Lanna Saunders

Svetlana "Lanna" Saunders (December 22, 1941 – March 10, 2007) was an American actress, best known for her role as Marie Horton on the television soap opera Days of Our Lives, on which she appeared from 197985. She also played the characters Betty Andrews on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless and Julie Evans on the NBC soap opera The Doctors in 1968. Early years Saunders was born on December 22, 1941 in New York City. Saunders's father was actor Nicholas Saunders ( Nikita Nikolayevich Soussanin) and her grandfather was actor Nicholas Soussanin, who emigrated from the Ukrainian SSR in the 1920s. Career Saunders started in acting at age 13, studying under Elia Kazan and later joining his Lincoln Center Company. Her credits on Broadway included Philadelphia, Here I Come! (1966), The Changeling (1964), Never Live Over a Pretzel Factory (1964), Milk and Honey (1961), and Sunrise at Campobello (1958). Personal life and death Saunders was married to Andre Yedigaroff. She met her future husband, actor Lawrence Pressman, when she was a student of Kazan, and they were married until her death. Actor David Pressman is their son.