Jillian Kesner

Sunny, dynamic and beautiful slender blonde actress Jillian Kesner was born on August 9, 1949 in Portsmouth, Virginia and grew up primarily in Denver, Colorado. Her father was a Navy officer. Jillian received a B. A.

in business from a Colorado university in 1967.

In 1969 Kesner moved to Los Angeles, California and worked as a model prior to embarking on an acting career in both movies and television. Jillian made her impressive film debut as fiery juvenile delinquent Carrie in the fun drive-in exploitation romp "The Student Body. " (She met her future husband and noted cinematographer Gary Graver while acting in this particular picture. ) Other memorable movie roles include the sweetly kooky, yet intelligent Angel in the amusing "Starhops," tough, but sexy karate instructor Susanne Carter in the hugely enjoyable "Firecracker," feisty martial arts expert Cookie Winchell in the gloriously tasteless "Raw Force," and alluring vampiress Claudia in the lowbrow hoot "Beverly Hills Vamp. " Kesner was a regular cast member of the short-lived sitcom "Co-ed Fever. " Perhaps best known to the general public as Fonzie's girlfriend Lorraine on "Happy Days," Jillian made guest appearances on such TV shows as "S. W. A. T. ," "The Blue Knight," "The Rockford Files," "Three's Company," "Mork & Mindy," and "T. J. Hooker. " Outside of her acting credits, Jillian also handled production coordinator chores on a handful of low-budget straight-to-video movies that were directed by Graver. In addition, both Kesner and Graver tried to complete Orson Welles's unfinished film "The Other Side of the Wind.

With her husband, director Gary Graver, she worked to preserve the legacy of Orson Welles. Gary Graver worked on many movies with Welles. The couple had been piecing together footage Gary shot in the 1970s for Welles' unfinished film "The Other Side of the Wind". They had hoped to complete and release it.

" Following Graver's death in 2006, Jillian continued her efforts to preserve Welles's cinematic legacy.