Lori Saunders

Born Linda Marie Hines on October 4, 1941, in Kansas City, Missouri, Lori studied, for a time, under acting coach Jeff Corey.

Striking brunette Lori Saunders managed to capitalize on her sunny, daisy-fresh beauty during CBS-TV's famous 1960s "rural age", an era in which the network churned out a connected trio of bucolic hit shows -- The Beverly Hillbillies (1962), Green Acres (1965) and Petticoat Junction (1963). As the studious, slightly ditzy middle daughter, "Bobbie Jo Bradley", on the last-mentioned show, her role would occasionally "visit" the other two shows.

Her professional career began at age 19, in 1960, with multiple episodes of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952). She then dropped her real name in favor of the stage moniker, "Linda Saunders", and became a popular presence pitching commercial products on TV (well over 100).

Once Petticoat Junction (1963) was canceled in 1970, Lori crossed over to the The Beverly Hillbillies (1962) set, with a recurring part as banker Drysdale secretary, "Betty Gordon", on its very last season (1970-1971).

Finding sometime work on such established series as Burke's Law (1963), Lori finally hit paydirt when she was brought in to replace actress Pat Woodell on Petticoat Junction (1963) as one of the gorgeous Bradley daughters, when Woodell decided to leave in order to pursue a singing career. Lori changed her marquee name for the final time, in order to avoid confusion with the other "Linda" on the show -- Linda Henning). During the "Petticoat" run, Lori, Linda and Meredith MacRae formed a brief singing trio career in which they billed themselves as "The Girls from Petticoat Junction". The trio occasionally sang on the show (as the "Hooterville Honeys") and one available CD contains original songs ("If You Could Only Be Me", "Thirty Days Hath September") as well as established hits from other artists ("Up, Up and Away"). The girls booked a string of nightclubs and fairs, and also made a singing appearance on Johnny Carson's late-nite show.

By coincidence, the other femme co-star on that series was none other than blonde Jeannine Riley, who played daughter "Billie Jo Bradley" on Petticoat Junction (1963) at one point but exited the Cannonball, just as Lori was boarding it in 1965. An attempt to shake up her wholesome image with leading roles in minor film fare did not pan out.

Following her TV peak, Lori continued to find acting work, elsewhere, on such shows as Daniel Boone (1964) and The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1969), as well as an occasional TV pilot.

She also earned a few standard "pretty girl" film parts, in such minor fare as The Girls on the Beach (1965), Mara of the Wilderness (1965), starring Batman (1966) Adam West, and the horror opus, Blood Bath (1966).

Head On (1971), A Day at the White House (1972), Frasier, the Sensuous Lion (1973) and the slasher film, So Sad About Gloria (1973), co-starring Dean Jagger, in which Lori plays a former mental patient tormented by visions of ax murders, did little to advance her career and Lori eventually retired from acting work in 1980, following her appearance in the low-budget sci-fi film, Captive (1980), co-starring Cameron Mitchell and David Ladd.

She played sweet "Betsy McGuire" for 26 episodes on yet another countrified show, Dusty's Trail (1973), that co-starred Gilligan's Island (1964) star Bob Denver and F Troop (1965) star Forrest Tucker.

As of June 1999, she and husband Bernard Sandler were living in Montecito, CA. The couple have two grown children (a son, Ronald and a daughter, Stacy) and two granddaughters, Amanda and Jaclyn Marie. Lori works with many charities including Feed the Children and Animal Rights.

Profiled in the 2016 book, "X Child Stars: Where Are They Now?", by Kathy Garver and Fred Ascher.