Melody Anderson

Melody Anderson (born December 3, 1955) is a Canadian former actress, social worker, and public speaker specializing in the impact of addiction on families. As an actress, her most high-profile role was playing Dale Arden in the 1980 adaptation of Flash Gordon. She later starred in the 1986 film Firewalker, with Chuck Norris. While singing, she also trained as an actress, leading to roles in films and television during the late 1970s and 1980s.

Early life After high school, Anderson completed a bachelor's degree in Journalism from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. She served a brief stint as an on-air reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation before travelling to Southeast Asia and Australia. Anderson appeared in the first 1977 Victoria's Secret catalog and also appeared as a Rigid Tools model.

Career Acting Returning to North America, Anderson's first national exposure was as a guest star in the 1977 series Logan's Run and as a "Sweathog" in a 1977 episode of Welcome Back, Kotter. She made numerous guest appearances on television, including Archie Bunker's Place, Battlestar Galactica, Dallas, T. J. Hooker, CHiPs, the pilot episode of The A-Team and The Fall Guy. She had recurring roles on St. Elsewhere and Jake and the Fatman. She was the female lead of the NBC 1983 series Manimal. She was a guest star in the Murder, She Wrote episode "Prediction: Murder" in 1989.

Anderson played the female lead Dale Arden in Flash Gordon (1980) and Janet Gillis in Dead and Buried (1981). In 1983, she played the title role in a made-for-television film called Policewoman Centerfold, in which her character, a divorced police officer, is fired after posing nude for a men's magazine (based loosely on the true story of Springfield, Ohio patrolwoman Barbara Schantz, who was subsequently fired from her job after posing nude in Playboy magazine in the early 1980s).

In 1986, she appeared with Nicolas Cage in The Boy in Blue and with Chuck Norris in Firewalker. She starred in the made-for-television movie Beverly Hills Madam (1986), which starred Faye Dunaway. From August, 1992 to July, 1993, Anderson assumed the role of long running character Natalie Marlowe, and briefly her twin sister Janet Dillon, on the soap opera All My Children from Kate Collins. She starred as Edie Adams in the television film Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter, opposite Jeff Goldblum as Ernie Kovacs and played the coveted role of Marilyn Monroe in the television movie Marilyn & Bobby: Her Final Affair (1993). Her last television appearance was in 1995 as a guest star in the short-lived CBS revival of Burke's Law.

Anderson has made appearances at genre conventions, such as the October 2009 Big Apple Convention in Manhattan.

Social work Anderson is licensed as a Certified EMDR Clinician/Therapist and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in New York and California. She facilitates therapy groups at several treatment centers in the Los Angeles area. An international lecturer and media spokesperson on addictions and the family, she has made presentations on substance abuse and other mental health-related areas of study.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1980 Flash Gordon Dale Arden 1981 Dead & Buried Janet Gillis 1986 The Boy in Blue Dulcie Firewalker Patricia Goodwin 1989 Speed Zone Lea Roberts 1991 Under Surveillance Cathy Meadows 1992 Landslide Clair Trinavant

Television Year Title Role Notes 1977 Welcome Back, Kotter Blonde Sweathog Episode: "Sweathog Back-to-School Special" 1978 Logan's Run Shelia Episode: "Carousel" 1979 Pleasure Cove Julie Television film Elvis Bonnie Battlestar Galactica Brenda Maxwell Episode: "Experiment in Terra" B. J. and the Bear Toni Episode: "Wheels of Fortune" 1982 Archie Bunker's Place Cheryl Episode: "Gary's Ex" Dallas Linda Farlow Episode: "The Big Ball" T. J. Hooker Kate Nichols Episode: "Terror at the Academy" The Fall Guy Mary / Mary Walker 2 episodes 1983 CHiPs Emily Episode: "Day of the Robot" The A-Team Avon Episode: "Mexican Slayride" St. Elsewhere Nurse Jill Roberts 5 episodes Manimal Brooke McKenzie 8 episodes Policewoman Centerfold Jennifer Oaks Television film 1984 Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter Edie Adams High School U.S.A. Cindy Franklin 1986 Hotel Lauren Moffat Episode: "Triangles" Beverly Hills Madam Claudia Winston Television film Philip Marlowe, Private Eye Rhonda Farr Episode: "Blackmailers Don't Shoot" 1987 Deep Dark Secrets Julianne Wakefield Television film, AKA Intimate Betrayal 1989 Murder, She Wrote Katherine Aaron Episode: "Prediction: Murder" The Hitchhiker Sterling Episode: "The Cruelest Cut" Final Notice Kate Davis Television film 1990 Hitler's Daughter Sharon Franklin / Mary Lipscomb 1991–1992 Jake and the Fatman Neely Capshaw 6 episodes 1992–1993 All My Children Natalie Marlowe / Janet Dillon 61 episodes 1993 Marilyn & Bobby: Her Final Affair Marilyn Monroe Television film 1995 Burke's Law Alexandra Kohl Episode: "Who Killed the World's Greatest Chef?"