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Luana Anders (May 12, 1938 - July 21, 1996), was an American film and television actress. She began her career appearing in several supporting roles in low-budget b-movies for American International Pictures, quite a few of them directed by Roger Corman. She was part of a group of well known actors who met in the acting class of blacklisted actor/teacher Jeff Corey. Fellow thespians included Jack Nicholson, Sally Kellerman, Robert Towne and eventually Corman, who cast his early films directly out of the class which he also attended. Luana appeared in a number of low budget films, including starring roles in "Life Begins at 17" and "Reform School Girls" along with Sally Kellerman. Luana made her broadway debut with Rex Harrison in "The Reluctant Debutante" directed by Peter Brooks, which was later made into a film.

Among her better known performances were as Vincent Price's sister in Corman's The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) and as a murder victim in Francis Ford Coppola's Dementia 13 (1963). Coppola had been the sound man for Corman's film "The Young Racers" in which Luana starred opposite Mark Damon. Coppola wrote the script while on location, and convinced Corman to put up the money to shoot in Ireland with Luana starring. Originally titled "Dementia," Corman later added the "13". She also appeared in Curtis Harrington's cult classic Night Tide (1961), opposite Dennis Hopper. Hopper would later cast her as one of the hippie commune girls who go skinny dipping with Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider (1969) and later she worked with Nicholson in The Missouri Breaks (1978), among other films.

Her appearances were in a wide range of episodic television, including The Rifleman, The Andy Griffith Show, One Step Beyond, Dragnet and Hunter. She also appeared briefly on soaps, including the Santa Barbara television soap opera during the 1991 - 1992 season.

As a writer, Luana wrote the original screenplay of "Fire On the Amazon" (Using the pseudonym "Margo Blue") for Roger Corman which featured the screen debut of actress Sandra Bullock. She also co-wrote the comedy film "Limit Up" for MCEG with Richard Martini.

Robert Altman credited Luana for giving his career a boost when she appeared in his film "A Cold Day in the Park" which premiered in 1969 at the Cannes Film Festival. Luana's friend Jack Nicholson was being feted at the festival for "Easy Rider," and he made a point of attending a screening and created a media sensation for Altman's work. Nicholson also worked with Luana in many of his films, including "The Trip," "Going South," "The Last Detail," "The Missouri Breaks," and "The Two Jakes" Nicholson mentioned her passing in his Oscar acceptance speech for "As Good As It Gets."

A lifelong Buddhist and supporter of the American chapter of Soka Gakkai International (SGI,) she died of breast cancer, in 1996.

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