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Lana Wood Lana Wood is an American actress and producer.
Wood was born to Russian émigré parents, Nikolai and Maria Zakharenko, and is the younger
sister of actress Natalie Wood. Her first major role was at age 9 in the John Wayne
western The Searchers. She was a regular on the soap opera Peyton Place. She is best known
for her role as Plenty O'Toole in the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. She
appeared in a number of small films and television guest roles throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
Early life Wood was born Svetlana Nikolaevna Zakharenko
to Russian parents, but they grew up far from their homeland: her father lived in Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada, while her mother grew up in a Chinese province. After her parents
were married, they settled in Santa Monica, California, where Lana was born. By this time
her parents had legally changed their surname to Gurdin. Her older sister was actress Natalie
Wood. They have a half-sister, Olga Viriapaeff, from their mother's previous marriage.
Career Child actress
As an infant, Wood appeared in Driftwood (1947), but her scene was deleted from the final version
of the film. Lana's first credited film role was in director John Ford's western classic
The Searchers (1956), which stars John Wayne and also features Wood's sister Natalie; Lana
and Natalie play the same character at different ages, with similar amounts of screen time.
Natalie's stage name was Wood, given to her by the producer of her first film. Maria was
asked under what last name Lana should be credited, and Maria agreed it would be best
if she could be credited as "Wood," like her sister. As a child, she also made guest appearances
in Playhouse 90 (1957), The Real McCoys (1958), and appeared in the films Marjorie Morningstar
(1958) and Five Finger Exercise (1962). Adult career
Early in her adult career, Lana played bit parts in Natalie's films; but, in the 1960s,
her own career took off. One of her roles was in the beach party film The Girls on the
Beach (1965). After appearing in the short-lived drama series, The Long, Hot Summer, she landed
the role of Sandy Webber in the prime-time soap Peyton Place, which she played from 1966
to 1967. In 1971, Wood appeared in the April 1971 Playboy
issue, along with her poetry. The publicity was a major reason for her being cast as Bond
girl Plenty O'Toole in Diamonds Are Forever (1971). In a scene with Sean Connery, she
appeared wearing only a flimsy pair of see-through ***. Wood had only three minutes of screen
time in the film, though it remains her best-known role to date.
Wood has more than 20 other films and over 300 television shows to her credit, including
The Fugitive, Bonanza, Mission: Impossible, Police Story, Starsky and Hutch, Nero Wolfe,
Fantasy Island, and Capitol. Some of her other film roles have been in the Disney film Justin
Morgan Had a Horse (1972) and the western Grayeagle (1977). After appearing in the horror
film Demon Rage (1982), she retired from acting, concentrating on her career as a producer.
In 2004, she produced the biopic The Mystery of Natalie Wood. She recently returned to
acting and has several projects in production. Lana is a character in the 2009 Steve Alten
book Meg: Hell's Aquarium. After a 23-year hiatus, Wood resumed her acting
career in 2008. Since then, she has appeared in many low-budget, straight-to-DVD films
such as The Book of Ruth: Journey of Faith (2009) and Deadly Renovations (2010).
Personal life Wood had five failed marriages by the time
she was 29 years old. Her first marriage was at age 16 to Bonita Granville's stepson Jack
Wrather III in 1962; the marriage was annulled the same year. Her second marriage, at age
18, was in 1964 to Karl Brent. Her third and fourth marriages, in the late 1960s when she
was in her early twenties, were to Steve Oliver and Allan Balter. In 1973, at age 27, Wood
married her fifth husband, Richard Smedley. Wood gave birth to their daughter, Evan, on
August 11, 1974. The marriage ended in divorce in 1975, and Wood has not since remarried.
In the 1980s, Wood cohabited with actor Alan Feinstein.
On November 29, 1981, Natalie Wood drowned near Catalina Island under peculiar circumstances.
Lana has said: “The person I loved more than anybody else, with the sole exception
of my own daughter, is dead. I cry for her often. I expect I always will." Later, their
mother Maria, who had Alzheimer's disease, moved in with Lana. Maria Gurdin died on January
6, 1998. Lana wrote a book about her experience with Maria, which was not published.
In 1984, Wood published the book Natalie: A Memoir by Her Sister (ISBN 0399129030),
in which she states that Natalie's widower, Robert Wagner, broke off contact with Wood
following Natalie's death, and refused to let Wood see her two nieces: Natasha Gregson
(Natalie's daughter with Richard Gregson, whom Wagner gained custody of) and Courtney
Wagner. In the book, Wood also stated that she had affairs with actors Sean Connery,
Ryan O'Neal, Alain Delon, and Warren Beatty. In 2002, Wood cooperated with author Suzanne
Finstad for the book Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood (ISBN 0609809571), which contained
controversial allegations that her former brother-in-law Wagner is a closeted homosexual
and was responsible for her sister's death. Wood has three grandchildren: Nicholas (b.
1998), Daphne (b. 2000), and Max (b. 2002). She currently lives in Thousand Oaks, California.
Filmography The Searchers – (1956), Debbie Edwards (younger)
Have Gun – Will Travel – (1958), Becky Coldwell ("The Teacher")
Five Finger Exercise – (1962), Mary The Fool Killer – (1965), Alice
The Girls on the Beach – (1965), Bonnie The Long, Hot Summer – (TV) (1965–1966),
Eula Harker Peyton Place – (TV) (1966–1967), Sandy
Webber – unknown episodes The Wild Wild West – (TV series) (1967),
*** O'Shaughnessy ("The Night of the Firebrand") For Singles Only – (1968), Helen Todd
Scream Free! – (1969), Karen The Wild Wild West – (TV series) (1969),
Averi Trent ("The Night of the Plague") Black Water Gold – (TV) (1970), Eagan Ryan
The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again – (TV) (1970), Katie Flavin
O'Hara, U.S. Treasury – (TV) (1971), Fran Harper
Diamonds Are Forever – (1971), Plenty O'Toole Justin Morgan Had a Horse – (1972), Kathleen
A Place Called Today – (1972), Carolyn Schneider QB VII – (TV miniseries) (1974), Sue Scanlon
Who Is the Black Dahlia? – (TV) (1975), Boarder
Nightmare in Badham County – (TV) (1976), Smitty
Corey: For the People – (TV) (1977), Janet Hanley
Speedtrap – (1977) New Blossom Grayeagle – (1977) Beth Colter
A Question of Guilt – (TV) (1978), Elizabeth Carson
Captain America – (TV) (1979), Yolanda Captain America II: Death Too Soon – (TV)
(1979), Yolanda Born to Be Sold – (1981) (TV) (assistant
to executive producer) Satan's Mistress – (1982), Lisa
*** Me, *** You – (TV) (1983) – associate producer
Capitol – (TV series) (1983), Fran Burke – unknown episodes
The Mystery of Natalie Wood – (TV) (2004) – co-producer
Wild Michigan – (2008), Opal The Book of Ruth: Journey of Faith – (2009),
Tani Last Wish – (short) (2010), Helen
When Happy Met Froggie – (documentary) (2011), herself
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 (2002). Natasha: The Biography of Natalie Wood. New York: Three Rivers Press.
ISBN 978-0609809570.