Audrey Landers (born July 18, 1956) is an
American actress and singer, best known for her role as
Afton Cooper in the television drama series
Dallas and her role as Val Clarke in the film version of
A Chorus Line
Early years
Landers was born
Audrey Hamburg in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
Landers began her acting career at the age of 9, when she starred in
her first community theater musical, and continued acting and singing in
community theater shows in New York State. Music was always a passion,
and Landers began writing poetry and songs at a young age. Landers was
first noticed with a country song that she wrote and performed at the
age of twelve, which led to a
Nashville recording contract with
Epic Records, a performance on
The Merv Griffin Show, and a year-long role on the daytime drama,
The Secret Storm. During her teen years, she acted on the daytime drama
Somerset and studied music at the
Juilliard School in
New York, while majoring in
psychology at
Columbia University. Her feature film debut came in
The Tennessee Stallion (1978) with her sister,
Judy Landers.
Career
Landers moved to
Los Angeles and on her 24th birthday, landed the role of Afton Cooper in
Dallas, which she held for 84 episodes, from 1981 through the television movie
Dallas: J.R. Returns in 1996. She took a leave of absence from Dallas to portray Val Clarke in the film version of
A Chorus Line (1985). Her performance in the film of
Dance: Ten; Looks: Three helped jumpstart a successful recording career in Europe. In 2013 she reprised her role in the second season of new
Dallas.
[4][5]
Before joining
Dallas, she guest-starred in a number of television series, including
The Dukes of Hazzard,
Fantasy Island,
Love Boat,
Battlestar Galactica, and television movies such as
Jackie Collins's
Lucky Chances,
The Hitchhiker, and many others. From 1990–1992, she played the role of
Charlotte Hesser, eldest daughter of upstate Pennsylvania mob boss
Carlo Hesser on the ABC daytime series
One Life to Live.
With her young sons as inspiration, Landers created the children's television series,
The Huggabug Club,
[3]
for which, in addition to writing the scripts, she also wrote the 250+
original songs in the series. Her partner (and mother), Ruth Landers,
produced the series and donated it to Public Television for its 5 year
run. In 2006, she co-wrote, and co- directed the family adventure film,
Circus Island,
a Ruth Landers production. Landers' business partner (and mother) Ruth
Landers have created a fashion line called Landers STAR Collection which
is gaining global popularity through QVC UK,and in Italy, Canada,
Germany, and the U.S.
In 2005–2006, Landers co-wrote and co-directed the family feature film
Circus Island. Landers played Veronica, the girlfriend of Bruce Campbell's character Sam, on the USA Network series
Burn Notice.
Personal life
Audrey is sister of actress
Judy Landers, and has acted with her in several roles, including multiple episodes of
The Love Boat
as well as Circus Island and Ghost Writer, films produced by Ruth
Landers. Audrey and Judy Landers were on the cover and in a non-nude
pictorial of the January 1983 issue of
Playboy. Audrey, Judy, and their mother, Ruth jointly created the award-winning musical children's television series
The Huggabug Club
for PBS from 1995–2000. Audrey co-wrote the 250 original songs in the
series. She also co-wrote the scripts and co-edited the series.
Landers married businessman Donald Berkowitz in May 1988. They have 2 children, twins Adam and Daniel, born in 1993.
