Editing Audrey Landers

{{Cast Data
| image= Audrey Landers.jpg
| character= [[Miri]]
| series=TOS
| born_month= 7
| born_day= 18
| born_year= 1956
| death_month= 
| death_day= 
| death_year=
| nationality= US
| imdb= 0484626
| sortkey=Landers, Audrey
}}

'''Audrey Landers''' (born July 18, 1956) is an American actress, singer, songwriter and producer. To television audiences, she is best known for her role as Afton Cooper in the 1980s series ''[[w:Dallas (TV series)|Dallas]]'', as well as various appearances in series from the late 1970s to the 1980s, including ''{{TOS|Battlestar Galactica|Battlestar Galactica}}''. 

Her younger sister, [[w:Judy Landers|Judy Landers]], is also a well-known actress who worked on ''[[w:Vega$|Vega$]]'' and the [[Glen Larson]] series ''[[w:B.J. and the Bear|B.J. and the Bear]]''. Due to their close-knit nature, both Audrey and Judy Landers were often the combined focus of various news publication articles of the 1970s and 1980s, notably the January 1983 issue of ''[[w:Playboy|Playboy]]'' magazine, a non-nude pictorial in which both Landers sisters appear in lingerie. 

== Biography ==

Born in [[w:Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], Landers and her sister Judy were raised solely by their mother, Ruth, after their father "drifted away". Ruth Landers, a professional model at the time, subsequently relocated herself and her family to [[w:Rockland County, New York|Rockland County, New York]]<ref name="tv guide">{{cite_web|url=http://landers.msshost.com/Articles/atv0583.htm|title=TV Guide: Rise of a sex symbol. For Audrey Landers of Dallas, life is a nonstop campaign to sucdeed in show business. |date=May 1983|accessdate=3 Feburary 2007|last=See|first=Carolyn|format=magazine article transcription|language=}}</ref>, where she introduced a three-year old Audrey to show business when Audrey would accompany her on modeling assignments. It was since this that Audrey Landers pushed her mother to take her to auditions, as well as subscribing to various trade publications to find auditions.<ref name="csw">{{cite_web|url=http://www.donaly.com/interview_C11.html|title=Interview - Celebrity Scene Weekly Vol 11 Week 4: CELEBRITY MINI-INTERVIEW Audrey Landers|date=May 2002|accessdate=31 January 2007|last=Aly|first=Don|format=|language=}}</ref> 

At age 12, Landers assembled a demo tape of "The Apple Don't Fall Far From the Tree"<ref name="collector">{{cite_web|url=http://www.go-star.com/antiquing/landers.htm|title=The Celebrity Collector - Audrey and Judy Landers|date=circa 2002|accessdate=31 January 2007|last=|first=Hall|format=Ken|language=}}</ref>, which Landers' wrote, and sent it to [[w:Merv Griffin|Merv Griffin]]. This demo tape landed her an appearance on ''[[w:The Merv Griffin Show|The Merv Griffin Show]]'' and an agent<ref name="csw"/>, although her mother still retained her status as Landers' manager. The aforementioned song also became a well-played, popular Country/Western single, which began a career that would result in 10 gold singles, 4 gold albums, and 2 platinum albums. None of which have been officially released in the [[w:United States|United States]]<ref name="collector"/>

At 13, Landers auditioned for, and landed, a role on the daytime drama<ref name="collector"/>, ''[[w:The Secret Storm|The Secret Storm]]''<ref name="imdb">{{imdb name|id=nm0484626}}</ref><ref name="retrocrush">{{cite_web|url=http://www.retrocrush.com/babes2003/audreylanders/audrey.html|title=retroCRUSH: Audrey Landers Interview|date=2003|accessdate=2 February 2007|last=Waage|first=Randy|format=|language=}}</ref>. Later on in 1974, she starred in the daytime soap, ''Somerset''.

