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Lana Wood

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Lana Wood
Wood in 1982
Born
Svetlana Lisa Gurdin

(1946-03-01) March 1, 1946 (age 78)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Actress, producer
Years active1947–present
Spouses
Jack Wrather Jr.
​
​
(m. 1962; ann. 1963)​
Karl Brent
​
​
(m. 1964; div. 1965)​
​
​
(m. 1966; ann. 1966)​
Stanley William Vogel
​
​
(m. 1968; div. 1968)​
Richard Smedley
​
​
(m. 1972; div. 1976)​
Allan Balter
​
​
(m. 1979; div. 1980)​
PartnerAlan Feinstein (1980s)
Children1
RelativesNatalie Wood (sister)
Natasha Gregson Wagner (niece)

Lana Wood (born Svetlana Lisa Gurdin; March 1, 1946) is an American actress and producer.[1][2] She made her film debut in The Searchers as a child actress and later achieved notability for playing Sandy Webber on the TV series Peyton Place and Plenty O'Toole in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. Her sister was Natalie Wood.

Early life

Wood was born Svetlana Lisa Gurdin[3][4] to Russian immigrant parents, Maria Zudilova (1908[a]–1998) and Nicholas Zacharenko (1912–1980). They had each left Russia as child refugees with their parents following the Russian Civil War, and they grew up far from their homeland. Her father's family left Vladivostok after her grandfather, a chocolate-factory worker who joined the anti-Bolshevik civilian forces, was killed in a street fight in 1922;[7] they settled in Vancouver, British Columbia, with their relatives, then moved to San Francisco. Lana's maternal grandfather owned soap and candle factories in Barnaul; he left Russia with his family in 1918 after his eldest son was killed by the Red Army, and settled in a Russian community in Harbin, China.[8] Maria married Alexander Tatuloff there in 1925,[5] and they had a daughter, Olga Viripaeff (1928–2015),[9][10] before divorcing in 1936.[11]

When Nicholas and Maria married in February 1938, she brought her daughter Olga, then known as Ovsanna, to the household, sharing joint custody with her ex-husband in El Cerrito, California. The couple had two daughters together; the first was Natalie, known as "Natasha", the Russian diminutive. The family settled in Santa Monica, near Hollywood, and changed their surname to Gurdin. Svetlana, known as "Lana", was born there. Her parents changed the surname of her elder sister, making her Natalie Wood, after she started her acting career as a child. She was named after her director Irving Pichel's friend Sam Wood.[12] When Lana made her film debut in The Searchers (1956), her mother was asked under what last name Lana should be credited. Maria agreed to use "Wood" for Lana, building on Natalie's recognized work.

Career

In her early career, Wood usually played in films in which Natalie appeared. Starting in the 1960s, her own career took off. After appearing on the short-lived drama series The Long, Hot Summer, she landed the role of Sandy Webber on the soap series Peyton Place. She played the role from 1966 to 1967. She turned down the Karen Black role in Easy Rider (1969), a decision she now cites as the worst mistake she has made in her career. She was cast as a Bond girl, Plenty O'Toole, in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever (1971). In 1970, Wood was approached by Hugh Hefner and she agreed to pose for Playboy. The Playboy pictures appeared in the April 1971 issue, along with Wood's poetry.

Wood has more than 20 other films and over 300 television series to her credit, including The Fugitive, Bonanza, Mission: Impossible, Wild, Wild West, Police Story, Starsky & Hutch, Nero Wolfe, Fantasy Island, and Capitol. After appearing in the horror film Satan's Mistress (1982), she retired from acting, concentrating on her career as a producer, but since 2008 she has returned to acting in a number of low-budget films. Wood is a character in the Steve Alten book Meg: Hell's Aquarium (2009).

