BarBara Luna was born in Manhattan and virtually grew up on Broadway. Rodgers & Hammerstein cast her in the Broadway hit musical "South Pacific" to create the role of Ezio Pinza's daughter, Ngana, which was spoken and sung (Dites-Moi) entirely in French. When she outgrew her sarong, Luna, as she prefers to be called, was cast again by Rodgers & Hammerstein to appear in "The King & I" as one of the Siamese children. By the time the show was closing, she had advanced to "swing girl" of the company. With only several months left before graduating high school and not wanting to go on tour with the show, Luna decided to audition for the understudy role of Lotus Blossom in "Teahouse of the August Moon". Not only was she hired, eight months later, Luna was given the starring role in the first national touring company for three years.
This role was spoken entirely in Japanese! While she was appearing with "Teahouse" in Los Angeles, Luna was discovered by director Mervyn Leroy to portray the blind girl, Camille, and love interest to Frank Sinatra in "The Devil at 4 O'clock" also starring Spencer Tracy. This led to other films, such as "Firecreek" with James Stewart & Henry Fonda. Working under the direction of Stanley Kramer in "Ship of Fools" with International legends, Vivian Leigh, Simone Signoret, Oskar Werner, and Lee Marvin, was not only challenging but, one of thehighlights in Luna's career. Portraying "Cat", queen bee of the prison in "The Concrete Jungle", which is now considered a cult film, was an even greater challenge, after all, how often does one get to portray a drug pushing lesbian killer?
Irwin Allen's "Five Weeks in a Balloon", starring Red Buttons, Fabian and Barbara Eden gave Luna another chance to work with several other film legends; Peter Lorre, Sir Cedric Hardwicke and Herbert Marshall. Her versatile and timeless look, along with her talent, has afforded Luna the opportunity to have a lengthy television career as well. Luna feels honored to be so well remembered for her portrayal of Marlena Moreau in the all-time classic episode, "Mirror Mirror" from the original "Star Trek" series. She has guest starred on nearly five hundred television shows. Some of her favorites are: Walt Disney's "Zorro", "The Big Valley", "Hawaii Five-O", "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" and "The Outer Limits".
Luna continued to keep one foot on Broadway. In between film commitments, she appeared in five companies of "West Side Story" in the role of Anita, including a revival at Lincoln Center in New York City. Her last Broadway show was "A Chorus Line" in the role of Diana Morales, she sang the beautiful Marvin Hamlish tune, "What I Did For Love". This inspired the multi-talented Luna to meet "Hairspray" Tony award winners Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman to prepare a nightclub act for her... and that they did; "An Evening with BarBara Luna". In a New York review, after her first engagement, it read: "Ms. Luna can take the Cabaret scene by storm". This review was noticed by agent Lee Solomon of the William Morris office. He called, and booked Luna to open for Bill Cosby at the Concord Hotel in the Catskills and Caesars Palace in Atlantic City.
While Luna was singing at Freddies in NYC, she was offered the world of Soap Opera. After a six month stint of creating the role of Anna Ryder on "Search for Tomorrow", she was then offered a two year contract to portray Maria Roberts on" One Life to Live". This character very quickly became notorious and extremely popular as "The Bitch everyone loved to hate." After leaving "One Life to Live", Luna wanted to travel. Happily she co-hosted "The Alpen Tour", a television special for the Travel Channel sponsored by TWA airlines. This was filmed throughout Europe. Luna says, "Ask and you shall receive"! Upon her return to Los Angeles, Luna performed her club act to sell-out crowds at Tom Rolla's Gardenia Cabaret and the Cine-grill at the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel.
After taking a ten-year sabbatical, Aaron Spelling hired Luna for the role of Sydney Jacobs, a jewelry fence on "Sunset Beach". Luna then made her first trip to the Philippines to film a movie for Showtime called "Noriega: God's Favorite" starring Bob Hoskins. She laughs about this because her scenes ended up on the cutting room floor! However, it was worth the trip, working with Mr. Hoskins was a treat. This past year, Luna performed at Arci's Supper Club on Park Avenue in NYC. Hosting the Ms. Roanoke Beauty Pageant for the last three years has been a great experience. Having been a protégé of Richard Rodgers, Luna was thrilled when she was asked to perform at Town Hall for his 100th Anniversary celebration, also in NYC.
BarBara Luna feels since she has been given so much, it is important to give her time, talent and support to charitable causes whenever needed. Luna is a member of "The Thalians", a charity foundation at Cedars Sinai Hospital. Traveling around the world to attend Star Trek conventions and meeting the fans has been very informative, heart-warming, rewarding and loads of fun... for this she is grateful. Luna is an avid sports fan, loves playing golf, tennis and dancing on roller skates.
