20 Things You Didn't Know About From Russia With Love (1963)
16. "She’s Had Her Kicks!"
SMERSH’s Colonel Rosa Klebb was established as a sadistic, vicious, and morally dubious villain in Ian Fleming’s 1957 novel, From Russia, with Love. She was memorably described as being toad-like and wearing a bloodied smock, allowing others to torture her victims whilst she twisted their perceptions to break them.
Eon Productions sanitised their film adaptation of the novel to some extent, but Lotte Lenya’s Rosa Klebb (who became SPECTRE's Number Three agent in the film instead of SMERSH’s head of operations) is now rightly regarded as being one of the nastiest Bond villains.
However, many contemporary reviewers did not like Lenya’s “horrible woman” at all. At the time of the film's release, Variety described the singer, ballet dancer, circus performer, and actress’s Rosa Klebb as being “a part that doesn’t fully come off” whilst Esquire magazine described her performance as being the “Miscasting of the year”.
For modern audiences, however, Lotte Lenya’s Rosa Klebb is a highlight of the film and a classic Bond baddie who certainly “had her kicks”.