Col. Rosa Klebb (From Russia With Love)

Col. Rosa Klebb

Col. Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) was an antagonist in the 1963 James Bond film "From Russia With Love".

Col. Rosa Klebb was the Head of Operations for SMERSH who had defected to become a member of SPECTRE. Her defection was kept quiet and only the highest of Soviet officials knew of it. Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Anthony Dawson) refers to her as "No. 3" indicating that she is the third highest ranking individuals in SPECTRE behind only himself and Emilioa Largo. Tov Kronsteen (Vladek Sheybal) briefed her and Blofeld on the mission, saying that they would obtain a Lektor decoding machine from the Soviets with the inadvertent assistance of a Russian girl, and the British Secret Service.

SPECTRE was sure that M16 would send James Bond, so they would also be able to take revenge for the killing of Dr. Julius No. Klebb was given the responsibility of choosing the girl as well as the henchman to kill James Bond (Sean Connery). She selected Red Grant (Robert Shaw) for the mission and visited him at SPECTRE Island, punching him in the stomach with a knuckle duster to test his strength. Grant barely flinched and Klebb left, telling him to report to her in Istanbul in 24 hours.

Klebb then went back to Istanbul and met Titiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi), who she had selected to lure Bond to the country. She told Tatiana that she had been selected for a mission to give false information to the enemy, not telling her the real plan. Klebb also said that she would be shot if she talked, and that she wouldn't leave the room alive if she refused to obey her orders. Klebb checked her out, and asked about her prior lovers, to see if she would be good enough for the assignment.

Grant tailed Tatiana and Bond around Istanbul, with Klebb sometimes assisting him. In the honeymoon suite, Klebb was behind a two-way mirror, filming them both, to use as part of the plan later on. When Grant failed the mission, getting killed by Bond, Klebb and Kronsteen reported to Blofeld, each blaming the other for the plan's failure. Blofeld said that SPECTRE doesn't tolerate failure, and called in his agent, Morzeny (Walter Gotell). Blofeld reminded Klebb that she knew the penalty for failure to which she responded affirmatively. Morzeny flipped a poison tipped knife out of his shoe and Klebb braced for the blow, but it was Kronsteen who got spiked and killed much to their shock. Klebb showed visible relief at her survival and was given one last chance to get the Lektor and kill Bond.

Posing as a hotel maid, she attempts to take the Lektor, when she is caught, she points a gun at Bond. Tatiana Romanova then distracts her, causing her to drop the gun, and Bond and Klebb enter into a deadly dance with the latter trying to spike him with her poisoned shoe blade. Bond manages to hold her at bay with a chair long enough for Tatiana to get a fix on her and kills her with one shot.

It is strongly implied in the film, and explicitly stated in the novel, that Klebb was a lesbian. Her hard, almost masculine appearance, coupled with several instances when she touches Tatiana and comments on her beauty or her reaction when Morzeny touches her, give a 1963-era stereotype for the aspect of the character.

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