Carla Laemmle obit

She was not on the list.

Actress Carla Laemmle, a link to Hollywood's past, dies at 104

Carla Laemmle, a dancer and actress whose uncle, Carl Laemmle, founded Universal Studios, where she grew up, died Thursday night at her home in Los Angeles. One of the last links to Hollywood’s silent film era, Laemmle was 104.

“Her heart just stopped,” Laemmle’s great niece, Rosemary Hilb, said Friday morning, noting that she had been in good health.

Born in Chicago on Oct. 20, 1909, Laemmle moved to Los Angeles in the early 1920s when her uncle invited his brother Joseph and his family to live in a bungalow on the movie lot.

A scene from 1931's "Dracula" in which Carla Laemmle has just recited the famous opening line: "Among the rugged peaks that frown down upon the Borgo Pass are found crumbling castles of a bygone age..."

Carla Laemmle appeared in classic films of the 1920s and 1930s. Carla Laemmle lived on the Universal Studios lot, founded by her uncle Carl Laemmle, from 1923 to 1936.

She became a ballet dancer and actress and appeared in “The Phantom of the Opera” (1925) and “Dracula.” For that 1931 classic she spoke the film’s first lines: “Among the rugged peaks that frown down upon the Borgo Pass are found crumbling castles of a bygone age ... . “

In a 2012 interview with The Times, film historian Scott Essman called Laemmle nearly “the last tie to an era that is pretty much gone. When you talk about these great Universal films of that period — we are at a point now that it is all memory.”

At the time, Laemmle was looking forward to her 103rd birthday party. "I never thought about age," she told The Times. "I always had a feeling that I was in my 20s."

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes 

1925 The Phantom of the Opera Meg Giry Uncredited
1927 Topsy and Eva Angel Uncredited
1927 Uncle Tom's Cabin Auction Spectator Angel
1928 The Gate Crasher Maid Credited as Beth Laemmle
1929 The Broadway Melody Oyster Shell Uncredited
1929 The Hollywood Revue of 1929 Chorus Girl Credited as Beth Laemmle
1930 King of Jazz Chorine Credited as Beth Laemmle
1931 Dracula Coach Passenger Uncredited
1935 The Mystery of Edwin Drood Schoolgirl Uncredited
1936 The Adventures of Frank Merriwell Carla Rogers
1939 On Your Toes Ballet Dancer Uncredited
2001 The Vampire Hunters Club Elder Vampire Direct-to-video release
2010 Pooltime Zelda
2013 A Sad State of Affairs Connie
2015 Mansion of Blood Maribelle Scenes filmed in 2014
2017 The Extra Minnie Scenes filmed in 2014, (final film role)