As soon as she walked into the Marc Graue Studio in Burbank, I had these visions of “Sheena – Queen of The Jungle”, but in a mini-skirt as opposed to a loincloth. For those of you who don’t remember, but I do, “Sheena” started out as a comic book character. Comic books which featured “Sheena”, started in the UK in 1938 and were brought to the US in 1939, were sold all over the country at newsstands and especially the Candy Stores, which made “Sheena” easily available to all the guys that drooled over her. By the way, Candy Stores no longer exist. “Sheena” of the comic books graduated to the TV screen in 1955 which lasted to 1956 and which was portrayed by Irish McCalla in 26 episodes and later by Gena Lee Nolin for 35 episodes starting in 2000. Tanya Roberts played the part on the big screen in 1984.
Okay, that’s enough with the trivia and so let us get back to Laurene Landon, an actress, wrestler and all around ‘babe’ who is our guest this week on, “The View From Over Here”. I don’t think that I should mention her age but if you are really interested, you can easily look it up. All I can say is that she does not look anything like her real age, especially when she still has the body of a 25 year old. She also has an extroverted personality with a great sense of humor, which is a prerequisite if you are going to be a guest on, “The View From Over Here.”
I first saw Laurene Landon and Vicki Frederick in the 1981 film, “All The Marbles”, a story about two lady wrestlers, who just happened to be good looking, that traveled all over the country with their manager trying to make a buck, I mean make a dollar. Peter Falk, who was listed as the star of the movie, gave a superb performance as their manager, got the part after Paul Newman turned it down. The film was directed by Robert Aldrich of, “The Dirty Dozen”, fame who unfortunately passed away right after wrapping up, “All The Marbles”, which meant that that any plans for the sequel, “All The Marbles II”, or whatever it was to be called, would be scrapped.
The critics did not fall head over heels for this film but I for one, truly loved it. After viewing the two actresses, Laurene Landon and Vicki Frederick, I asked myself the question that has been burning in my brain all these years – were they two wrestlers that were taught how to act or were they two actresses that were taught how to wrestle? I got the answer directly from Laurene; they were two actresses that were taught how to wrestle, both of them having to go through six months of intensive training before the first scene was shot. I also learned that Laurene had edged out Kathleen Turner for the part of Molly. Their physical training, which they survived only because they were good athletes, was under the direction of Mildred Burke, the woman’s World Wrestling Champion. In retrospect, the acting was real as was the wrestling with all of the holds, jumping, kicking, banging heads, punching and body slams which did not utilize any doubles or stand-ins. Always being on the lookout to increase profits, “All The Marbles”, was re-issued as, “The California Dolls” and then shipped overseas where it generated a ton of money.
Before anyone comes on the show I check them out on the internet. If they are in front of the camera I look at their IMDb which lists all of their credits. Laurene had over two dozen movies under her belt and when you add what she is working on now, that number should increase to about three dozen. Some of the projects that she has worked in are shown below.
I and Malcolm Burman, my ‘wingman’ and producer, agreed before we started that we were not going to ask Laurene the usual lame questions such as, “How old were you when you decided that you want to be an actress?” No siree. The first question that I asked her was, “Does a day go by when no one hits on you?”. She quickly responded, “Never”. And so it went for the entire hour. Malcolm and I tried to go for the jugular but Laurene deflected all of the highly personal and risque questions that we threw at her. I attribute this ability to her intellect and sense of humor. She also carried herself and behaved just like, ‘one of the guys’, except that I have never seen any guy that looked anything like Laurene Landon. She claims to be a serial slob, writes lyrics for rap music, loves Pit Bulls and writes screenplays in her spare time.
Her earliest films, or appearances in them, for which I cannot locate any posters are:
“Bitter Heritage”, “Scoring”, “Roller Boogie” and “Full Moon High”, which preceded her breakout film, “All The Marbles”, also known as, “The California Dolls.” As her parts became larger and more recognizable, they grew in importance. The part she played in “Maniac Cop”, was also played by her in “Maniac Cop 2.” For her latest films, some may still be in production, I could not locate any posters. They are:
“Syndicate Smasher”, “Future Punks”, “Terror Tales” and “Day Out of Days.”
And so I end this write-up with an extended invitation to Laurene Landon, to come back on, “The View From Over Here”, whenever she wants, subject of course with the express approval of her able manager, Joe Williamson. In case you didn’t figure it out, that was a well deserved ‘plug’ for Joe.