Barbara Loden

Barbara Loden was a Broadway Tony awardwinning American stage and film actress, model, and stagefilm director. She was the first woman to write, direct and star in her own feature film, Wanda, which won the International Critics Award at the 1970 Venice Film Festival. Loden also directed several offBroadway plays.

Loden was described as a shy, humble, statuesque and softspoken loner who was born in a small town in North Carolina . She was raised by her religious maternal grandparents, after her own parents had divorced, and her mother went to another town to find work. Loden moved to New York at the age ofand worked her way up as a pinup girl, model, and dancer at the famed Copacabana nightclub, before studying at the famed Actors Studio and becoming an actor.

Source: Wikipedia