She wrote a memoir, Natalie, A Memoir by Her Sister (1984), and another, Little Sister (2021), in which she claimed veteran actor Kirk Douglas sexually assaulted her sister Natalie when she was just 16.[13]

Personal life

Wood with her sister Natalie in 1956

Wood has been married six times:

  1. Jack Wrather Jr. – (1962–1963; annulled when she was 16 years old)
  2. Karl Brent – (1964–1965; divorced)
  3. Stephen Oliver – (1966–1966; annulled)
  4. Dr. Stanley William Vogel (1968–1968; divorced)
  5. Richard Smedley – (1972–1976; divorced) one child, Evan Taylor Smedley Maldonado (August 11, 1974 – July 18, 2017), by whom she has three grandchildren.[14]
  6. Allan G. Balter (1979–1980; divorced)

Between marriages, Wood dated actors Dean Stockwell, Adam West, Eddie Fisher, Warren Beatty, Sean Connery, Alain Delon and Ryan O'Neal, as well as talent agent Guy McElwaine,[15] producer Jerome Hellman and composer Leslie Bricusse.[16] For most of the 1980s she was in a relationship with Alan Feinstein.[17] Feinstein was at Natalie's funeral with her.[18]

Wood's sister Natalie was married to actor Robert Wagner until her drowning death on November 29, 1981. She has long been at odds with both Wagner and his third wife Jill St. John, who coincidentally also appeared in Diamonds Are Forever.[19]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1947 Driftwood Infant Scene cut
1955 One Desire Little Girl Uncredited
1956 The Searchers Debbie Edwards
1958 Marjorie Morningstar Girl Uncredited
1962 Five Finger Exercise Mary
1965 The Fool Killer Alice
1965 The Girls on the Beach Bonnie
1968 For Singles Only Helen Todd
1969 Scream Free! Karen
1970 Black Water Gold Eagan Ryan
1970 The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again Katie Flavin
1971 Diamonds Are Forever Plenty O'Toole
1972 Justin Morgan Had a Horse Kathleen
1972 A Place Called Today Carolyn Schneider
1974 Goodnight Jackie Jackie
1975 Who is the Black Dahlia? Boarder
1975 Sons of Sassoun Hasmig
1976 Nightmare in Badham County Smitty
1977 Little Ladies of the Night Maureen
1977 Speedtrap New Blossom
1977 Grayeagle Beth Colter
1978 A Question of Guilt Elizabeth Carson
1979 Captain America II: Death Too Soon Yolanda
1982 Satan's Mistress Lisa
2009 The Book of Ruth: Journey of Faith Tani
2010 War of Heaven President Bailey
2010 Deadly Renovations Dr. Nitas
2010 Last Wish Helen
2013 The Executive Margo Steel
2014 Donors Norma
2015 Bestseller Marta
2016 Killing Poe Dean Wood
2016 Subconscious Reality Implicit
2017 Operation: Assassination Lana Wood
2018 Wild Faith Opal
2018 Invasion Lana Wood
2019 Bill Tilghman and the Outlaws Ms. Darling
2020 Alone Maria Clemm
2021 Best Years Gone Edith
2021 The Sand Dollar Suicide Cordelia Cozzi
2022 Bestseller 2 Marta
TBA Dog Boy Vera Summers
TBA Race to Judgment Sofia Jacalone
TBA Virtue Celia Lovell

