Lanna Saunders

Svetlana "Lanna" Saunders (December 22, 1941 – March 10, 2007) was an American actress born in New York City whose career spanned stage, film, and television. Her father was actor Nicholas Saunders, born Nikita Nikolayevich Soussanin, and her grandfather was Russian actor Nicholas Soussanin.

Saunders began studying acting at age 13, training under Elia Kazan and eventually joining his Lincoln Center Company. Her Broadway career ran from 1958 to 1966 and encompassed five productions. She made her Broadway debut in the drama Sunrise at Campobello in 1958, followed by the musical Milk and Honey in 1961. She subsequently appeared in both Never Live Over a Pretzel Factory and The Changeling in 1964, and closed her Broadway career with Philadelphia, Here I Come! in 1966.

Her television work brought her wider recognition. She portrayed Julie Evans on the NBC soap opera The Doctors in 1968 and Betty Andrews on the CBS daytime series The Young and the Restless. Her most prominent television role was Marie Horton on Days of Our Lives, which she played from 1979 to 1985. Saunders received a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in 1982 and departed the series three years later when her illness made continuing in the role impossible.

While studying under Kazan, Saunders met actor Lawrence Pressman, whom she later married. The two remained married until her death. Their son is actor David Pressman. She had previously been married to Andre Yedigaroff. Saunders died on March 10, 2007.