During her tenure at soaps, she participated in an accelerated program with advanced courses at Ramapo High School<ref name="tv guide"/>, where she maintained a straight-A average and graduated early, before the age of 17<ref name="retrocrush"/>, despite the demands from both the soaps and schooling.<ref name="us weekly">{{cite_web|url=http://landers.msshost.com/Articles/us021781.htm|title=Audrey Landers: Just an old-fashioned girl, from "Us Weekly"|date=17 Feburary 1981|accessdate=2 February 2007|last=Sellers|first=Pat|format=magazine article transcription|language=}}</ref> After graduating, Landers studied music composition at the [[w:Juilliard School|Juilliard School]] in [[w:New York|New York]]. She later majored in psychology at [[w:Columbia University|Columbia University]], as well as earned a degree in pre-medicine.<ref name="collector"/> Despite this, she found that she was happier performing.<ref name="csw"/> Between both daytime dramas, which were filmed in New York, she took the summer off in 1973 for nearly four months to guest star on various television series<ref name="retrocrush"/>, including ''Emergency!'' (which starred fellow BSG guest star, [[Rudloph Mantooth]]) and ''Marcus Wellby, M.D.''.<ref name="imdb"/> 

After completing ''Somerset'' in 1976, she moved to [[w:Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles, California]], and continued her guest starring career, which included ''Police Woman'', ''Happy Days'', ''{{TOS|Battlestar Galactica|Battlestar Galactica}}'' (as [[Miri]] in "[[The Young Lords]]"), and ''Charlie's Angels'' (which starred [[w:Cheryl Ladd|Cheryl Ladd]]).<ref name="retrocrush"/> On these appearances, she lamented that "[t]he parts I was getting were nice, but nothing heavy. I guess I was spoiled by the soaps, where I got to do every sort of dramatic scene imaginable."<ref name="us weekly"/>

In 1981, while being managed by Stuart Ehrlich<ref name="tv guide"/>, she auditioned for the role of Afton Cooper on ''Dallas'', which she later won in a competition that she recalled as being fierce. The role of Afton Cooper was originally a two-episode guest starring role, which was upgraded to a recurring role after she completed her first episode on the series.<ref name="ultimatedallas">{{cite_web|url=http://www.ultimatedallas.com/interviews/audrey.htm|title=Dallas Exclusive Interviews: Audrey Landers|date=|accessdate=3 Feburary 2007|last=|first=|format=|language=}}</ref>  Despite her successful career at that point, she was propelled in the world spotlight due to this role,<ref name="retrocrush"/> which she wished to use to further her singing career.<ref name="movie mirror">{{cite_web|url=http://landers.msshost.com/Articles/ammss.html|title=Audrey Landers wants to be a singing cowgirl, "Movie Mirror"|date=1980|accessdate=2 Feburary 2007|last=|first=|format=magazine article transcription|language=}}</ref> It was ''Dallas'' that began her singing career in Europe, where she would travel back and forth between filming ''Dallas'' and performing in various shows.<ref name="retrocrush"/> During this time, she made various appearances on ''Fantasy Island'', as well as ''The Love Boat'' along with her sister, Judy. Outside of acting, she pursued various interests, spanning from donating time to charities to writing poetry, as well as songwriting.<ref>{{cite_web|url=http://landers.msshost.com/Articles/MSY.html|title=Audrey Landers: Dallas' Date-Bait, from "Movie Screen Yearbook"|date=1981|accessdate=3 February 2007|last=|first=|format=magazine article transcription|language=}}</ref> 

During the seventh year of ''Dallas'', she took a leave of absence<ref name="ultimatedallas2">{{cite_web|url=http://www.ultimatedallas.com/interviews/audrey2.htm|title=Dallas Exclusive Interviews: Audrey Landers, pg. 2|date=|accessdate=3 Feburary 2007|last=|first=|format=|language=}}</ref> (which lasted until her character of Afton Cooper was re-written into the series for its last season in 1989<ref>{{cite_web|url=http://landers.msshost.com/Articles/fitaud.htm|title=Idol Talk: Audrey Landers, "Fitness Plus"|date=1991|accessdate=3 February 2007|last=Zoccoli|first=Sandra|format=magazine article transcription|language=}}</ref>) to film Sir [[w:Richard Attenborough|Richard Attenborough]]'s ''[[w:A Chorus Line|A Chorus Line]]'', which took over a year to film and starred [[w:Michael Douglas|Michael Douglas]]. For the movie, which fared better overseas than in the United States, she rigorously trained for the role, which Attenborough himself commented on in interviews. According to Landers, "He [Attenborough] always said in interviews that I wore out 2 dance coaches because I'd go in 3 hours before everybody came to work in the morning at 9 AM in the morning. Then I'd stay an additional 3 hours after everyone went home at night at 6 PM. So I had 6 hours of additional dance training a day." After training for months, the movie took five months to film, and was shot entirely in New York's [[w:Mark Hellinger Theatre|Mark Hellinger Theatre]].<ref name="retrocrush"/>

[[File:Playboy Magazine, January 1983.jpg|thumb|The Landers sisters appear in ''Playboy'' at the height of their fame.]] 

