Jill Banner

Jill Banner was an American actress, known for her role in the cult film Spider Baby or, The Maddest Story Ever Told (1967). She was born in Bremerton, Washington, and grew up in a nomadic household after her father died when she was two. Her mother moved the family to South Dakota and Iowa before settling in Glendale, California. Banner attended the Hollywood Professional School, where one of her classmates was Peggy Lipton.

Banner began her career in the mid-1960s. Her debut film, Spider Baby, was shot in 1964 but not released until 1968. When it finally came out, she received rave reviews for her performance as one of two crazed sisters in this dark tale of cannibalism and incest. Between the shooting and release, she did several other films and much TV work. Producer/director Jack Webb regularly cast her in his police shows Dragnet 1967 (1967) and Adam-12 (1968), often as a blissed-out hippie. She was active from 1964 to 1972, about eight years.

In the 1970s, Banner soured on Hollywood and moved to New Mexico, where she sold real estate. But she later returned to California to resume her career. On August 7, 1982, she was driving on the Ventura Freeway when a drunk truck driver hit her car. Not wearing a seat belt, she was ejected and hit her head on the center divider. She went into a coma and died at a local hospital. At the time, she was employed by Marlon Brando, developing scripts for him. She was 35 years old, a slim, petite woman with brown hair and brown eyes.