| |
| Countess Marya Zaleska | |
|---|---|
| Biographical information | |
| Age | Ancient |
| Physical description | |
| Bloodline | Count Dracula |
| Gender | Female |
| Hair Color | Bald |
| Eye Color | Gray |
| Chronological and political information | |
| Universe | Universal |
| Creator | |
| Other | |
| Film Portrayer | Gloria Holden |
Countess Marya Zaleska is a vampire and the daughter of Count Dracula. Using a mysterious gemstone she can easily mesmerize victims as well as put them into a kind of trance which can only be broken by her, otherwise resulting in death. She only appeared in the 1936 Universal Classic film, Dracula's Daughter.
History[]
After Van Helsing killed Dracula in the first movie, the Countess stole her father's corpse and ritualistically burned it in an attempt to free herself from the vampire curse. Unfortunately, it didn't work, and her craving for human blood continued. Without revealing herself as a vampire, she tried to obtain professional help from psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey Garth - who was also a former student of Van Helsing. Dr. Garth told her that she needed to confront the influence in order to control it, but the vampire impulses proved too strong for Zaleska and she attacked a young woman named Lili, who was found almost dead and hospitalized. Having been warned by his tutor Van Helsing, Dr. Garth recognized the signs of a vampire attack and correctly deduced Zaleska's identity as one. At this point convinced that she couldn't fight against her nature, Zaleska kidnapped Garth's assistant, Janet, and brought her to her castle in Transylvania, luring Garth there as she planned to turn him into her own vampire lover.
However, Zaleska's servant, Sandor, to whom she had previously made the same promise, felt betrayed and killed his master by shooting an arrow straight to her heart. Later, she resurrects by unknown means, and in the later 90s she resurrects the Bride of Frankenstein and capture Wilfred Glendon to make an artifact "The Moon Ray" and resurrects the Bride and finally with the Frankenstein's Monster, make a race of invulnerable slaves. She was defeated by the final death of Dracula and killed by Glendon.