Provocative and ever the temptress in her prime, the dark-maned, gorgeous-looking Lana Wood was born Svetlana Gurdin on March 1, 1946, in Santa Monica, California, the younger daughter of Nicholas Zacharaenko, a Russian émigré who changed the family surname to Gurdin before Lana was born. Both her parents' families fled their Russian homeland following the communist takeover and the couple met and married in San Francisco. Lana's more famous acting sister was christened Natalia eight years earlier and the third girl in the family was a half-sister named Olga, her mother's child.

Young Natalia (renamed Natalie Wood, out of respect to director Sam Wood) became a child star in the late 1940s with such movie classics as Miracle on 34th Street and younger sis Lana would inevitably be drawn into pictures as a result of Natalie's overwhelming success. She made her "debut" as a baby in Natalie's "B" film Driftwood only to have her cute bit excised from the picture. Her first screen credit actually came with the John Ford classic The Searchers as a younger version of Natalie's character, and she was off and running.

In an effort to break away from her sister's looming shadow and find her own place in Hollywood, Lana set out to secure TV roles and did quite well on such popular programs as "Playhouse 90", "Have Gun, Will Travel", "Dr. Kildare" and "The Fugitive," while continuing her minor appearances in such films as Marjorie Morningstar (again with Natalie), Five Finger Exercise and the The Girls on the Beach. In 1965 she earned a contract at Twentieth Century-Fox and was cast in her first television series The Long, Hot Summer, playing the Lee Remick Southern belle role from the 1958 movie version. Better yet was her 1966 breakthrough role as hashslinging waitress "Sandy Webber" on the original prime time soap opera smash Peyton Place for two seasons. Unlike the glamorous and refined Natalie, Lana developed an earthier "bad girl" persona. Her character femmes bore typical hard luck stories -- tarnished girls from the wrong side of the tracks who were often more trouble than they were worth. Off-screen she married "Peyton Place" co-star Steve Oliver who played her abusive husband and jailbird "Lee Webber". The marriage lasted approximately one month.

After "Peyton Place", Lana continued to exude sex appeal in such films as For Singles Only and Scream Free!, a drug tale that reunited Natalie's "West Side Story" co-stars Richard Beymer and Russ Tamblyn. She kept her name alive on TV as well making the guest rounds on "The Wild, Wild West," "Bonanza," "Felony Squad" and "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In".

In April 1971, the bosomy Lana posed for Playboy in an attempt to gain added exposure. It worked. A major career boost unveiled itself in the form of producer Albert R. Broccoli (nicknamed "Cubby") who caught the spread and offered her the role of Bondian femme fatale Plenty O'Toole in Diamonds Are Forever opposite Sean Connery. Following all this sexy publicity, Lana somehow nabbed an unexpected role in the Disney romp Justin Morgan Had a Horse.

Although she stayed fairly active throughout the next decade or so with such TV movies as Black Water Gold, QB VII and Nightmare in Badham County, and the films _Grayeagle (1978)_ and Satan's Mistress, her star began to diminish. Marriages during the 1970s included a union with actor/co-star Richard Smedley, whom she met on the set of A Place Called Today. They produced her only child, daughter Evan, in 1974. She also met and married producer Allan Balter after meeting him during the filming of _Captain America (1979/I) (TV)_ . In the mid-1980s she appeared for a time on the daytime soap opera Capitol but made a decided move away from the acting arena after this period.

Following the tragic drowning death of sister Natalie in 1981, Lana penned the controversial tell-all book "Natalie, A Memoir by Her Sister". What was meant as a candid, caring and cathartic expose on Lana's part was denounced by both critics and family alike as self-serving and hurtful. Later years included behind-the-camera work as a producer which included co-producing the ABC-TV special The Mystery of Natalie Wood. She also had her own casting company at one point. A devoted animal lover, the still stunning five-times married actress occasionally appears at celebrity conventions.
Aunt of actress, Natasha Gregson Wagner. Author of "Natalie, A memoir" (1984). Made one movie with sister, Natalie Wood, The Searchers She did not endear herself to family members after her blatant memoir on late sister Natalie came out in 1985. Her parents are Russian immigrants. Her father changed the family's last name to Gurdin before she was born, which is why her sister Natalie Wood carried the original family last name Zackharenko at birth while Lana herself carried the new last name. Has a daughter, Evan, and three grandchildren - Daphne, Nicholas, and Max. Best known for playing Bond girl Plenty O'Toole, the unfortunate casino gal who gets thrown half naked out of a hotel window and into a pool in Diamonds Are Forever. She was 25 then. Two of Lana's scenes as Plenty O'Toole in Diamonds Are Forever were deleted from the final film but are now available on DVD. The first scene is a deleted scene of Lana having dinner with Sean Connery. The second scene took place after Lana was thrown half naked into the pool; she returned to James Bond's apartment, soaking wet, wearing nothing but a white towel and to get the rest of her clothes and see what has become of Bond and sees him making love to Tiffany Case (Jill St. John). Before leaving, an agitated Lana took a card out of Tiffany's purse with her address on it; this second scene accounted for her death later in the film. Measurements: 36C/D-24-35 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine) Said that she had to stand on a box during most of her scenes with Sean Connery in Diamonds Are Forever because even with high heels she was too short to fit into the camera frame with him. Is portrayed by Nathalie Roy in The Mystery of Natalie Wood. In two of her films her character is prominently featured being sent out of a window. In The Searchers, where she played the younger version of her older sister Natalie's character, she is sent out of a window and told to hide from the Indians who are coming to attack their range. In Diamonds Are Forever her character, Plenty O'Toole, is thrown half naked out of a hotel window to almost certain death (but survives by landing in the pool). Both she and her sister Natalie Wood have played the love interest of Richard Beymer in 2 separate films: she as Karen opposite Richard's Dean in Scream Free! (aka Free Grass), and Natalie as Maria opposite Richard's Tony in West Side Story. Aunt of Courteney Brooke Wagner.