Indira Stefanianna

Background

Ethnicity: She was of Icelandic heritage through her mother, Hrafnhildur Snorradóttir.

Indira Stefanianna Christopherson was born on December 15, 1946, in San Francisco, California, and was raised there. Her father, Lorne Christopherson, came from Manitoba, Canada, while her mother, Hrafnhildur Snorradóttir, was born in Iceland. Her Icelandic family connection later informed the cultural background associated with her professional name and singing career.

Her mother encouraged music in the household, and Christopherson developed an early interest in singing and acting. She studied voice and piano at the Peninsula Conservatory of Music before attending college in the San Francisco Bay Area. At eighteen, she moved to Iceland, where she pursued singing in several languages before returning to the United States for theatrical and screen work.

Education

Christopherson studied voice and piano at the Peninsula Conservatory of Music. She also attended the College of San Mateo and San Francisco State University, institutions that formed part of the expanding postwar public and community-college education system in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Her education preceded a career that combined stage acting, screen performance, voice acting, and professional singing. After developing her singing career in Iceland, she returned to the United States and entered New York theatrical work, including performances at The Public Theater and in off-Broadway productions.

Career

Christopherson began performing professionally in the late 1960s, appearing on television and in theatrical productions. Her early television work included The Dating Game, Mayberry R.F.D., Here Come the Brides, and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. She also appeared in the stage production The Umbrellas of Cherbourg at The Public Theater and in off-Broadway productions including Harry Ruby's Songs My Mother Never Sang and Noo Yawk Tawk. The Public Theater, founded in New York by Joseph Papp, became an important institution for accessible theatrical production and new American performance during the period in which she worked there.

In 1969, she originated the voice of Daphne Blake in the first season of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! The series was produced for Saturday-morning television and became a durable part of American animation history. During the same period, she voiced Princess Dawn in the animated series Here Comes the Grump, produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and broadcast by NBC from 1969 to 1970. She later supplied additional voices for Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels.

Her live-action work included The Grasshopper, Wicked, Wicked, Sanford and Son, M*A*S*H, Universal Remote, Knocked Down, and A Mime's Life. In Wicked, Wicked and several television appearances she was credited as Indira Danks. Her later voice work included projects associated with Scholastic Media, including Clifford the Big Red Dog and Your Community Changes Every Day. Scholastic Media developed educational and children's media, and these projects extended her work from entertainment animation into educational programming.

Christopherson also worked as a singer, lyricist, and commercial-voice performer. She sang in AT&T's “Reach Out and Touch Someone” advertising campaign, with music by David Lucas, and wrote lyrics and performed “Crystal of a Star,” composed by Doug Katsaros, for the 1986 science-fiction film Star Crystal. Her career therefore crossed theatrical performance, television animation, commercial music, and film-related songwriting.

Achievements

• She originated the voice of Daphne Blake in the first season of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, establishing the character's earliest recorded television voice.

• She developed a cross-media career that included stage acting, live-action television, animated television, commercial singing, and film-related songwriting.

• She wrote the lyrics and performed “Crystal of a Star,” the closing song for the 1986 science-fiction film Star Crystal.

Works

• educational series

  • Your Community Changes Every Day

    (Scholastic Media educational series in which she provided...)

• feature film

  • Star Crystal

    (Science-fiction film whose closing song, “Crystal of a St...)

    1986
  • Wicked, Wicked

    (Feature film in which she played Genny and was credited a...)

    1973
  • The Grasshopper

    (Feature film in which she played Libby.)

    1970

• song

  • Crystal of a Star

    (Song with music by Doug Katsaros, lyrics by Stefanianna C...)

    1986

• stage production

  • The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

    (Stage production at The Public Theater in which she was c...)

    1979

• TV series

  • Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

    (Animated television series in which she originated the vo...)

    1969
  • Clifford the Big Red Dog

    (Children's animated television project for which she prov...)

  • Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels

    (Animated television series for which she provided additio...)

    1977
  • Here Comes the Grump

    (Animated television series in which she voiced Princess D...)

    1969

Connections

Christopherson married the artist Rabindra Danks on October 24, 1969. They worked on music projects together during their marriage, which ended in divorce on October 31, 1980. They had one son, K.C. Katsaros.

husband:

Rabindra Danks

An artist who married Christopherson in 1969; they collaborated on music projects before divorcing in 1980.

Son:

K.C. Katsaros

References

• Internet Movie Database biography of Stefanianna Christopherson Documents her alternative professional names, acting and voice credits, singing work, songwriting credit for “Crystal of a Star,” and birth information.
• TV Guide biography of Stefanianna Christopherson Summarizes her acting and singing career, Icelandic connection, Daphne Blake role, and DuKane Citizenship Award.
• The Umbrellas of Cherbourg production record Documents her participation in the 1979 Public Theater production and identifies the production's director, musical personnel, and cast context.