# Lana Wood

Lana Wood (born Svetlana Lisa Gurdin; March 1, 1946) is an American actress and producer. 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 older sister was Natalie Wood.

## Early life

Wood was born Svetlana Lisa Gurdin to Russian immigrant parents, Maria Zudilova (1908–1998) 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; 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. Maria married Alexander Tatuloff there in 1925, and they had a daughter, Olga Viripaeff (1928–2015), before divorcing in 1936.
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. RKO executives David Lewis and William Goetz changed the surname of her elder sister, making her Natalie Wood, after she started her acting career as a child. She was named after director Irving Pichel's friend Sam Wood. 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.
Through her paternal cousin Kaisaliisa Zacharenko, Wood is distantly related by marriage to baseball player Tim Lincecum.

## 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 Five Easy Pieces (1970), 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.

## Personal life

Wood has been married six times:
* Jack Wrather Jr. – (1962–1963; annulled when she was 16 years old)
* Karl Brent – (1964–1965; divorced)
* Stephen Oliver – (1966–1966; annulled)
* Dr. Stanley William Vogel (1968–1968; divorced)
* Richard Smedley – (1972–1976; divorced) one child, Evan Taylor Smedley Maldonado (August 11, 1974 – July 18, 2017), by whom she has three grandchildren.
* 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, producer Jerome Hellman and composer Leslie Bricusse. For most of the 1980s she was in a relationship with Alan Feinstein. Feinstein was at Natalie's funeral with her.
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, her feud with the latter dating back to when both appeared in Diamonds Are Forever.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1947 | Driftwood | Infant | Scene cut |
| 1954 | There's No Business Like Show Business | Little Laughing Girl | Uncredited |
| 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 | aka Free Grass |
| 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 | |
| 1977 | Corey: For the People | Janet Hanley | |
| 1978 | A Question of Guilt | Elizabeth Carson | |
| 1979 | Captain America II: Death Too Soon | Yolanda | |
| 1982 | Satan's Mistress | Lisa | |
| 2008 | Divas of Novella | Zeld | |
| 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 | The Marshal | Ms. Darling | Original Title: Bill Tilghman and the Outlaws |
| 2020 | Alone | Maria Clemm | |
| 2021 | The Sand Dollar Suicide | Cordelia Cozzi | |
| 2021 | Drunk and Roudy | Edith | Original Title: Best Years Gone |
| 2022 | Bestseller 2 | Marta | |
| 2022 | 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" |
| 1976 | Baretta | Sister Olive | Episode: "Shoes" |
| 1977 | Police Story | Rene | Episode: "Ice Time" |
| 1978 | Police Story | Gloria | Episode: "No Margin for Error" |
| 1978 | Fantasy Island | Cecile | Episode: "Fool for a Client/Double Your Pleasure" |
| 1978 | The Next Step Beyond | Peg Enright | Episode: "Ghost of Cellblock Two" |
| 1979 | David Cassidy - Man Undercover | Pearl | Episode: "Death Is a Close Friend, Too" |
| 1979 | Starsky & Hutch | Sidney 'Sid' Archer | Episode: "Ninety Pounds of Trouble" |
| 1979,1981 | Big Shamus, Little Shamus | Unknown | 2 episodes |
| 1981 | Nero Wolfe | Delia Brandt | Episode: "Might as Well Be Dead" |
| 1983 | Capitol | Fran Burke | Unknown episodes |
| 1984 | The Fall Guy | Lana Wood | Episode: "Always Say Always" |
| 1985 | The New Mike Hammer | Virginia Warburton | Episode: "Deadly Reunion" |
| 2009 | Tales from Dark Fall | Santi | Episode: "The Last Laugh" |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Association | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1966 | Photoplay Awards | Most Promising New Star (Female) | | Nominated |
| 2019 | Burbank International Film Festival | Best Faith Based Film | Wild Faith | Won |
| 2019 | Christian Media Association Film Contest | Best Justice-Racism / Discrimination | Wild Faith | Won |
| 2022 | Bare Bones International Film and Music Festival | Best Comedy | Drunk and Roudy | Nominated |
| 2022 | Bare Bones International Film and Music Festival | Best Romance | Drunk and Roudy | Nominated |
| 2022 | Maverick Movie Awards | Best Picture | Drunk and Roudy | Won |

## Footnotes

* ↑ Wood's mother was born on January 26, 1908, according to the earliest available records. Sometime in the mid-1930s, she shaved four years off her age—giving her birthdate as February 8, 1912, perhaps because her fiancé was younger—and maintained this lie for the rest of her life.