Luana Walters
Luana Walters was an American motion picture actress from Los Angeles, California.
Biography
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 only partially 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. Her skill as an equestrian helped her in parts in westerns like Ride 'Em Cowboy, Where the West Begins, Mexicali Rose, and Law of the Wolf. On several occasions Walters made films in which her work was left in the cutting room, from the final edit. This began when she made Reaching for the Moon with Fairbanks. Her parts were also deleted from Spawn of the North and Souls at Sea. The former was a Henry Fonda feature and the latter paired Walters with Robert Cummings.
Walters appeared in "Superman Comes to Earth", the first chapter of the 1948 Superman movie serial starring Kirk Alyn as Superman. 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. She worked in a number of movie serials and B-Movies, especially in Westerns, featuring her riding skills, and sci-fi or horror genres. She played a female reporter on the trail of a fiend's story in The Corpse Vanishes, with Bela Lugosi. She appears as a cellblock guard in Girls in Prison. Her final role came in The She Creature.
Selected filmography
Reaching for the Moon - Minor Role Two Seconds - Tart Miss Pinkerton - First Nurse End of the Trail - LuanaFighting Texans - JoAnn CarverSecrets of Hollywood - A Young ActressMidshipman Jack - Gloria The Merry Widow - Maid to Sonia The Third Sex - Elinor GordonBroadway Melody of 1936 - Showgirl The Speed Reporter - MayAces and Eights - Juanita HernandezSuzy - Check Room Girl Ride 'Em Cowboy - Lillian HowardShadow of Chinatown - Sonya Rokoff, aka The Dragon Lady Under Strange Flags - Dolores de VargasA Star Is Born - Souls at Sea - Eloise Youth on Parole - Salesgirl The Buccaneer - SuzetteAlgiers - Native Waitress Where the West Begins - Lynne ReedAssassin of Youth - Joan BarryMarie Antoinette - Woman in Gaming House Thanks for the Memory - Model Say It in French - Hat Check Girl Disbarred - Office Worker Paris Honeymoon - AngelaSt. Louis Blues - Dancer Cafe Society - Cigarette Girl King of Chinatown - Nightclub Girl I'm from Missouri - Hat Check Girl Mexicali Rose - Anita LoredoHotel Imperial - Nurse Undercover Doctor - Nurse Law of the Wolf - Ruth AdamsThe Magnificent Fraud - Brunette Fangs of the Wild - Carol DeanMutiny on the Blackhawk - Honeymoon in Bali - Girl Having Her Fortune Told Eternally Yours - Girl at Shower Drums of Fu Manchu - Mary RandolphMillionaire Playboy - Resort Girl The Return of Wild Bill - Kate KilgoreThe Durango Kid - Nancy WinslowThe Tulsa Kid - Mary WallaceThe Range Busters - Carol ThorpBlondie Plays Cupid - MillieMisbehaving Husbands - Jane ForbesThe Kid's Last Ride - Sally RowellAcross the Sierras - Anne WoodworthArizona Bound - Ruth MastersNo Greater Sin - Sandra JamesRoad Agent - Teresa The Lone Star Vigilantes - Marcia BanningCaptain Midnight - Fury SharkLawless Plainsmen - Baltimore Bonnie DixonThe Corpse Vanishes - Patricia HunterInside the Law - Dora MasonDown Texas Way - Mary HopkinsThundering Hoofs - Nancy KelloggBad Men of the Hills - Laurie BishopShoot to Kill - Marian LangdonBells of San Angelo - Lodge Clerk Arthur Takes Over - Newspaper WomanSuperman - Lara Mighty Joe Young - Nightclub Patron Girls in Prison - Cellblock GuardThe She-Creature - Party Guest