Lynda Carter turns 70: Wonder Woman who was abused and almost left homeless

Pablo O. Scholz

07/24/2021 1:30

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Updated 07/24/2021 1:30 AM

Today is

Lynda Carter's

birthday

.

The age of the ladies is not said, but it is written: they are 70 years of the woman who was - is - Wonder Woman, the one who did most of her own stunts, like hanging from a helicopter.

“I had a lot of stuntmen, because they all did something different, but I ended up doing most of the fights myself.

The stuntmen taught me how to throw a pineapple and eventually I became an honorary member of the Women's Stuntmen Association. "

What did his former high school classmates say, who bullied him when he was a teenager.

They nicknamed her Olivia, the Popeye character, because of her height.

She only had $ 25 before her role on the show was confirmed, and she wasn't going to be able to pay the rent on her apartment.

Photo Clarín Archive

But Linda (with i) Jean Cordova Carter, born July 24, 1951, in Phoenix, Arizona, with her piercing blue eyes, deep voice, and 6 '.

became a star.

For now she, now and about the success of the series, says: “I would like to think that I had something to do with it, but it is a phenomenon in itself.

And it's not so bad to be some kind of pop icon.

It is not too difficult to handle ”.

Although he only had $ 25 before his role in the series was confirmed, and he was not going to be able to pay the rent of his apartment.

And she suffered from her alcoholism, was raped and sexually abused.

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A post shared by Lynda Carter Official (@reallyndacarter)

She had suffered from drinking excessively.

His drinking worsened when, in 1983, his first marriage ended.

“I never really felt like I had a lot of substance in my life.

I had broken up with my ex-husband (Ron Samuels) and looked around me.

He didn't have many friends.

I had isolated myself by fame.

He longed for a family and to have substantive relationships.

Fame is a vapor.

You can't hold onto it. "

Lynda grew up as an avid reader of the

Wonder Woman

comics

, although many of the actual supervillains from the comics did not appear in her television series.

His dream was to be a singer.

And he edited albums.

The first ones came with a poster inside.

Photo Clarín Archive

The iconic Wonder Woman, who spun without getting dizzy like a top to transform into the superheroine with the colors of the American flag, had its premiere on November 7, 1975, and its farewell four years later, on September 11 - what date to after 1979. There were 60 chapters.

He had the bracelets to stop the bullets, built with the remains of Zeus's shield, the blue shorts with little white stars, the red boots, and the lasso that forced bad men to tell the truth ... Wonder Woman was strong.

He could lift a truck, twist irons, always with a smile as devastating as his biceps.

Born in a comic in 1941, the character was created by the psychologist William Moulton Marston, it seems that perhaps, they say, based on a lover.

In case you don't remember, it all began -in the series- when in World War II Major Steve Trevor Jr. (Lyle Wagoner) was wounded by the Nazis.

On a remote island he is rescued by a group of Amazons, including Diana, the queen's daughter.

Diana gets on her invisible plane (?) To Major Trevor and leaves for Washington.

There, the military hires her as his secretary (?) In the Special Defense Agency.

John Wayne said of her "that human Coca Cola bottle", due to its shapes and contours .... Photo File Clarín

To go unnoticed, Diana Prince (Princess Diana, for those who did not notice the wink) wore glasses like Clark Kent, and bun (no, Kent did not have long hair).

It is that at the time the comparison between Superman and Wonder Woman was not hateful.

Could a woman challenge a man for the superhero throne?

And at least on television, he did.

Lynda, who representing Arizona was Miss United States in 1972, and came to London to contest the title of Miss World in 1972, when beauty pageants were not frowned upon, although women were objectified -Gal Gadot, the new WW , had also won a beauty pageant: she was Miss Israel in 2004-, she suffered sexual harassment and abuse.

Victim of sexual abuse and harassment

For example, while filming the series, one of the forms of harassment consisted of "making holes in my dressing room to see how I changed."

And three years ago he went further, and acknowledged that he suffered abuse during his professional career and said that the culprit is being prosecuted.

"I am not considering suing him, other women have already done it for me," she said.

And he added: "Whatever the penalty for that man, it is not enough. He not only raped me, he abused a lot of women," he said, without giving his name and surname.

And he clarified that he did not make the complaint because he did not have "any evidence that could help the judicial process."

At the premiere of "Wonder Woman 1984" in Los Angeles.

AP Photo

In another order, or the same, John Wayne said of her "that human Coca Cola bottle", by its shapes and contours, and pretended to be a compliment.

Look who sings

As often happens there, in the United States as here, a success on the TV screen as an actress allowed her to develop as a singer, which was her dream.

Lynda sang and sings both blues and rock or even jazz.

