Lana Wood facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Lana Wood
Wood in 1982
Born	Svetlana Lisa Gurdin (1946-03-01) March 1, 1946 (age 79) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress producer
Years active	1947–present
Known for	Diamonds Are Forever Peyton Place The Searchers The Long, Hot Summer
Spouse(s)	Jack Wrather Jr. ​ ​ (m. 1962; annulled 1963)​ Karl Brent ​ ​ (m. 1964; div. 1965)​ Stephen Oliver ​ ​ (m. 1966; annulled 1966)​ Stanley William Vogel ​ ​ (m. 1968; div. 1968)​ Richard Smedley ​ ​ (m. 1972; div. 1976)​ Allan Balter ​ ​ (m. 1979; div. 1980)​
Partner(s)	Alan Feinstein (1980s)
Children	1
Relatives	Natalie Wood (sister) Robert Wagner (brother-in-law) Natasha Gregson Wagner (niece)

Lana Wood (born Svetlana Lisa Gurdin on March 1, 1946) is an American actress and producer. She started her acting career as a child. Her first movie was The Searchers. Later, she became well-known for playing Sandy Webber on the TV show Peyton Place. She also played Plenty O'Toole in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. Lana Wood is the younger sister of famous actress Natalie Wood.

Early Life and Family

Lana Wood was born Svetlana Lisa Gurdin. Her parents, Maria Zudilova and Nicholas Zacharenko, were immigrants from Russia. They both came to the United States as children. Their families left Russia after the Russian Civil War.

Lana's father's family settled in Vancouver, Canada, and then moved to San Francisco. Her mother's family left Russia in 1918. They settled in a Russian community in Harbin, China.

Nicholas and Maria married in 1938. Maria had a daughter named Olga from a previous marriage. The couple then had two daughters together. Their first daughter was Natalie, who was called "Natasha." The family moved to Santa Monica, near Hollywood. They changed their last name to Gurdin.

Svetlana, who was called "Lana," was born in Santa Monica. When her older sister Natalie started acting, her last name was changed to Wood. This was done by movie executives. When Lana began her acting career in The Searchers (1956), her mother decided to use "Wood" for Lana's last name too. This helped connect her to Natalie's already known work.

Acting Career Highlights

Wood in 1966

In her early career, Lana often appeared in movies with her sister Natalie. In the 1960s, Lana's own career began to grow. She acted in the TV drama The Long, Hot Summer.

After that, she got the role of Sandy Webber on the soap opera Peyton Place. She played this character from 1966 to 1967. One big role she took on was Plenty O'Toole. This was a Bond girl character in the James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever (1971).

Lana Wood has been in more than 20 films. She has also appeared in over 300 television shows. Some of these include The Fugitive, Bonanza, Mission: Impossible, Wild Wild West, Police Story, and Starsky & Hutch.

After acting in a horror film in 1982, she took a break from acting. She focused on being a producer instead. However, since 2008, she has returned to acting in several movies. Lana Wood is also a character in the book Meg: Hell's Aquarium (2009) by Steve Alten.

She has written two books about her life and her sister. The first was Natalie, A Memoir by Her Sister (1984). The second was Little Sister (2021).

Personal Life

Wood with her sister Natalie in 1956

Lana Wood has been married six times:

• Jack Wrather Jr. (1962–1963; marriage ended)
• Karl Brent (1964–1965; divorced)
• Stephen Oliver (1966–1966; marriage ended)
• Dr. Stanley William Vogel (1968–1968; divorced)
• Richard Smedley (1972–1976; divorced). They had one child, Evan Taylor Smedley Maldonado (1974–2017). Lana has three grandchildren through Evan.
• Allan G. Balter (1979–1980; divorced)

Between her marriages, Lana Wood dated several actors. These included Dean Stockwell, Adam West, Eddie Fisher, Warren Beatty, Sean Connery, Alain Delon, and Ryan O'Neal. She also dated talent agent Guy McElwaine, producer Jerome Hellman, and composer Leslie Bricusse. For most of the 1980s, she was in a relationship with actor Alan Feinstein.

Her sister Natalie Wood was married to actor Robert Wagner. Natalie passed away on November 29, 1981.

Filmography

Film Roles

Television Roles

Awards and Recognition