Anya Taranda

Anya Taranda (January 1, 1915 – March 9, 1970) was an American model, showgirl, and actress who worked on Broadway between 1933 and 1934 and later appeared in film. She was also known as the wife of composer Harold Arlen.

Born in New York City to Catholic Russian parents, Taranda began her career as a model with the Powers Agency, where she was among the original models signed to represent Breck Shampoo. Her work as a showgirl brought her to Broadway, where her credits included the musical Murder at the Vanities and the revue Life Begins at 8:40.

It was during the Broadway run of Earl Carroll's Vanities in 1932 that Taranda first encountered composer Harold Arlen. The two married on January 6, 1937, despite opposition from both families stemming from their differing religious backgrounds — she was a Gentile and he was Jewish. That same period of her life also marked her transition into film. In 1934 she made the first of nine film appearances, taking an uncredited role as an Earl Carroll girl in the film adaptation of Murder at the Vanities, the same production with which she had been associated on stage.

In 1951, Taranda was institutionalized in a sanatorium, where she remained for seven years following repeated threats of physical harm directed at her husband and others. She died of a brain tumor in New York City at the age of 55 and is interred beside her husband at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.