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Wonder Woman
Background:
“I won't consider myself a star until I've had more
experience. I think the real stars are people like Streisand, Brando,
Dustin Hoffman, Hepburn. Hepburn is my favorite. She epitomizes to me
what a star should be.” Lynda Carter
American actress and singer of Hispanic and Irish descent Lynda
Carter entered show business as a singer when she was fourteen years
old. She toured with several groups before gaining national fame as
Miss World-USA in the early 1970s. Led by her success as a beauty
queen, the Arizona native embarked on an acting career that reached
its zenith during the run of the surprising hit series “Wonder
Woman” (1975-1979), in which she starred. The coveted role made
her an instant star and led to a series of starring roles in TV
movies, most notably “Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess”
(1983). The former spokesmodel for Maybelline cosmetics did not
attain a Renaissance until 2005 with her roles in the films “Sky
High” and “The Dukes of Hazzard.” Also in 2005,
Carter could also be seen in the hit TV series “Law &
Order: SVU” and in the London stage in “Chicago.”
During the height of her “Wonder Woman” success,
Carter launched her debut album, “Portrait,” in 1978 with
the lead single “All Night Song.” The album was
relatively unknown although it was released internationally. A
professional entertainer, Carter has since made a name for herself as
a successful live performer with sold-out gigs in a number of cities
like Las Vegas, Atlantic City and London. In addition, she has
headlined several TV specials featuring her singing and dancing.
In the entertainment industry since the 1960s, Carter has become
the recipient of an unprecedented number of honors, including the
title of “The Most Beautiful Woman in the World” from The
British Press Organization in 1978. She has also been named one of
Mr. Blackwell's “Ten Best Dressed Women in America,” one
of Helene Curtis' “Ten Best Tressed Women In America” and
one of the International Bachelors Association's “Ten Most
Exciting Women In The World.” In 1980, Carter was handed the
prestigious Gold Two Award for South America's Most Popular Actress
and Performer and the Ariel Award for International Entertainer of
The Year, and three years later, she was voted “Hispanic Woman
of the Year” by the Hispanic Women's Council of Los Angeles,
Inc. More recently, in 2000, she was honored with an Achievement
Award from the Washington Mystics.
Carter has been married twice. She and first husband Ron Samuels,
who also served as her manager, divorced in 1982 after a five-year
marriage. Currently, she is the wife of lawyer and businessman Robert
Altman, whom she married in 1984, and has two children with him,
Jamie and Jessica. The family now resides in Washington, D.C. Carter
enjoys such sports as swimming, skiing, tennis, roller-blading and
skeet shooting.
Arizona Beauty
Childhood and Family:
Linda Jean Cordova Carter, who would later be popular as Lynda
Carter, was born on July 24, 1951, in Phoenix, Arizona, to a
Caucasian father (Colby Carter) and Mexican mother (Juana Córdova).
She became a passionate reader of the “Wonder Woman”
comic books at an early age. The youngest of three children enjoyed
outdoor activities with her parents and her older siblings, Pamela
and Vincent. Lynda inherited a love for music and the arts from her
mother. At age 5, she began taking dance lessons at the School Ballet
of Phoenix and continued her studies until age 15. She also attended
Kenilworth School at Scottsdale. When she was 10, Lynda parent’s
divorced and Lynda and her siblings went lived with their mom, who
then moved the family to a poor suburb of Phoenix. In order to feed
her children, she took a job at Motorola grouping parts. While at
Scottsdale's Arcadia Titans High School, Lynda participated in
musical groups and theater productions and was named the “Most
Talented Student” of her high school. After graduating, Lynda
enrolled at Arizona State University but soon grew bored with school
and left after only one semester to embark on a career in music.
Later, Lynda added acting to her endeavors, a craft she studied with
Stella Adler, Laura Zucker, Charles Conrad, Lieux Dressler, Milton
Katselas, and others.
On May 28, 1977, Lynda married Ron Samuels, a Hollywood producer
and manager, but they divorced after five years in June 1982. She
next tied the knot with Washington attorney Robert Altman on January
29, 1984. On January 14, 1988, Lynda gave birth to a baby boy at the
Children's Hospital in Washington, DC, that the couple named James.
Their second child, daughter Jessica, was born on October 7, 1990.
All Night Song
Career:
At age 3 or 4, Lynda Carter knew she wanted to be an artist after
seeing Dinah Shore on television and shortly thereafter, she made her
first public appearance on Lew King's talent show. Later, with The
Relatives, the 14-year-old girl had the experience of performing at
parties and in local hangouts and after quitting college, she joined
The Garfin Gathering and toured the country for three years until
1970. With the hope of launching a recording career, Carter and the
group flew to England and recorded the songs “It Might As Well
Stay Monday” and “I Believe in Music” as their
demo. Unfortunately, the tape was never released and they returned to
the United States.
Carter went on to do several tours but became tired and returned
to Phoenix in 1972. Following the suggestion of a local model agency
and with support from her family, she tried her hand in local beauty
contests and ended up being crowned the 1972 Miss Phoenix. She
quickly worked her way up and won the Miss Arizona-World and the Miss
World-USA titles. As Miss USA, she competed at the Miss World beauty
pageant in London and reached the top 15 semi-finals.
