Luana Anders

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009)

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

Career

Anders 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.

Probably her best known performances were 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 also 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) and she later worked with Nicholson in The Missouri Breaks (1978), among other films.

Her appearances were in a wide range of episodic television, including The Rifleman, The Andy Griffith Show, One Step Beyond, Dragnet and Hunter.She also appeared briefly on soaps, including the Santa Barbara television soap opera during the 1991 – 1992 season.

As a writer, Anders wrote the original screenplay of Fire on the Amazon (using the pseudonym "Margo Blue") for Roger Corman which featured the screen debut of actress Sandra Bullock. She also co-wrote the comedy film Limit Up for MCEG with Richard Martini.

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 also worked with Anders several of his films, including The Trip, Goin' South, The Last Detail, and The Two Jakes. Nicholson mentioned her passing in his Oscar acceptance speech for As Good As It Gets.

Anders also appeared in the Stuart Millar film When the Legends Die (1972) with Richard Widmark and Frederic Forrest.

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.

External links

• Luana Anders at the Internet Movie Database
• Luana Anders at Allmovie
• When the Legends Die (1972) at the Internet Movie Database