Laurene Landon
Landon in 2008
Born
Laurene Landon Coughlin

(1957-03-17) March 17, 1957
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
OccupationActress
Years active1979–present

Laurene Landon Coughlin (born March 17, 1957) is a Canadian film and television actress. She first began appearing in movies in the 1980s. She is best known for her roles in Maniac Cop (1988) and Maniac Cop 2 (1990), ...All the Marbles (1981), Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), I, the Jury (1982) and Hundra (1983).

Early life

Born in Toronto, Ontario, she attended California State University and began training in their police academy program, but decided that law enforcement was not for her when she came to the realization that she might someday have to use a gun.[1] So she decided to try her hand at acting and began her career as an extra in films.

Career

Landon began acting in a bit part in 1979's Bitter Heritage, also released as Naked in My Grave. She was cast as a featured skater in Roller Boogie in that same year. She gained a small role in 1981's Full Moon High, her first of many collaborations with director Larry Cohen. She spent part of her early career as a model and in 1980 was a runner-up in the Miss Black Velvet pageant in Las Vegas. There, a casting director told her to go see another casting director in Los Angeles, regarding a feature film called ...All the Marbles (alternate title, The California Dolls). As she found modeling boring and was unable to sit still for hours at a time, she took his suggestion and landed the role of "Molly" in the film.[2]

Landon starred as Mike Hammer's right-hand woman Velda in Larry Cohen and Richard T. Heffron's acclaimed 1982 Mickey Spillane movie adaptation I, the Jury.[3] She appeared in Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), Hundra (1983), Maniac Cop (1988), and Maniac Cop 2 (1990). She returned to film acting as "Birdy" in the 2005 television movie Masters of Horror: Pick Me Up, followed by small or uncredited roles in the films Stand Up (2007) and Drive (2011). She appeared in Alien Vampz and Alien Vampz 2, as well as the comedy Strap-Off. In 2015, she played Detective Higgins in Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance, had a supporting role in the feature film Day Out of Days, and appeared in Sky. She had a starring role in the 2017 film, Syndicate Smashers.

Filmography and television

Year Film/TV Show Role Other notes
1979 Bitter Heritage aka Naked in My Grave
1979 Scoring Marsha
1979 Roller Boogie Featured skater
1981 ...All the Marbles Molly reissued as The California Dolls
1981 Full Moon High Blondie
1982 Airplane II: The Sequel Testa, shuttle stewardess
1982 I, the Jury Velda
1983 Hundra Hundra
1984 Yellow Hair and the Fortress of Gold Yellow Hair
1985 The Stuff Cameo appearance in The Stuff commercial
1986 Armed Response Deborah Silverstein
1986 America 3000 Vena
1987 It's Alive III: Island of the Alive Sally
1988 Maniac Cop Teresa Mallory
1989 Wicked Stepmother Vanilla
1989 A Hollywood Story Guest star
1990 The Ambulance Patty
1990 Maniac Cop 2 Teresa Mallory
2005 Masters of Horror: Pick Me Up Birdy
2007 Stand Up Hippie Woman
2011 Drive actress uncredited
2013 Knife to a Gunfight Barry
2014 Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films Herself Documentary on the story of The Cannon Group
2015 Hunter Major Sintel
2015 Day Out of Days Anne Malone
2015 Sky Charlene
2015 Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance Detective Higgins
2016 Enter the Samurai Herself Documentary on the creation of Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance
2017 Syndicate Smasher Detective Carol Driscoll
2019 Nation's Fire Myra
2020 Agramons Gate Sharon Stann
2020 Sorrow's Way Opal pre-production
2022 Staycation Tabitha Musgraves
2022 The Once and Future Smash Herself

References

  1. ↑ LaCroix, Corey David (March 7, 2006). "Laurene Landon Spills "All The Marbles"". Slam! Wrestling. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  2. ↑ Keehnen, Owen (2006). "Live Wire: Talking With Laurene Landon". Racks and Razors. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  3. ↑ Ebert, Roger. "I, the Jury movie review & film summary (1982) | Roger Ebert". rogerebert.com/.
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