After completing her duty as “Miss World-USA,” Carter
left Arizona for Los Angeles with the intention of becoming an
actress. With the money she collected from being the beauty queen,
she took acting lesson with such noted instructors as Stella Adler
and Charles Conrad and after two years, she made her television debut
in a 1974 episode of the short lived series “Nakia,”
playing Helen Chase. She went on to appear in other shows like “Mat
Helm” (1975), “Starsky & Hutch” (1976) and made
her first big screen debut in 1976's “Bobbie Jo and the
Outlaw,” a low-budget Western directed by Mark L. Lester. She
was also seen in the TV movie “A Matter of Wife...and Death”
(also 1976).
However, Carter did not receive a real breakthrough until she
starred as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman in the fantasy/adventure series
“Wonder Woman,” a role originated by
athlete-turned-actress Cathy Lee Crosby in the unsuccessful movie
version in 1974. Originally airing as a special in 1975, the series
was an immediate success when it debuted as a TV series in 1976 and
received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Costume
Design for a Drama or Comedy Series in 1978, a year before it was
canceled. Thanks to the wit and depth Carter infused to her part, the
character has become one of the most memorable characters in the
history of television. Twenty years after the demise of the series,
Carter won a TV Land for Superest Super Hero for her work in “Wonder
Woman.” She gained an additional nomination in 2006 and 2007
for Greatest Gear or Admirable Apparatus.
Riding high on her small screen success, Carter released an album
in 1978 called “Portrait,” in which she co-penned the
three songs “Fantasy Man” (with Candi Siller), “Want
To Get Beside You” (with Don Dunn and Art Munson) and “Toto
(Don't It Feel Like Paradise)” (with Bill Cuomo and Ben
Siller). The album, which was produced by Vini Poncia, comprised of
ten tracks with “All Night Song” released as its first
single. Despite a global release, “Portrait” was
considered a disappointment. Later that same year, backed by
then-husband Ron Samuel, Carter scored victory with her live shows in
various places like Las Vegas, Reno, Atlantic City, Lake Tahoe, Monte
Carlo and the London Palladium.
After the cancellation of “Wonder Woman,” Carter
maintained her small screen presence by acting in such TV films as
“Born to Be Sold” (1981), “Rita Hayworth: The Love
Goddess” (1983, starred in the title role of the silver screen
goddess), the based-on-novel “Stillwatch” (1987, with
Angie Dickinson and Don Murray), “Mike Hammer: Murder Takes
All” (1989, opposite Stacy Keach), “Posing: Inspired by
Three Real Stories” (1991), “When Friendship Kills”
(1996), “Family Blessings” (1996), “A Prayer in the
Dark” (1997), and “Someone to Love Me: A Moment of Truth
Movie” (1998). She also played the regular role of Carole
Stanwyck on detective series “Partners in Crime” (1984)
and guest starred as Elizabeth Shields in a 1994 episode of the
adventure series “Hawkeye.” Meanwhile, on the big screen,
she only made a single appearance, as Charlotte Furber, in the
independent drama “Lightning in a Bottle” (1993), helmed
by Jeff Kwitny and penned by Jonnie Lindsell.
In the early 1980s, Carter found success as the spokesperson of
Maybelline Cosmetics. Within one year, she helped the company triple
their income from $70 million to over $200 million. 1980 also saw
Carter institute the Lynda Carter/Maybelline Tennis Challenge, which
went on to become an annual event in Palm Springs California, and
receive the Gold Poster Award for the best selling poster of Pro Arts
Inc. Her first of five television specials, “Lynda Carter's
Special,” was also aired in 1980.
Back to film after an 8 year hiatus, Carter took on the small role
of Natalie Jessman in the 2001 comedy film “Super Troopers,”
directed and co-written by Jay Chandrasekhar. She followed it up with
a costarring role on the comedy/horror “The Creature of the
Sunny Side Up Trailer Park” in 2004. In between the projects,
she starred as Dr. Janet Fraser on the made-for-TV film “Terror
Peak” and made a guest appearance in the sitcom “Hope &
Faith” (both 2003).
It was in 2005 that Carter received two high-profile roles. First,
she was cast alongside Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston in the Mike
Mitchell teen comedy “Sky High,” playing Principal
Powers, and then appeared as Pauline in the movie version of “The
Dukes of Hazzard,” which starred Johnny Knoxville, Seann
William Scott and Jessica Simpson. The same year, she also landed a
guest spot as Lorraine Dillon on the NBC popular series “Law &
Order: SVU,” a role she reprised a year later on “Law &
Order,” and returned to her musical roots as prison warder Mama
Morton in the London stage production of “Chicago.”
The following year, Carter was featured with Casper Van Dien on
the TV film “Slayer” and played Mary Alice on the
15-minute short “Tempbot,” directed by Neill Blomkamp.
She next appeared as Moira Sullivan in a 2007 episode of
“Smallville.”
Carter is set to play Abigail Foxworth in the upcoming drama film
“Between Heaven and Earth” (2008), opposite Keith
David.
Awards:
TV Land: Superest Super Hero, “Wonder Woman,”
2004
Washington Mystics: Achievements Award, 2000
Gold Two: South America's Most Popular Actress and Performer,
1980
Ariel (Mexican Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences):
International Entertainer of The Year, 1980
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