
Luana Walters
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Luana Walters (July 22, 1912 - May 19, 1963) was a motion picture actress from Los Angeles, California.
Walters was an expert horsewoman which led to her discovery as an actress at a rodeo in Palm Springs, California. She won a woman's bucking contest which was being watched by a movie scout, who noticed her.
Her film career began when she visited a friend on a United Artists lot. Douglas Fairbanks Sr. was excited about her screen possibilities and arranged for a film test. However, only three days later Fairbanks went to Europe, and the test was never completed. Not long afterwards Joe Schenck saw Walters on the dance floor at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, California. After viewing the abbreviated test made by Fairbanks, Schenck offered her a contract with United Artists. The studio did not make a movie in the next six months so Walters' option was not taken up.
Walters' screen credits start with an uncredited role in Reaching For The Moon (film) (1930). Her skill as an equestrian helped her in parts in westerns like Ride 'Em Cowboy (1936), Where The West Begins (1938), Mexicali Rose (1939), and Law Of The Wolf (1939).
On many occasions Walters made films in which her role was cut out. This began when she made Reaching for the Moon (film) with Fairbanks. Her parts were also deleted from Spawn of the North (1938) and Souls At Sea (1937). The former was a Carole Lombard feature and the latter paired Walters with Robert Cummings.
Walters was the first actress to portray Superman's biological mother Lara in a live-action format. She appeared in "Superman Comes to Earth", the first chapter of the 1948 Superman movie serial. Portions of this depiction appear in flashback in "At the Mercy of Atom Man!", the seventh chapter of the 1950 serial Atom Man vs. Superman.
In the latter portion of her career Walters was in a number of B-Movie films, most of them of the sci-fi and horror genres. She plays a female reporter on the trail of a fiend's story in The Corpse Vanishes (1942), with Bela Lugosi. She appears as a cellblock guard in Girls In Prison (1956). Her final role came in The She Creature (1956).
Luana Walters died of liver failure due to alcoholism in Los Angeles in 1963.
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Known For










Credits
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Girls in Prison 1956Cellblock guard★ 4.3
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Arthur Takes Over 1948Newspaper Woman★ 2
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Shoot to Kill 1947Marian Langdon (as Susan Walters)★ 4.7
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Drums of Fu Manchu 1943Mary Randolph★ 3.8
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Bad Men of the Hills 1942Laurie Bishop★ NR
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Thundering Hoofs 1942Nancy Kellogg★ 3.2
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Down Texas Way 1942Mary Hopkins★ NR
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The Corpse Vanishes 1942Patricia Hunter, Reporter★ 4.2
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Inside the Law 1942Dora Mason★ 5
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Lawless Plainsmen 1942Baltimore Bonnie Dixon★ NR
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Captain Midnight 1942Fury Shark★ 5
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Marcia Banning★ NR
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No Greater Sin 1941Sandra James★ 3.5
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Arizona Bound 1941Ruth Masters★ 3.5
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Across the Sierras 1941Anne Woodworth★ 2.2
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The Kid's Last Ride 1941Sally Rowell★ 3.7
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Misbehaving Husbands 1940Jane Forbes★ 5
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Blondie Plays Cupid 1940Millie★ 6.7
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The Range Busters 1940Carol Thorp★ 5.2
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The Tulsa Kid 1940Mary Wallace★ 6
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The Durango Kid 1940Nancy Winslow★ 6
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Kate Kilgore★ NR
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Millionaire Playboy 1940Resort Girl★ 2.7
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Eternally Yours 1939Girl at Shower (uncredited)★ 5.7
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Honeymoon in Bali 1939Girl Having Her Fortune Told (uncredited)★ 6.2
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★ NR
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Law of the Wolf 1939Ruth Adams★ 4.5
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Hotel Imperial 1939Nurse (uncredited)★ 6
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Mexicali Rose 1939Anita Loredo★ 6
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King of Chinatown 1939Nightclub Girl (uncredited)★ 5.8
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Cafe Society 1939Cigarette Girl★ 6
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Paris Honeymoon 1939Angela★ 3
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Fangs of the Wild 1939Carol Dean★ 5.6
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Say It in French 1938Hat Check Girl★ NR
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Model (uncredited)★ 5.6
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Marie Antoinette 1938Woman in Gaming House (uncredited)★ 6.6
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Assassin of Youth 1938Joan Barry★ 2.8
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The Buccaneer 1938Suzette★ 6.4
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Lynne Reed★ 5
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Youth on Parole 1937Salesgirl (uncredited)★ 2.8
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Under Strange Flags 1937Dolores de Vargas★ NR
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Shadow of Chinatown 1936Sonya Rokoff★ 4.6
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Ride 'Em Cowboy 1936Lillian Howard★ NR
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Aces and Eights 1936Juanita Hernandez★ 4.8
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The Speed Reporter 1936May★ 5
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The Third Sex 1934Elinor Gordon★ 1
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Fighting Texans 1933Jo Ann Carver★ NR
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End of the Trail 1932Luana★ 6
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Two Seconds 1932Tart (uncredited)★ 6.3
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Miss Pinkerton 1932First Nurse (uncredited)★ 5.7