[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lotte-lenya_8809.jpg]]

Lotte Lenya (formerly Lenja), (18 October 1898 – 27 November 1981), born Karoline Blamauer, was an Austrian singer and actress who worked in Germany during the [[UsefulNotes/WeimarRepublic Weimar era]] then in the USA. She was married to Music/KurtWeill (twice) and appeared in many of Creator/BertoltBrecht's plays.

She originated the parts of Jenny in ''Theatre/TheThreepennyOpera'', Anna in ''Theatre/TheSevenDeadlySins'', and Fräulein Schneider in ''Theatre/{{Cabaret}}''. She did not originate the part of Jenny in ''Theatre/TheRiseAndFallOfTheCityOfMahagonny'', though one song had to be specially recomposed for her. She also performed alongside Creator/PeterLorre in ''Frühlings Erwachen''.

In 1933, like many other left-leaning artists and folks who had married a Jewish person, she emigrated from Germany during the rise of UsefulNotes/{{Nazi|Germany}}sm and moved to the United States, where she resolved to speak and write in English almost exclusively from that point on.

To modern audiences, she's probably most famous for her role as SPECTRE operative Rosa Klebb in the second ''Film/JamesBond'' film, ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove''. She was famously name-checked by Music/LouisArmstrong during his recording of "Mack the Knife", when he saw her standing near him in the studio, and she is also a star on the constellation map on the back cover of Music/FrankZappa's ''Music/OneSizeFitsAll'' (1975).

Her signature song is "Music/PirateJenny", and her performance of the song ended up strongly influencing Music/NinaSimone, Music/BobDylan, Music/AmandaPalmer, Creator/LarsVonTrier, and even Creator/AlanMoore when he wrote ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''.

Lenya's correspondence with Kurt Weill was published in book form, titled ''Speak Low (When You Speak Love)''. A play based on the collected letters, ''Lovemusik'', opened on Broadway in 2007.
----