Vera Karalli was a Russian ballerina turned star silent film actress. A mistress of Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia, she reportedly was a co-conspirator in the plot to murder Grigori Rasputin in December 1916. She died in Austria in 1972. Vera Karalli was a Russian ballerina turned star silent film actress. A mistress of Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia, she reportedly was a co-conspirator in the plot to murder Grigori Rasputin in December 1916. She died in Austria in 1972.