Luana Anders

Luana Anders
Luana Anders in trailer to Dementia 13
Born	Luana Margo Anderson (1938-05-12)May 12, 1938 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	July 21, 1996(1996-07-21) (aged 58) Mar Vista, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	breast cancer
Occupation(s)	Film and television actress
Years active	1955–1996

Luana Anders (May 12, 1938 – July 21, 1996) was an American film and television actress.

Career

Anders, born Luana Margo Anderson, began her career appearing in several supporting roles in low budget B-movies for American International Pictures, quite a few of them directed by Roger Corman. She was part of a group of well-known actors who met in the acting class of actor Jeff Corey. Fellow thespians included Jack Nicholson, Sally Kellerman, Robert Towne and eventually Corman, who cast his early films directly out of the class which he also attended.

Anders appeared in a number of low-budget films, including starring roles in Life Begins at 17 and Reform School Girls along with Sally Kellerman. She made her broadway debut with Rex Harrison in The Reluctant Debutante directed by Peter Brooks, which was later made into a film.

Her best known performances may have been as Vincent Price's sister in Corman's The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) and as a murder victim in Francis Ford Coppola's Dementia 13 (1963). She appeared in Curtis Harrington's cult film Night Tide (1961) opposite Dennis Hopper. Hopper would later cast her as one of the hippie commune girls who go skinny dipping with Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider (1969).

Anders appeared in Robert Altman's That Cold Day in the Park, which premiered in 1969 at the Cannes Film Festival. Anders' friend Jack Nicholson was being feted at the festival for Easy Rider and he made a point of attending a screening and created a media sensation for Altman's work. Nicholson worked with Anders in several of his films, including The Trip (1967), The Last Detail (1973), The Missouri Breaks (1976), Goin' South (1978), and The Two Jakes (1990). Her other film credits include roles in When the Legends Die (1972), The Killing Kind (1973), Shampoo (1975), Personal Best (1982), Movers & Shakers (1985), You Can't Hurry Love (1988), Doppelganger (1993), Wild Bill (1995), and American Strays (1996).

Her appearances were in a wide range of episodic television, including The Rifleman, Sugarfoot, in 1961, in the episode "Incident of the Running Man" on Rawhide, The Andy Griffith Show, One Step Beyond, Dragnet, in the role of Theresa Ames in the episode "The Guests" of The Outer Limits, Adam-12 and Hunter. She appeared briefly on several soap operas, including Santa Barbara in the 1991–1992 season.

As a writer, she wrote the original screenplay of Fire on the Amazon (using the pseudonym "Margo Blue") for Roger Corman starring Sandra Bullock. She also co-wrote the comedy film Limit Up for MCEG/Virgin with Richard Martini and also made a cameo in the film.

Personal life

Anders was a lifelong Buddhist and supporter of the American chapter of Soka Gakkai International (SGI). She died of breast cancer in 1996, aged 58.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1957	Reform School Girl	Josie Brigg
1958	The Notorious Mr. Monks	Gilda Hadley
1958	Life Begins at 17	Carol Peck
1961	Night Tide	Ellen Sands
1961	The Pit and the Pendulum	Catherine Medina
1963	The Young Racers	Henny
1963	Dementia 13	Louise Haloran
1964	Sex and the College Girl	Gwen
1966	Mondo Keyhole	Vicky (voice)
1969	Easy Rider	Lisa
1969	That Cold Day in the Park	Sylvia
1971	The Manipulator	Carlotta
1972	Greaser's Palace	Cholera
1972	When the Legends Die	Mary
1973	The Last Detail	Donna
1973	The Killing Kind	Louise
1975	Shampoo	Devra
1978	Goin' South	Lorette Anderson
1979	Paraclete	The Paraclete	Short
1980	Board and Care	Carolyn	Short
1982	Personal Best	Rita Cahill
1985	Movers & Shakers	Violette
1988	You Can't Hurry Love	Macie Hayes
1993	Doppelganger	Ginger
1994	Criminal Passion	Martha
1996	American Strays	Martha

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1956	Dragnet	Anna Marie Harmon	"The Big No Suicide"
1957	The Restless Gun	Lucy Anne	"Jody"
1958	Letter to Loretta	Ellen	"Time of Decision"
1959	Cimarron City	Nancy Tucker	"Child of Fear"
1959	The Rifleman	Lisabeth Bishop	"Shivaree"
1959	M Squad	Lola Green	"The Harpes"
1959	Sugarfoot	Princess	"The Avengers"
1959	Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond	Alice Denning	"The Burning Girl"
1960	Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond	Joan Goss	"The Voice"
1960	Lawman	Ellie Phelan	"The Swamper"
1961	The Islanders	Trina	"To Bell a Cat"
1961	Rawhide	Maddy Trager	"Incident of the Running Man"
1962	Ben Casey	Lorraine Walenchek	"And Eve Wore a Veil of Tears"
1963	Ben Casey	Ann Bentley	"Dispel the Black Cyclone That Shakes the Throne"
1963	The Eleventh Hour	Cathy Lewis	"Try to Keep Alive Until Next Tuesday"
1963	The Greatest Show on Earth	Margaret	"The Wrecker"
1964	The Outer Limits	Theresa "Tess" Ames	"The Guests"
1966	Vacation Playhouse	Sybil Rockefeller	"My Lucky Penny"
1967	The Andy Griffith Show	Miss Clark	"A Visit to Barney Fife", "Barney Comes to Mayberry"
1966	That Girl	Shirley McChesney	"Don't Just Do Something, Stand There"
1967	That Girl	Beryl	"Leaving the Nest Is for the Birds"
1967	Accidental Family	Esther	"What Is This - Thanksgiving or a Nightmare?'
1967	Dragnet 1967	Noradelle De Leone	"The Big Dog"
1968	Dragnet 1967	Anna Marie Harmon	"The Suicide Attempt"
1968	Hawaii Five-O	Maggie	"...And They Painted Daisies on His Coffin"
1968	Adam-12	Jane Tipton	"Log 111: The Boa Constrictor"
1969	My Friend Tony	Louise	"Computer Murder"
1969	Mayberry R.F.D.	Violet	"Goober and the Telephone Girl"
1970	Dragnet 1967	Eula Van Meter	"Burglary: The Dognappers"
1971	Ironside	Nina Loring	"The Target"
1972	Evil Roy Slade	Alice Fern	TV film
1972	Bonanza	Julie	"Forever"
1972	Mannix	Angie McCall	"Lost Sunday"
1974	Firehouse	Dawn	"Strike, Spare, and Burn"
1977	Little House on the Prairie	Lottie McGinins	"Blizzard"
1978	The Next Step Beyond	Harriet Jessup	"The Love Connection"
1990	Hunter	Sarah Farrell	"Second Sight"
1991	Switched at Birth	Nurse Ames	TV film
1991-92	Santa Barbara	Rona	TV series
1992	In Sickness and in Health	Dorothy	TV film

External links

• Luana Anders at IMDb
• Luana Anders at AllMovie
• When the Legends Die (1972) at IMDb
• Luana Anders at Find a Grave