In 1983, both Audrey and Judy Landers posed for ''[[w:Playboy|Playboy]]'' magazine's January 1983 issue in a non-nude pictorial. Initially, ''Playboy'' approached the Landers sisters for a paid nude pictorial, but opted for a non-nude pictorial, as Audrey Landers explains: "It was really a coup for us. They offered to do a 'sister pictorial layout' for a tremendous amount of money – with nudity. But we told them we didn’t want to do that. So, instead, we ended up doing the photo session with no nudity and no money. We wanted to do something that was in the glamorous style of the 1940s that left a little to the imagination. At that time, there were only two or three women who had been on the cover of Playboy with a pictorial inside the magazine with no nudity."<ref name="csw"/> 

Additionally, Landers notes that: "We were basically playing very young roles. We thought it would make people take us more seriously as mature women and it didn't do anything. It didn't do anything good and it didn't do anything bad. We did have a bunch of people who hadn't seen the article offer us a slew of movies with nudity which we wouldn't do anyway. It certainly didn't hurt our careers. To this day I love it. I think it's a beautiful layout. I'm glad we did it. It's a nice piece of memorabilia."<ref name="retrocrush"/>

Prior to rejoining ''Dallas'' for its final season, she married Donald Berkowitz in 1988, after her mother introduced the two to each other in the mid 1980s. She and Berkowitz, who worked out of New Jersey in a paper distribution company, later had two twin boys via [[w:in vitro fertilization|in vitro fertilization]], Adam and Daniel<ref name="hello">{{cite_web|url=http://landers.msshost.com/Articles/birthday.htm|title=Hello Magazine (UK) article on Landers childrens' birthday celebration|date=1994|accessdate=3 February 2007|last=|first=|format=magazine article transcription|language=}}</ref>.

After ''Dallas'' ended in 1989, Landers worked with her sister, Judy, and her mother, Ruth, in producing, creating and acting in made-for-television movies, such as 1989's ''Ghost Writer'' and 1991's ''California Casanova'', both produced by Landers' production company.<ref name="retrocrush"/> After a short stint on ''[[w:One Life to Live|One Life to Live]]'' from 1990 to 1991, in which Landers had a hand in creating the character of Charlotte Hesser<ref name="daytime">{{cite_web|url=http://landers.msshost.com/Articles/Daytime/index.html|title=Audrey Landers Finds the Perfect Place on Daytime, from "Sterlings Magazine"|date=1990|accessdate=|last=Carlson|first=Martha|format=magazine article transcription|language=}}</ref>, Landers and her fellow family members would write and produce ''The Huggabug Club''<ref name="huggabug">{{cite_web|url=http://www.landersproductionz.com/huggabug.html|title=The Huggabug Club * Landers Productions|date=|accessdate=3 February 2007|last=|first=|format=|language=}}</ref>, an award winning children's series on [[w:PBS|PBS]], which starred both Audrey and Judy Landers, as well as Judy Landers' two daughters, [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1314924/ Lindsey] and [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1683269/ Kristy Landers]. The series ran from 1995 to 2001.

In 2007, Landers appeared on the USA series ''[[w:Burn Notice|Burn Notice]]'' for a three episode stint as Veronica.

== Notes ==

* Audrey Landers is technically the first ''Battlestar Galactica'' actress to be pictured in ''Playboy'' magazine, predating [[Tricia Helfer]]'s [[Playboy Magazine, February 2007|February 2007]] appearance by 24 years and 1 month.

== References ==

{{reflist}}

== External Links ==

* [http://www.landersproductionz.com/ Landers Productions website]
* [http://landers.msshost.com/index.html Landers Sisters fan website]

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