Linda Lawson, Actress in ‘Night Tide,’ Dies at 86
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Linda Lawson, a singer and actress perhaps best known for her turn as a mysterious mermaid in the 1961 Dennis Hopper film Night Tide, has died. She was 86.
Lawson died May 18 of natural causes at the Motion Picture and Television Retirement Home in Woodland Hills, her family announced.
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Born Linda Spaziani in 1936 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Italian immigrant parents, she was the youngest of three children. After attending high school in California, she moved with her sister Diana to Las Vegas, where she would would sing and dance in the lounge of The Sands Hotel and open for stars including Frank Sinatra and Lena Horne.
After moving to Los Angeles some years later, Lawson worked as a studio messenger for MGM before beginning to act onscreen. Her early credits in the late 1950s and ’60s included episodes of Tales of the Texas Rangers, Border Patrol, Maverick and Mr. Lucky. She also had recurring roles in Adventures in Paradise and The Aquanauts.
Lawson married Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid producer John Foreman in 1958. The pair had two children and were together until his death in 1992.
In 1960, she released the album Introducing Linda Lawson. As a singer, she was also featured on a number of compilation albums including Music for a Bachelor’s Den.
In 1961, Lawson starred in the horror-drama Night Tide from writer-director Curtis Harrington as Maura.
Subsequent roles included the series Don’t Call Me Charlie, Ben Casey, Bonanza and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour and the films Let’s Kill Uncle (1966) and Sunset Strip (2000).
In 2000, Lawson starred as Mrs. Paganini opposite Ellen Burstyn and Kevin Dillon on the CBS dramedy That’s Life from creator Diane Ruggiero-Wright.
Her final credits included Without a Trace and ER.
Survived include her daughters, Julie and Amanda. Donations be made in their mother’s name to an animal rescue charity such as the ASPCA.
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