Marla Hanson

The story of the attack on Hanson was made into a TV movie entitled The Marla Hanson Story in 1991 where she was portrayed by Cheryl Pollak.

In June 1986, she rejected the sexual advances of her landlord, Steve Roth. Roth hired two friends, Steven Bowman and Darren Norman, to attack Hanson. Hanson testified that Roth asked her to step outside a bar, and then stood by while the two men, after announcing a "stick-up," slashed her face with a razor blade. The assault left three wounds that required surgery and over 100 stitches to close, resulting in permanent scars.

In the fall 1987 series premiere of Beauty and the Beast on CBS, Catherine Chandler's face is cut up with a box cutter by unknown thugs in a manner very similar to Hanson's injuries. She is treated and nursed to health by the mysterious "beast", Vincent. The date of the attack is shown on a police report as 12 April 1986.

Born in Independence, Missouri, Hanson graduated from Odessa High School in Odessa, Missouri, and attended college at Southwestern Assemblies of God College (SAGU) in Waxahachie, Texas a suburb of Dallas, Texas. After working selling real estate and insurance, a job promotion brought her to New York City. There, a part-time modeling job eventually became a full-time career in the 1980s.

Marla Hanson (born June 18, 1961) is an American screenwriter and ex-model who was the victim of a slashing attack by her landlord in 1986.