Sonia Karlov

Sonia Karlov was an American dancer, stage actress, and motion picture actress born Alma Jeanne Williams on July 12, 1908, in Syracuse, New York. Her date of death is unknown.

Williams first gained public attention in 1924 when she was selected as Miss Syracuse and subsequently competed in that year's Miss America pageant at the age of sixteen. She and her sister Mary afterward relocated to New York City, where choreographer and producer Ned Wayburn arranged for her to perform in the Ziegfeld Follies under Flo Ziegfeld.

At nineteen, Williams traveled to Hollywood in pursuit of a film career, securing only minor work as an extra in one production and performing a high-dive stunt in another before leaving without a contract. An automobile accident then left her physically incapacitated for six weeks. During her recovery she devised a scheme to reenter Hollywood under a fabricated identity, also changing her hair color from brunette to blond. She returned to California presenting herself as Sonia Karlov, a Norwegian actress said to be the daughter of a Russian father and a Norwegian mother. A press agent she recruited helped sustain the deception, and newspaper reporters produced extensive coverage of the supposed foreign star. At a luncheon held in her honor, a reporter from New York recognized her as Jeanne Williams of the Follies. The following morning Karlov went to Cecil B. DeMille's office and admitted the hoax, appealing to him not to void her contract. DeMille reasoned that anyone capable of deceiving him, his staff, and the broader Hollywood community possessed sufficient resourcefulness to work as an actress, and she was subsequently signed to a five-year contract with MGM.

Karlov's screen career proved short-lived. Her only credited film role was that of Lulu Bellew in Lucky in Love, released in 1929. She was released from her MGM contract, though she received financial compensation. A further complication arose from the Russian accent she had cultivated so thoroughly as part of her persona: the demands of sound motion pictures placed her at a disadvantage, and the accent effectively limited her opportunities in film. In July 1932, Charles R. Rogers, formerly an executive at RKO-Pathé Pictures, signed her to a term contract. By December 1934, Karlov had turned to writing film scenarios, completing six, two of which were accepted and produced by MGM.

Her Broadway appearance came in October 1930, when she played Betty Gilbert, a chorus girl, in Sisters of the Chorus at the Ritz Theater in New York. The production had completed a successful run in western American cities before reaching New York and featured co-stars Enid Markey and Edna Hibbard. In June 1932, she was part of the cast of Love on Approval, staged at the Playhouse in Chicago, Illinois.

Her sister Mary Williams continued a performing career in the Ziegfeld Follies, George White's Scandals, and the Grand Street Scandals, while another sister, Jane, held a position at the Park Central Hotel in New York City during the 1930s. In October 1926, Karlov married George Williams, the son of a Tennessee newspaper publisher. She later married Henry Clive, an artist whose work appeared on the cover of The American Weekly magazine.