Melody Anderson

Melody Anderson (born December 3, 1955) is a Canadian American social worker and public speaker specializing in the impact of addiction on families. She is also known as an actress, with her most high-profile role being Dale Arden in the 1980 adaptation of Flash Gordon. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Anderson started off as a performer and entertainer. She made her debut at age five on a radio show. While doing singing, she also trained as an actress, leading to roles in films and television during the 1970s and 1980s.

Career

Acting

Her first national exposure came as a "sweathog" in an episode of Welcome Back, Kotter in 1977. She made numerous guest appearances on television in the 1980s, in series such asArchie Bunker's Place, Battlestar Galactica, Dallas, T. J. Hooker, and The Fall Guy. She had recurring roles on St. Elsewhere and Jake and the Fatman. She was a cast member of Manimal, and All My Children in the 1990s.

In 1983, Anderson also played the title role in a made-for-TV 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). She also starred in the 1986 made for television movie, Beverly Hills Madam. She starred as Edie Adams in the TV film Ernie Kovacs: Between the Laughter, opposite Jeff Goldblum as Ernie Kovacs. Her last television appearance was a 1995 guest appearance 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.^[1]

[edit]Social work

Anderson graduated from New York University School of Social Work in 1997. That same year, she was the Coordinator of Family Services atHazelden New York, treating family and friends of substance abusers. A 2006 biography (from the Dragon Con website) notes she is in private practice in New York City, working on a book for parents with kids who use drugs and alcohol.^[2]

Anderson holds a Master of Arts in Psychology from the Graduate Faculty of the New School of Social Research, a Master of Science fromColumbia University and a Doctorate in Social Welfare from Yeshiva University. She has also studied criminal justice. Her studies focused on trauma, hypnosis and cognitive and psychoanalytical therapies, and is an expert in trauma-related disorders. She has also taught graduate university courses on substance abuse and other mental health-related areas of study. Anderson founded the first licensed mental health facility and social services agency in the United States focused on the psychological needs of midlife and older women. She has assisted non-profit organizations, corporations and social service government agencies.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	Flash Gordon	Dale Arden
1981	Dead & Buried	Janet Gillis	aka Dead and Buried (UK)
1983	Manimal	Brooke Mackenzie	TV series
1986	The Boy in Blue	Dulcie	aka Race des champions, La (Canada: French title)
1986	Firewalker	Patricia Goodwin
1989	Speed Zone!	Lea Roberts	aka Cannonball Fever (Australia)
1991	Under Surveillance
1992	Landslide	Clair Trinavant

Posted in: Canadian actress