Feature Film and TV Movie Appearances:
1957 Tank Battalion/Korean Attack (American-International Pictures) D: Sherman Rose.
1959 Cry Tough (United Artists) D: Paul Stanley.
1959 The Blue Angel (20th Century-Fox) D: Edward Dmytryk.
1960 Elmer Gantry (United Artists) D: Richard Brooks.
1961 The Devil at 4 O’Clock (Columbia) D: Mervyn LeRoy.
1962 Five Weeks in a Balloon (20th Century-Fox) D: Irwin Allen.
1963 Dime with a Halo (MGM) D: Boris Sagal.
1964 Mail Order Bride (MGM) D: Burt Kennedy.
1965 Synanon (Columbia) D: Richard Quine.
1965 Ship of Fools (Columbia) D: Stanley Kramer.
1967 Winchester ‘73 (telefilm; airdate: 3/14/67 - NBC) D: Herschel Daugherty.
1968 Firecreek (Warner Brothers/7 Arts) D: Vincent McEvetty.
1969 Che! (20th Century-Fox) D: Richard Fleischer.
1971 The Gatling Gun D: Robert Gordon.
1972 Women in Chains (telefilm; airdate: 1/25/72 - ABC) D: Bernard L. Kowalski.
1973 Gentle Savage/Camper John D: Sean McGregor.
1974 The Hanged Man (telefilm; airdate: 3/13/74 - ABC) D: Michael Caffey.
1975 They Only Come Out at Night (telefilm; airdate: 4/29/75 - NBC) D: Daryl Duke.
1976 Woman in the Rain D: Paul Hunt.
1976 Brenda Starr (telefilm; airdate: 5/8/76 - ABC) D: Mel Stuart.
1979 Pleasure Cove (telefilm; airdate: 1/3/79 - NBC) D: Bruce Bilson.
1982 The Concrete Jungle (Pentagon) D: Tom DeSimone.
1992 Lady Against the Odds (telefilm; airdate: 4/20/92 - NBC) D: Bradford May.
1997 Fool’s Paradise D: Richard Zakka.
2000 Noriega: God’s Favorite. (telefilm; Showtime) D: Roger Spottiswoode.
Meet McGraw "The Long Aloha" 3/18/58 NBC
Perry Mason "The Case of the Sardonic Sergeant" 10/11/58 CBS
Zorro "The New Order" 11/13/58 ABC
Zorro "An Eye for an Eye" 11/20/58 ABC
Zorro "Zorro and the Flag of Truce" 11/27/58 ABC
Zorro "Ambush" 12/4/58 ABC
Desilu Playhouse "So Tender, So Profane" 10/30/59 CBS
The Texan "Showdown at Abilene" 11/9/59
The Texan "The Reluctant Bridegroom" 11/16/59
The Untouchables "Mexican Stake-Out" 11/26/59 ABC
Hawaiian Eye "The Koa Man" 12/30/59 ABC
Bonanza "Toro Grande" 1/2/60 NBC
Overland Trail "Mission to Mexico" 4/24/60 NBC
Tales of Wells Fargo "Vasquez" 5/16/60 NBC
Death Valley Days "Pete Kitchen’s Wedding" 6/21/60 ABC
Hawaiian Eye "Sword of Samurai" 6/22/60 ABC
Adventures in Paradise "Away From it All" 10/24/60 ABC
Assignment: Underwater "A Matter of Honor" 11/11/60
Lock Up "Girls Wanted" 12/31/60
Stagecoach West "The Big Gun" 4/25/61 ABC
Gunslinger "The Death of Yellow Singer" 5/11/61 CBS
Alcoa Premiere "The House of the Bath" 1/16/62 ABC
The Untouchables "The Death Tree" 2/15/62 ABC
Gunsmoke "He Learned About Women" 2/24/62 CBS
Hawaiian Eye "Payoff" 3/28/62 CBS
The Real McCoys "The Love Bug Bugs Pepino" 12/16/62 CBS
The Wide Country "Farewell to Margarita" 3/21/63 NBC
G.E. True "Five Tickets to Hell" 5/26/63 CBS
The Outer Limits "It Crawled Out of the Woodwork" 12/9/63 ABC
Calhoun: County Agent (unaired CBS pilot with Jackie Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck) 1963
The Wild, Wild West "Night of the Deadly Bed" 9/24/65 CBS
Amos Burke, Secret Agent "Nightmare in the Sun" 10/20/65 ABC
O.K. Crackerby 11/11/65 ABC
Ben Casey "The Man from Quasillia" 11/29/65 ABC
