Short Biography

Tura Satana, born Tura Luna Pascual Yamaguchi July 10, 1938 in Hokkaidō, Japan, is a Japanese-born American actress and former exotic dancer. She is mostly remembered for her role as "Varla" in Russ Meyer`s 1965 cult film, Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!. During her early career, Satana appeared on television shows such as Burke`s Law, The Girl From U.N.C.L.E., The Greatest Show On Earth, Hawaiian Eye, and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. She also appeared as a dancer in Who`s Been Sleeping in My Bed? with Dean Martin and Elizabeth Montgomery. That same year, she had a cameo as a Parisian prostitute in the musical Irma La Douce with Jack Lemmon and Shirley Maclaine.

After starring in Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!, Satana worked mainly with cult film director Ted V. Mikels in such films as The Astro-Zombies (1968), The Doll Squad (1974) and Mark of the Astro-Zombies (2002). She has also appeared as herself in various documentaries and TV shows including The Incredibly Strange Film Show (1988), A & E`s documentary called "Cleavage"(2003),Strip de velours (2005) and Sugar Boxx (2007) which is currently in post production and co-stars fellow Russ Meyer alumna Kitten Natividad. She married a retired L.A. police officer and remained married for 20 years. Her husband passed away in October 2000. They have two daughters. Their older daughter Kalani had a cameo role in Mikels` Ten Violent Women. She has remained friends with Ted Mikels through the present. Tura dated Hong Kong star Rod Taylor, Wyatt Earp star Hugh O`Brian, Gunsmoke star James Arness and F Troop star Forrest Tucker, and before her second marriage had affairs with legendary singers Frank Sinatra and a young Elvis Presley, who even proposed to her. She turned Elvis down, but Priscilla Beaulieu would be Tura`s spitting image in terms of make-up and dress during the first years of their marriage. Tura loyally keeps in touch with her many admirers through her MySpace site, which features several fragments of her movies, photographs covering five decades, paintings and a statuette in her likeness. A documentary about Tura Satana is currently in production. Executive producers are Siouxzan Perry and Benjamin Cord.

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