Leora Dana

Leora Dana (April 1, 1923 – December 13, 1983) was an American film, stage and television actress from New York City. Dana appeared in numerous productions across film, television, and theatre, including The Madwoman of Chaillot, Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot, and The Asphalt Jungle. She won several awards across her career, including the Clarence Derwent Award for Most Promising female. Dana died in 1983.

Dana was born on April 1, 1923, in New York City; her elder sister was Doris Dana. When Dana was 5 years old, her father abandoned the family. Her mother, who was a nurse, discouraged her plans to be an actress. Dana graduated from Barnard College and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In the summer of 1945, while she was a student at Barnard, she was a theatrical apprentice at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine. She was the female lead in the playhouse's production of Dear Brutus.

In 1947, Dana made her stage debut in London. In 1948, she debuted on Broadway in The Madwoman of Chaillot. Her other Broadway credits included The Happy Time (1950), Point of No Return (1951), Sabrina Fair (1953), The Best Man (1960), Beekman Place (1964), The Last of Mrs. Lincoln (1972), The Women (1973), and Mourning Pictures (1974).

After appearing in the 1957 western 3:10 to Yuma, Dana had supporting roles in two 1958 Frank Sinatra films: Kings Go Forth and Some Came Running. Her other film credits included Pollyanna (1960), A Gathering of Eagles (1963), The Group (1966), The Boston Strangler (1968), Change of Habit (1969), Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), Wild Rovers (1971), Shoot the Moon (1982), Baby It's You (1983), and Amityville 3-D (1983).^{[citation needed]} Dana also played Anne Fry, the wife of the patriot John Fry, played by Jack Lord in the 1957 orientation film Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot. The film has the distinction of being the longest-running motion picture in history, having been shown continually in the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center for over five decades.

Dana guest-starred in three episodes of the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1960, she appeared in episode "Incident at a Corner," which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock. In 1961, Dana appeared in an episode ("The Scott Machine") of the television series The Asphalt Jungle, and later appeared in the 1977 miniseries Seventh Avenue. In 1978–1979, Dana played the role of alcoholic clothing designer Sylvie Kosloff, the biological mother of villainess Iris Cory (Beverlee McKinsey) on Another World.^{[citation needed]} On March 11, 1954, she starred in "Dark Victory" on Kraft Television Theatre.

In 1949, Dana won the Clarence Derwent Award for Most Promising Female for The Madwoman of Chaillot on Broadway. She won the 1973 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for The Last of Mrs. Lincoln.

Dana was married to actor Kurt Kasznar. They were divorced in 1958. She died of cancer, aged 60, on December 13, 1983 in New York City.