Rosa Klebb

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James Bond character

Rosa Klebb
Gender	Female
Role	Villain
Affiliation	SMERSH (novel and film) SPECTRE (film)
Current status	Deceased
Portrayed by	Lotte Lenya

Colonel Rosa Klebb (Роза Клебб) is a fictional character from the James Bond novel and film From Russia with Love. She was played by Lotte Lenya in the film version.

1 Novel biography
2 Film biography
3 Henchmen
4 Trivia

[edit] Novel biography

Colonel Klebb is a high ranking member of the feared Russian counter-intelligence agency SMERSH, where she serves as the supervisor of Department II (operations and executions). Klebb is assigned to spearhead an operation to get revenge on James Bond for his involvement in the deaths of two SMERSH operatives, Le Chiffre and Mr. Big. Teaming with Tov Kronsteen and Red Grant, Klebb sets a trap for Bond, enlisting a cipher clerk, Tatiana Romanova, to pretend to defect, claiming to fall in love with Bond. When Bond takes the bait, Grant will kill him. This plan backfires, however, when Tatiana really does fall in love with Bond. After Grant is killed, Klebb must attend to Bond herself.

She tracks him and Tatiana to Paris and poisons him by means of a venom tipped dart hidden in her shoe; she is then captured by Bond's friend Rene Mathis, of the Deuxieme Bureau. The novel ends when Bond collapses to the floor; Fleming had intended to end the series at that point with Bond's death. In the next novel, Doctor No, M reveals that Bond survived due to Mathis' timely intervention, and that Klebb had subsequently died.

[edit] Film biography

Klebb is a former SMERSH agent who has defected to become a member of SPECTRE (Blofeld refers to her as "No. 3"). She uses Kronsteen's plans to obtain the Lektor device and kill Bond. She hires Tatiania Romanova to help Bond steal the Lektor, and then sends Red Grant to kill Bond and recover it. When Red Grant dies at the hand of Bond, Blofeld wants to know who is behind the failure. Then, thanks to Morenzy, Kronsteen dies and Klebb makes one last attempt to get Bond and the Lektor. Posing as a 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 fight. As in the novel, Klebb attempts to kick Bond with the poison tipped shoe, but Bond blocks the attack with a chair. Tatiana then picks up Bond's gun and kills her.

[edit] Henchmen

Red Grant

[edit] Trivia

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

Rosa Klebb was the inspiration for the character of Frau Farbissina, of the Austin Powers series of films.