Kathlyn. At Selig Zoo, Olga Celeste hosted leopard tea parties on Sundays. Apparently Olga Celeste "called her leopards her babies and adored them precisely because, as she said, they were 'the most treacherous' of animals. Frequently dressed to resemble her leopards, Olga serves as an access point to another world if only because her animals have turned her into something 'other' even outside the realm of fiction." In 1923 Mlle. Celeste took her leopard act to Aloha Park in Hawaii. She also did stints with John Robinson Circus, Al G. Barnes Circus and Ringling Brothers. In the time of the 1930 census, Olga Celeste was living in a rental near Lincoln Park, Los Angeles. She reported her age at first marriage as 14. She reported that she had first come to the United States in 1907 and was now a naturalized citizen. Following the success of a hit 1933 Clyde Beatty picture, she was hired to appear as one of the trainers in Taming the Jungle. In 1938 she was the leopard trainer for Bringing Up Baby. When Zoopark shut down in 1940 she was the last original employee of what had once been Selig's Wild Animal Farm, and she borrowed money (including, reportedly, from friends like boxer Jack Dempsey and Tarzan actor Johnny Weissmuller) to buy five leopards and three lions that she did not want sold to strangers. The last of these cats died in 1954. After she retired, Olga Celeste lived out her days in Burbank. She died in 1969 and was buried on September 8 in the same grave as life partner Emma Bell Clifford at Evergreen Park Memorial Cemetery. She was survived by nieces and nephews in the American Midwest and Sweden. Olga Celeste rarely, if ever, used her legal last name Knutson. She went by a number of stage names including Princess Olga, Princess Celeste, Princess Cecilia, Madame Olga, Mademoiselle Celeste, et al. She was also known as the Leopard Lady. See also Irina Bugrimova, Soviet lion tamer Mabel Stark, American tiger trainer Ephraim Thompson, American elephant trainer Notes References Further reading External link 1910: Princess Bonita, Queen of the leopards. Big Otto's Trained Wild Animals 1888 births 1969 deaths Animal trainers American circus performers Vaudeville performers Lion tamers Women stunt performers American silent film actresses People from Lund People from Burbank, California Swedish emigrants to the United States