The Wackiest Ship in the Army "Last Path to Garcia" 12/12/65 NBC
The FBI "Special Delivery" 1/23/66 ABC
Laredo "Coup de Grace" 10/7/66 NBC
Mission: Impossible "Elena" 12/10/66 CBS
The FBI "The Gray Passenger" 1/29/67 ABC
The Invaders "Storm" 4/4/67 ABC
The FBI "The Extortionist" 4/16/67 ABC
Cimarron Strip "The Legend of Jud Starr" 9/14/67 CBS
Star Trek "Mirror, Mirror" 10/6/67 NBC
Tarzan "Maguma Curse" 10/20/67 NBC
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. "The Man from T.H.R.U.S.H. Affair" 12/4/67 NBC
High Chaparral "The Firing Wall" 12/31/67 NBC
The Big Valley "Miranda" 1/15/68 ABC
The FBI "The Young Warriors" 3/9/69 ABC
Hawaii Five-O "A Thousand Pardons...You’re Dead!" 9/24/69 CBS
Mission: Impossible "Time Bomb" 12/14/69 CBS
Lancer "Lifeline" 5/19/70 CBS
The Young Lawyers "The Glass Prison" 11/2/70 ABC
The Most Deadly Game "War Games" 11/28/70 ABC
Love American Style "Love and the Sweet 16" 11/5/71 ABC
Cannon "Flight Plan" 12/28/71 CBS
Marcus Welby, M.D. "A Question of Fault" 10/16/73 ABC
Mannix "Silent Target" 10/28/73 CBS
Kung Fu "A Lamb to the Slaughter" 1/11/75 CBS
Police Story "The Man in the Shadows" 2/25/75 NBC
Cannon "Lady on the Run" 3/5/75 CBS
Wives (pilot) 3/21/75 CBS
Petrocelli "Five Yards of Trouble" 9/24/75 NBC
Bert D’Angelo/Superstar "The Brown Horse Connection" 3/13/76
Side by Side (pilot) 7/27/76 CBS
The Six Million Dollar Man "Vulture of the Andes" 11/21/76 NBC
Switch "The Hemline Heist" 2/27/77 CBS
Switch "Death Tong" 1/9/78 CBS
Project UFO "Sighting 4002: Welcome to Saucer City" 2/26/78 NBC
Police Story "The Broken Badge" 3/19/78 NBC
The Amazing Spider Man "Escort to Danger" 5/3/79 CBS
Hawaii Five-O "A Lion in the Streets" 10/4/79 CBS
Fantasy Island "Marathon" 10/5/79 ABC
Fantasy Island "Jungle Man" 3/8/80 ABC
Buck Rogers of the 25th Century "Time of the Hawk, Parts I and II" 1/15 and 1/22/81 NBC
Freebie and the Bean "Lover, Come Back" 1/24/81 CBS
Buck Rogers of the 25th Century "The Guardians" 1/29/81 NBC
Charlie’s Angels "Attack Angels" 6/3/81 ABC
Fantasy Island "Operation Breakout" 1/15/83 ABC
T.J. Hooker "Outcall" 2/2/85 ABC
Search for Tomorrow (series; as Anna Ryder) c. 1985 NBC
Airwolf "Birds of Paradise" 3/29/86 CBS
One Life to Live (series; as Maria Roberts) 6/86 to 1988 ABC
Mission: Impossible "The Fortune" 2/18/89 ABC
The Cosby Show "Birthday Blues" 3/30/89 NBC
Hunter "The Nightmare" 1/13/90 NBC
Dragnet (date and episode title unknown) Syndicated
The Young Riders "Then There Was One" 4/5/90 ABC
Dallas "Smooth Operator" 2/15/91 CBS
The Alpen Tour (travel series host) 1992-The Travel Channel
Sunset Beach (series; as Sydney Jacobs) 10/7, 10/15, 10/16, 10/21 & 11/13/98 NBC
South Pacific (Broadway Production; as Ngana) 1949-51
The King and I (Broadway Production; as Princess and Swing Girl) 1951-56
Teahouse of the August Moon (Broadway and Touring Production; as Lotus Blossom) 1956-57
West Side Story (Lincoln Center Production; as Anita) 1969
Applause (Dancer and Assistant Choreographer for Sacramento, CA Production) 1976
A Chorus Line (Broadway Production; as Diana Morales) 1976
Flower Drum Song (Muny Theater-St. Louis, MO.; as Linda Lo) 1981
Fly by Night (New York Production; as Lenore) 1985
