{{Short description|American actress (1941–2007)}} {{Infobox person | name = Lanna Saunders | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1941|12|22}} | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2007|3|10|1941|12|22}} | death_place = | years_active = 1954–1985 | spouse = {{marriage|Lawrence Pressman|1973}} | father = Nicholas Saunders | children = 1 | relatives = Nicholas Soussanin (grandfather) }}
'''Svetlana''' "'''Lanna'''" '''Saunders''' (December 22, 1941 – March 10, 2007) was an American actress, best known for her role as Marie Horton on the television soap opera ''Days of Our Lives'', on which she appeared from 1979{{ndash}}85. She also played the characters Betty Andrews on the CBS daytime soap opera ''The Young and the Restless'' and Julie Evans on the NBC soap opera ''The Doctors'' in 1968.
==Early years== Saunders was born on December 22, 1941, in New York City.<ref name="ibdb">{{cite web |title=Lanna Saunders |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/lanna-saunders-91328 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=February 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830185110/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/lanna-saunders-91328 |archive-date=August 30, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> Saunders's father was actor Nicholas Saunders ({{ne}} Nikita Nikolayevich Soussanin)<ref name="sl">{{cite book |last1=Sosin |first1=Gene |title=Sparks of Liberty: An Insider's Memoir of Radio Liberty |date=November 1, 2010 |publisher=Penn State Press |isbn=978-0-271-03863-6 |page=95 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d3u9Y3zuP5EC&dq=%22Lanna+Saunders%22&pg=PA95 |access-date=February 7, 2023 |language=en}}</ref> and her grandfather was Russian actor Nicholas Soussanin.<ref name= "latobit">{{cite news |url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-mar-15-me-passings15.3-story.html |title=Lanna Saunders, 65; played Sister Marie on 'Days of Our Lives' |work=Los Angeles Times |date=March 15, 2007 |access-date=May 27, 2019}}</ref>
==Career== Saunders started in acting at age 13, studying under Elia Kazan and later joining his Lincoln Center Company.<ref name= "pbobit">{{cite news |last=Simonson |first=Robert |url= http://www.playbill.com/article/lanna-saunders-broadway-actress-is-dead-at-65-com-139271 |title=Lanna Saunders, Broadway Actress, Is Dead at 65 |work=Playbill |date=March 14, 2007 |access-date=May 27, 2019}}</ref><ref name= "bwwobit">{{cite news |url= https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Actress-Lanna-Saunders-Dies-at-65-20070313 |title=Actress Lanna Saunders Dies at 65 |work=BroadwayWorld |date=March 13, 2007 |access-date=May 27, 2019}}</ref> Her credits on Broadway included ''Philadelphia, Here I Come!'' (1966), ''The Changeling'' (1964), ''Never Live Over a Pretzel Factory'' (1964), ''Milk and Honey'' (1961), and ''Sunrise at Campobello'' (1958).<ref name=ibdb/>
== Personal life and death == Saunders was married to Andre Yedigaroff.<ref name="sl" /> She met her future husband, actor Lawrence Pressman, when she was a student of Kazan, and they were married until her death. Actor David Pressman is their son.<ref name="tc" />
Saunders was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1982 and she left ''Days of our Lives'' three years later when she became too ill to continue in the role. She died on March 10, 2007.<ref name="tc">{{cite news |title=Soap star came from a family of performers |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/118126692/lanna-saunders/ |access-date=February 7, 2023 |newspaper=Times Colonist |agency=Associated Press |date=March 16, 2007 |page=D 11|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref>
==Filmography== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- |1959|| ''Deadline'' || Holly Webster || episode: "Character Witness" |- |1968|| ''The Doctors'' || Julie Evans || 3 episodes; uncredited |- |1972|| ''McCloud'' || Stewardess || episode: "The Barefoot Stewardess Caper" |- |1974|| ''Marcus Welby, M.D.'' || Nurse McCarthy || episode: "Child of Silence" |- |1975|| ''The Waltons'' || Rebecca Cook || episode: "The Matchmakers" |- |1976|| ''Everybody Rides the Carousel'' || Stage 7 || Voice role |- |1977−78|| ''Barnaby Jones'' || Paula Dixon; Sandy Wright || episodes: "Yesterday's Terror" & "Nest of Scorpions" |- |1978|| ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' || Vera Cheraskin || episode: "Walk a Deadly Wing" |- |1978|| ''Ruby and Oswald'' || Marina Oswald || Television film |- |1978|| ''A Family Upside Down'' || Mrs. Lovell || Television film |- |1978|| ''Fantasy Island'' || Joyce Stanton || episode: "Charlie's Cherubs" |- |1979−85|| ''Days of Our Lives'' || Marie Horton || 557 episodes |- |1981|| ''Body Heat'' || Roz Kraft || |- |1983|| ''Hart to Hart'' || Monica Haines || episode: "As the Hart Turns" |}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name}} *{{IBDB name}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Lanna}} Category:1941 births Category:2007 deaths Category:American soap opera actresses Category:Actresses from New York City Category:American people of Russian descent Category:American stage actresses Category:American child actresses Category:Soussanin family Category:Neurological disease deaths in California Category:Deaths from multiple sclerosis Category:People with multiple sclerosis Category:20th-century American actresses Category:21st-century American women