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1957 Judgment at Nuremberg Judy Episode: "Winter Dreams"
1958 Alcoa Theatre Pat Episode: "The Victim"
1958 Judgment at Nuremberg Evie Gray Episode: "Point of No Return"
1958 Have Gun – Will Travel Becky Coldwell Episode: "The Teacher"
1958 The Real McCoys Marilyn Harwick Episode: "The New Neighbors"
1964 Dr. Kildare Judy Gaer Episode: "Man Is a Rock"
1964 Wendy and Me Millie Episode: "George Burns While Rome Fiddles"
1964 The Fugitive The Doll Episode: "Detour on a Road Going Nowhere"
1965–1966 The Long, Hot Summer Eula Harker 23 episodes
1966–1968 Peyton Place Sandy Webber 80 episodes
1967 The Wild Wild West Sheila O'Shaughnessy Episode: "The Night of the Firebrand"
1967 Bonanza Dana Dawson Episode: "The Gentle Ones"
1969 Felony Squad Sherry Martin Episode: "The Last Man in the World"
1969 The Wild Wild West Averi Trent Episode: "The Night of the Plague"
1971 Marcus Welby, M.D. Angie Episode: "Don't Kid a Kidder"
1971 O'Hara, U.S. Treasury Fran Harper Episode: "O'Hara, U.S. Treasury"
1971 Monty Nash Diana Episode: "Code Name: Diana"
1972 Disneyland Kathleen 2 episodes
1972 Night Gallery Maid Episode: "You Can't Get Help Like That Anymore"
1972 Mission: Impossible Marcy Carpenter Episode: "The Deal"
1973 Police Story June Lang Episode: "Countdown: Part 2"
1974 QB VII Sue Scanlon Episode: "Part One & Two"
1976 Starsky & Hutch Ella Episode: "Running"
1977 Corey: For the People Janet Hanley TV film
1983 Capitol Fran Burke unknown episodes

Footnotes

  1. ^ Wood's mother was born on January 26, 1908, according to the earliest available records.[5] Sometime in the mid-1930s, she shaved four years off her age — giving her birthdate as February 8, 1912, perhaps because her future husband was younger — and maintained this fiction for the rest of her life.[6]

Bibliography

  • Wood, Lana (1984). Natalie Wood: A Memoir by Her Sister. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0-399-12903-0.
  • Finstad, Suzanne (2001). Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood. New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0609809570.

References

  1. ^ Paul, Louis (2008). "Lana Wood". Tales From the Cult Film Trenches; Interviews with 36 Actors from Horror, Science Fiction and Exploitation Cinema. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. pp. 300–306. ISBN 978-0-7864-2994-3.
  2. ^ "Lana Wood". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2009. Archived from the original on November 18, 2009.
  3. ^ Danny Morgenstern, Manfred Hobsch (2006). James Bond XXL. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf. p. 740.
  4. ^ Birth registration at californiabirthindex.org; accessed June 24, 2015.
  5. ^ a b Tatuloff, Alexander (September 17, 1934). Declaration of Intention, no. 89199. U.S. District Court Naturalization Index, 1852-1989.
  6. ^ Finstad, 2001, pg. 6.
  7. ^ Finstad, 2001, p. 14.
  8. ^ Natalie Wood's Russian roots excerpets from Natalie Wood: A Life by Gavin Lambert, 2004
  9. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: Natalie Wood's Sister Blames Captain Dennis Davern For Her Death". rumorfix.com. rumorfix.com. November 2011. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  10. ^ "Olga Viripaeff's Obituary on San Francisco Chronicle". San Francisco Chronicle. May 30, 2015.
  11. ^ "Interlocutory Divorce Decrees Granted". The San Francisco Examiner. March 17, 1936.
  12. ^ Lana Wood, Natalie: A Memoir by Her Sister, p. 8
  13. ^ "Kirk Douglas assaulted Natalie Wood, her sister alleges". BBC News. November 5, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  14. ^ "Late Star's Niece Dies After Massive Heart Attack". RadarOnline. July 19, 2017.
  15. ^ Wood, Lana (2021). Little Sister: My Investigation Into the Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0063081628.
  16. ^ Samantha Ibrahim (November 23, 2021). "Bond girl Lana Wood reveals why affair with Sean Connery ended". New York Post.
  17. ^ Profile Archived July 10, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, sun-sentinel.com, July 20, 1985.
  18. ^ Lana Wood, sister of Natalie Wood, is comforted by then boyfriend Alan Feinstein as she leaves Natalie Wood's funeral service, which was held at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery on December 2, 1981. Daughter Evan Smedley holds her mother's hand.
  19. ^ "Insider".
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