Sonia Karlov (born July 12, 1908, date of death unknown) was an American dancer, stage, and motion picture actress from Syracuse, New York. Her birth name was Alma Jeanne Williams. Early years Alma Jeanne Williams was born on July 12, 1908, in Syracuse, New York. Williams was selected as Miss Syracuse of 1924 and went on to participate in that year's Miss America contest. She was sixteen years of age. Afterward she moved to New York City along with her sister Mary. Ned Wayburn signed her to perform in the Ziegfeld Follies of Flo Ziegfeld. Deceived film executives Karlov moved to Hollywood as a 19-year-old but left without a movie contract, her only film work having been appearing as an extra in one production and performing "a perilous high-dive" in another. Then she was in an auto accident and lay in a hospital bed, disabled physically for six weeks. During this time she concocted a bold hoax which she intended to carry out. She also changed her hair color from brunette to blond. She returned to Hollywood using the name of Sonia Karlov, Norwegian actress. Supposedly she was the daughter of a Russian father and a Norwegian mother. Karlov hired a press agent after convincing him that she was a great foreign actress. Another version of how Jeanne became Sonia is that she began dating a press agent who came up with the entire deception. Later he got drunk and revealed everything. She feared being discovered by her friends and later told an interviewer, "The first glance friends would give me, terrified me." Newspaper reporters flocked to her side for interviews and the daily papers were replete with stories about her. Then she was invited to a newspaper luncheon as a guest of honor. A New York reporter recognized her as Jeanne Williams of the Follies. The following morning she entered the office of Cecil B. Demille and confessed to him her ruse. Karlov pleaded with him to give her a trial and not tear up her contract. Demille replied that she had been deceptive enough to trick him, his staff, and all of Hollywood. He said that if she was just as proficient as an actress, she could appear in his motion pictures. She was signed to an MGM contract for five years. Movie and stage actress Karlov's film career was a brief one. Her sole screen credit is