Anya Taranda

Anya Taranda (January 1, 1915 – March 9, 1970) was an American model, showgirl, actress and wife of composer Harold Arlen.

Anya Taranda
Taranda with Harold Arlen
Born	January 1, 1915 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	March 9, 1970 (aged 55) New York City, New York, U.S.
Spouse(s)	Harold Arlen ​ (m. 1937)​

Biography

Born in New York City to Catholic Russian parents, Anya Taranda became a Powers Agency model where she was signed as one of the original Breck Shampoo models. In 1932, she met composer Harold Arlen in New York City during the Broadway theatre production of Earl Carroll's Vanities. They eventually married on January 6, 1937, over the objection of their parents, because she was a Gentile and he was Jewish, but it turned out to be a successful marriage.

In 1934 she appeared in her first of nine film roles, in an uncredited part as an "Earl Carroll girl" in Murder at the Vanities, based on Carroll's Broadway play.

In 1951 she was institutionalized in a sanatorium for seven years after repeatedly threatening her husband and others with physical harm.

She died from a brain tumor, in New York City, at the age of 55.[1] She is interred next to her husband in the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

References

1. "Come Rain or Come Shine". The New Yorker. September 19, 2005. ISSN 0028-792X.

External links

• Anya Taranda at IMDb
• Anya Taranda at Find a Grave