Lynda Carter
(born July 24, 1951) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for the Amazonian title role in the fantasy-adventure television series Wonder Woman
which aired from 1975 to 1979.
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LYNDA CARTER TICKETS
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Early life
Carter was born
Linda Jean Córdova Carter
in
Phoenix,
Arizona.
[1] Her father, Colby Carter, is an American of Irish descent, and her mother, Juana Córdova, is a Mexican immigrant. Although Carter does not speak Spanish, she understands it well and is proud of her Mexican heritage.
Carter grew up an avid reader of the
Wonder Woman comic books. She went to Globe High School in
Globe, Arizona and
Arcadia High School in Phoenix. She attended
Arizona State University but after being voted the "most talented" student she dropped out in order to pursue a career in music. She toured as a singer with several
rock groups before returning to Arizona in 1972.
Career
Carter entered a local
beauty contest and achieved her first national fame by winning Miss World USA, in 1972, representing Arizona.
As the United States entrant in the
Miss World pageant she reached the semi-finals. After taking acting classes at several
New York acting schools, she began making appearances on TV shows such as
Starsky and Hutch,
Cos,
and
Nakia,
and in "B-movies," including her only nude appearances, which were in
Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw,
released in 1976.
Wonder Woman
However, Carter's acting career did not take off until she landed her starring role in the
Wonder Woman
television series. Her earnest performance endeared her to fans and critics, and the series lasted for three seasons. Thirty years after first taking on the role, Carter continues to be closely identified with Wonder Woman, so much so that it has proved difficult for producers to find a suitable candidate to play the character in subsequent aborted productions. (Work on the most recent attempt was announced in 2005.)
As the program was winding down, Carter told a national magazine:
"I hate men looking at me and thinking...what they think; and I know what they think--they write and tell me."
She was referring to the sexually explicit content of some of the letters she had received from male admirers.
Other credits
Carter's other credits include the title role in a 1983
biopic of
Rita Hayworth titled
Love Goddess,
and a variety of her own television specials:
Lynda Carter's Special
(1980),
Encore!
(1980),
Celebration
(1981),
Street Life
(1982) and
Body And Soul
(1984). She also starred in a few short-lived TV series, including,
Partners in Crime,
with
Loni Anderson, in 1984, and,
Hawkeye,
with
Lee Horsley. During this time she also became a celebrity promotional model for
Maybelline cosmetics commercials.
During the late 1970s, she recorded the album,
Portrait,
on the writing/composing of several of whose selections she collaborated, and made numerous guest appearances on variety television programs in a musical capacity. She also sang two of her songs in the
Wonder Woman
episode, "Amazon Hot Wax."
In 2001, Carter was cast in the independent comedy feature,
Super Troopers,
as, "Vermont Governor Jessman." The writers and stars of the film, the comedy troupe
Broken Lizard,
with member
Jay Chandrasekhar directing, had specifically sought Carter for the role, with plans to approach other television actresses of the 1970s had Carter declined. Carter had her first appearance in a major feature film in a number of years in the
2005 big-screen remake of
The Dukes of Hazzard,
also directed by Chandrasekhar. She also appeared in the 2005 movie, the comedy
Sky High,
as "Principal Powers," the head of a school for superheroes. The script allowed for Carter to poke fun at her most famous character when she states: "What a waste. I can't do anything more to help you. I'm not Wonder Woman, y'know." Lynda returned to the
DC Comics' television world on the 2007 episode of
Smallville,
titled "
Progeny," playing
Chloe Sullivan's
Kryptonite-empowered mother.
Carter has also done
voiceovers for video games, performing voices for the
nord and
orsimer (orc) females in two computer games of
The Elder Scrolls
series,
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
and
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
These games were developed by
Bethesda Softworks, of which her second husband,
Robert Altman--not to be confused with the late Hollywood director--is Chairman and CEO.
From
September 26,
2005, until November of that year, Carter played the role of "Mama Morton," in the
West End London production of
Chicago.
[2] Her rendition of "When You're Good to Mama" was officially released on the
Chicago: 10th Anniversary Edition
CD box set in October of 2006. Lynda began touring the US with her one woman show, "An Evening with Lynda Carter". She has played sell-out engagements at prestigious venues such as Feinstein's At Loews Regency in New York, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. On June 9, 2009 her new cd, "AT LAST" was released and dropped at #6 on The Billboard Chart.
Personal life
Carter has been married twice. Her first marriage was to her former
agent Ron Samuels, on
May 28,
1977. They were divorced in 1982. Samuels was also agent to
Charlie's Angels
co-star
Jaclyn Smith (who attended the wedding) and to
Bionic Woman
star
Lindsay Wagner. Carter later married attorney
Robert Altman, on
January 29,
1984. Robert and Lynda have two children, James and Jessica Altman.
When, after a lengthy and highly publicized
jury trial for banking and
securities fraud in 1992, Carter's husband Robert Altman was found
not guilty, Carter was shown on the nightly
TV news standing in front of San Antonio native, Stan Livengood, with her arm around her husband shouting, "Not guilty, not guilty!" to the TV news reporters.
In early June 2008, Carter found a
body floating in the
Potomac River in
Washington, D.C. while rowing out of the Potomac Boat Club. She called out to some fishermen and waited for the police to arrive.
[3] That same month, she admitted in an interview to
People
magazine that she had entered a
rehabilitation clinic for treatment of chronic
alcoholism.
[4]
Footnotes
- WIC Biography – Lynda Carter
- The British Theater Guide
- 'Wonder Woman finds body floating in river
- 'Wonder Woman Lynda Carter: 'I'm an Alcoholic' '