Marla Pennington

Marla Lynn Pennington (born March 5, 1954) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Joan Anderson^[1] Lawson on Small Wonder, her last acting role to date.

Marla Pennington-Rowan
Born	Marla Lynn Pennington (1954-03-05) March 5, 1954 (age 69) Burbank, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1974–1989
Spouse	Thomas Patrick Rowan (1988-2021, his death)
Children	2

Her other television credits include Soap, Diff'rent Strokes, Magnum, P.I., Charlie's Angels, Happy Days, The Incredible Hulk, and General Hospital. Pennington's film credits include National Lampoon's Class Reunion, and The Day of the Locust.

While Small Wonder was her last acting role, she appeared in a brief reunion with her co-stars on The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet on January 14, 2009. She provided commentary to the Small Wonder season 1 DVD set, released in February 2010.^{[citation needed]}

In 2015, she talked about the show's 30th anniversary and explained that she had left acting after Small Wonder to have her son, Dan, and daughter, Kat, with her husband, entertainment lawyer Tom Rowan, son of comedian Dan Rowan (of Rowan and Martin fame), but wanted to get back into acting.^[2] In 2021, her husband died, leaving her a widow.^[3]

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1976	Jim the World's Greatest	Jan	Alternative title: Story of a Teenager
1982	National Lampoon's Class Reunion	Mary Beth	Alternative title: Class Reunion
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1974	Lucas Tanner	Jane Benson	1 episode
1976	Charlie's Angels	Jenny Warren	Episode: "Bullseye"
1976–1979	General Hospital	Samantha Livingston Chandler #2	Unknown episodes
1979	How the West Was Won	Blossom	Episode: "Luke"
	Buffalo Soldiers	Girl	Television movie
1979–1981	Soap	Leslie Walker	17 episodes
1980	The Incredible Hulk	Miriam Charles	Episode: "Deathmask"
1981	Magnum, P.I.	Carol Ann Little	Episode: "Billy Joe Bob"
1982	Happy Days	Cynthia Brannigan	Episodes: "A Touch of Classical" "Hi Yo, Fonzie Away"
1983	Herndon	Laura	Television movie
1984	Diff'rent Strokes	Nurse Joan Fleming	1 episode
1985–1989	Small Wonder	Joan Lawson	96 episodes

References

1. "Small Wonder : Season 2 Episode 21 - YouTube". M.youtube.com. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
2. "'Small Wonder': The Strange True Story Behind the Weirdest Sitcom of the '80s".
3. "Thomas Rowan Obituary (2022) - Los Angeles, CA - Los Angeles Times". Legacy.com.

External links

• Marla Pennington at IMDb