Lana Wood Biography
Lana Wood is an American actress and producer best known for her roles as Sandy Webber on the soap series Peyton Place and Plenty O’Toole in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever.
Born Svetlana Lisa Gurdin on March 1, 1946, to Russian immigrant parents, her family name was changed to Wood after her sister, Natalie Wood, began her successful acting career as a child. Lana followed suit and she also changed her stage name to Wood.
Lana’s film debut was in The Searchers (1956) and she went on to have a successful acting career, appearing in over 20 films and over 300 television series, including The Fugitive, Bonanza, and Fantasy Island.
In 1970, Wood posed for Playboy magazine and has since returned to acting in a number of low-budget films. She has written two memoirs, including Natalie, A Memoir by Her Sister (1984) and Little Sister (2021), in which she claims veteran actor Kirk Douglas sexually assaulted her sister Natalie.
Her sister, Natalie Wood, was married to actor Robert Wagner, until she mysteriously died by drowning in 1981. Just a few months later, Wagner started dating Lana Wood’s Diamonds Are Forever co-star Jill St. John and they do not get along, and Wagner was labelled a “person of interest” by the judge after Natalie Wood’s death was reopened and deemed not an accident.
Lana Wood has been married six times and had one child, Evan Taylor Smedley Maldonado, and three grandchildren. However, her daughter passed away in 2017 which led to some personal struggles for Lana Wood.
Since then, however, she has bounced back, starring in several films. Her last known performance was in Bestseller 2 in 2022, although she has some films due for release this year.
Check out Lana Wood Deleted Scenes from Diamonds Are Forever
A selection of Lana Wood pics
Lana Wood FAQs
Lana Wood had a very public period of homelessness, but she moved into a new home and her last known area was in Thousand Oaks, California.
Yes, Natalie Wood and Lana Wood were sisters. Natalie was born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko on July 20, 1938, in San Francisco, California. Lana was born Svetlana Gurdin on March 1, 1946, in Santa Monica, California. Both sisters were actresses, with Natalie being the more famous of the two.
Yes, Lana Wood has one child named Evan from her marriage to Richard Smedley. Evan was born on July 18, 1970, but unfortunately she died in 2017 aged 42.
Lana Wood is best known for her role as Plenty O’Toole in the 1971 James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. She also appeared in several other films and TV shows, including The Searchers (1956), Peyton Place (1965-1966), and The Long Hot Summer (1965-1966).
Lana Wood has not won any major awards for her acting. However, she was nominated for a Golden Globe award in 1972 for her role in “Diamonds Are Forever.” Additionally, she has been recognized for her contributions to the entertainment industry with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
