On Your Toes (1939).

Her next movie credit came more than 70 years later in Pooltime (2010), and she had a role in Mansion of Blood. In between, she worked at dance clubs. She never married but had a long relationship with writer-actor Ray Cannon. Carla was one of the few links to the bygone silent film era and her contributions to the horror genre and film in general is immeasurable. She will be missed.