Laurene Landon Coughlin (born March 17, 1957) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

film and television actress. She first began appearing in movies in the 1980s. She is best known for her roles in ''

Maniac Cop ''Maniac Cop'' is a 1988 American action slasher film directed by William Lustig, written by Larry Cohen, and starring Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, Laurene Landon, Richard Roundtree, William Smith, Robert Z'Dar, and Sheree North. Z'Dar plays th ...

'' and ''

Maniac Cop 2 ''Maniac Cop 2'' is a 1990 American action slasher film directed by William Lustig and written by Larry Cohen. It is the second installment in the ''Maniac Cop'' film series. It stars Robert Davi, Claudia Christian, Michael Lerner, and Bruce Ca ...

'', ''

I, the Jury ''I, the Jury'' is the 1947 debut novel of American crime fiction writer Mickey Spillane, the first work to feature private investigator Mike Hammer. Plot summary The novel opens as private detective Mike Hammer is called to the apartment of i ...

'', ''

Hundra ''Hundra'' is a 1983 Italian-American-Spanish fantasy film co-written and directed by Matt Cimber and starring Laurene Landon. Plot Hundra belongs to a tribe of Amazons. She is the only tribe member of her age who has never been with a man. ...

'', '' Airplane II: The Sequel'', and '' ...All the Marbles''.

Biography

Early life

Born in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, she attended

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

and began training in their

police academy A police academy, also known as a law enforcement training center, police college, or police university, is a training school for police cadets, designed to prepare them for the law enforcement agency they will be joining upon graduation, or othe ...

program, but decided that law enforcement was not for her when she came to the realization that she might someday have to use a gun. So she decided to try her hand at acting and began her career as an extra in films.

Acting career

Landon began acting in a bit part in 1979's ''Bitter Heritage'', also released as ''Naked in My Grave''. She was cast as a featured skater in ''

Roller Boogie ''Roller Boogie'' is a 1979 American romantic musical drama film starring Linda Blair and Jim Bray, a former competitive artistic skater from California. The film also stars Beverly Garland, Mark Goddard and Kimberly Beck, and is directed by M ...

'' in that same year. She gained a small role in 1981's ''

Full Moon High ''Full Moon High'' is a 1981 American comedy horror film written and directed by Larry Cohen. Plot The film is about a teenager who goes on a trip to Transylvania with his father and gets bitten by a werewolf. Made ageless, he attempts to put h ...

'', her first of many collaborations with director

Larry Cohen Lawrence George Cohen (July 15, 1936 – March 23, 2019) was an American screenwriter, producer, and director of film and television, best known as an author of horror and science fiction films — often containing police procedural and ...

. She spent part of her early career as a model and in 1980 was a runner-up in the ''Miss Black Velvet'' pageant in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. There, a casting director told her to go see another casting director in Los Angeles, regarding a feature film called '' ...All the Marbles'' (alternate title, ''The California Dolls''). As she found modeling boring and was unable to sit still for hours at a time, she took his suggestion and landed the role of "Molly" in the film. Landon starred as

Mike Hammer Michael Hammer or Mike Hammer may refer to: *Michael Armand Hammer (1955–2022), American philanthropist and businessman *Michael Martin Hammer (1948–2008), engineer and author *Mike Hammer (character), a fictional hard boiled detective ** ''Mick ...

's right-hand woman Velda in

Richard T. Heffron Richard T. Heffron (October 6, 1930 – August 27, 2007) was an American film director. He worked on many television series such as ''The Rockford Files'' and films including '' I Will Fight No More Forever'' (1975), ''Futureworld'' (1976), ...

's acclaimed 1982

Mickey Spillane Frank Morrison Spillane (; March 9, 1918July 17, 2006), better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American crime novelist, whose stories often feature his signature detective character, Mike Hammer. More than 225 million copies of his books have ...

movie adaptation ''

''. She appeared in '' Airplane II: The Sequel'', ''

'', ''

'', and ''

''. She returned to film acting as "Birdy" in the 2005 television movie '' Masters of Horror: Pick Me Up'', followed by small or uncredited roles in the films ''Stand Up'' (2007) and ''

Drive Drive or The Drive may refer to: Motoring * Driving, the act of controlling a vehicle * Road trip, a journey on roads Roadways Roadways called "drives" may include: * Driveway, a private road for local access to structures, abbreviated "drive" ...

'' (2011). She appeared in ''Alien Vampz'' and ''Alien Vampz 2'', as well as the comedy ''Strap-Off''. In 2015, she played Detective Higgins in '' Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance'', had a supporting role in the feature film '' Day Out of Days'', and appeared in ''

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

''. She had a starring role in the 2017 film, ''Syndicate Smashers''.

Filmography and television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Landon, Laurene 1957 births Actresses from Toronto Canadian film actresses Canadian people of Irish descent Canadian people of Polish descent Canadian television actresses Canadian emigrants to the United States Living people