---
name: "Lanna Saunders"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/lanna-saunders"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "22 December 1941"
died: "10 March 2007"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
updated: "2026-09-16T21:18:25.717085+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Lanna Saunders

Actor. Born 22 December 1941 in New York City, New York, USA. Died 10 March 2007.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 22 December 1941, New York City, New York, USA
- **Died:** 10 March 2007

## Biography

Lanna Saunders was an American actress. Born Svetlana Nikolaevna Saunders in New York City on 22 December 1941, she began her career on Broadway as a teenager and appeared in productions including *Sunrise at Campobello* (1958), *Milk and Honey* (1961), *The Changeling* (1964) and *Philadelphia, Here I Come!* (1966). She studied with Elia Kazan and joined his Lincoln Center Company.

Saunders was best known for playing Marie Horton on the soap opera *Days of Our Lives* from 1979 to 1985. Her film and television credits include *Body Heat* (1981) as Roz Kraft, *The Six Million Dollar Man* (1978) as Vera Cheraskin, *Fantasy Island* (1978), *Hart to Hart* (1983) and *The Waltons*. She was married to actor Lawrence Pressman; their son David Pressman is also an actor. She died on 10 March 2007 in Los Angeles from complications of multiple sclerosis.

*Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org, catalog.afi.com, latimes.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Body Heat* (1981), Fi1m 83, as Roz Kraft — [page](https://film.one/film/body-heat.md)

## Also known for

- *The Six Million Dollar Man* (1974), Vera Cheraskin
- *Hart to Hart* (1979)
- *Fantasy Island* (1978), Joyce
- *The Waltons* (1972)
- *McCloud* (1970), Stewardess

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/lanna-saunders