As much as he continued with acting, mostly with appearances in other series (

The Dukes of Hazzard

) and TV movies and the occasional film, Carter continued his career in music.

And he even edited

Crazy Little Things

ten years ago, in 2011,

which included, of course, a cover

of Queen's

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

.

Something unexpected is coming ... 7.30.21 pic.twitter.com/8XHyDFMIi2

- Lynda Carter (@RealLyndaCarter) June 29, 2021

His first records, of course, came with a poster inside.

Lynda Carter was married twice, first to her former representative, Ron Samuels, in 1977 (divorce in 1982).

Samuels was the manager of other actresses in action series, such as Lindsay Wagner (the Bionic Woman) and Jaclyn Smith (one

of Charlie's Angels

).

She would later marry the lawyer Robert Altman (not related to the filmmaker), with whom she had her children James and Jessica.

Linda as always, Lynda swears and perjures that she has not undergone any surgery, other than to put on Botox, and that she goes out to ride her bike.

The actress, whose scenes were removed from

Francis Ford Coppola's

Apocalypse Now

(1979),

is involved in many charitable causes, be it the Red Cross, the Ronald McDonald House or charities for children.

The "vueltita" with which Diana transformed into Wonder Woman was her idea.

Photo Clarín Archive

Lynda donned both the Wonder Woman costume and her skin, and made decisions that would make it to the screen.

For example, the vueltita was his idea.

As he told

Entertainment Weekly

, “I asked them to do a few spins or do a pirouette.

Then it was only necessary for them to add some explosion effects ”.

But before Lynda Carter, ABC thought of another actress to be Wonder Woman.

And he did a pilot with Cathy Lee Crosby, who had just had guest appearances on shows like

Destiny Thief

,

Carnaby Jones

,

Emergency,

and

Cannon

No.

And it stayed in that, in a pilot or TV movie, because it did not have great ratings.

It was titled

Wonder Woman

, was seen in 1974, and had Ricardo Montalbán in one of the supporting roles.

Lynda Carter and her star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood.

Somewhat belatedly they granted it.

AP Photo

When ABC and Warner Bros decided to take up the idea, they hired Stanley Ralph Ross, who had written

Batman

episodes

with Adam West, and even a four-minute short film:

Wonder Woman: Who's Afraid of Diana Prince?

.

It appears that Crosby was called in, but she declined the offer to go back to being Wonder Woman.

And among those who aspired to be the heroine of DC Comics were three future

Charlie's Angels

(

Farrah Fawcett

, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson).

But not everything was easy for Lynda.

He had to deal with the prevailing machismo of the time, and even with its counterpart.

Jealous.

With Lyle Wagoner, the actor who composed the eldest Steve Trevor.

Photo Clarín Archive

It is that Lyle Wagoner, the actor who composed the eldest Steve Trevor, had been left with the blood in his eye when, a decade ago, he had not passed the auditions to be Batman, which would finally have Adam West in the lead of the series from the '60s.

You may not remember it, but after the success of the first season, in the second, as the costs of everything happening in the 40s made it more expensive, the series hit a temporary jump to move to the present, that is, to the 70's.

Lynda, because of that magic stuff, she didn't age, and Lyle Wagoner was no longer her romantic interest, but… her son.

When she had, very late, her Star on the Walk of Fame, in Hollywood, in April 2018, she wrote on her Twitter account (@reallyndacarter, for those who want to follow her):

Lynda Carter and Patty Jenkins, the director of the two Wonder Woman films.

AP Photo

“It seems impossible that he has been in the entertainment industry for 50 years.

But I love this business, I love the creative process, the work, the acting ... everything.

But today, being honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, I want to THANK my FANS, who have cheered and cheered me on for all these years.

I want you to know how much I appreciate having you in my corner, I never take you for granted.

Thanks again to everyone who made this possible.

This is a day that I will never forget. "

Of course, since everything has to do with everything, Patty Jenkins, the director of the first

Wonder Woman

with

Gal Gadot

and its sequel (ATTENTION SPOILER of

Wonder Woman 1984

: she

appears in a brief cameo, and she looks splendid), was one of those who spoke at the ceremony, to take advantage of the publicity.

That is what the stars on the floor are about, as we will already tell.

Also, in February of this year, Lynda fired her last husband.

“A week ago, my loving husband Robert A. Altman died.

Robert is the love of my life and always will be ”.

pic.twitter.com/yVLKgJO4Sz

- Lynda Carter (@RealLyndaCarter) February 10, 2021

So maybe it is not a great celebration that you make when you turn a round number such as the 70 years that you turn on Saturday.

It was a mutual friend who sat her next to Altman at a dinner party, hoping they would form a match.

So it was.

Maybe your kids will give you a Barbie doll, the kind you've collected since she was little.

Wonderful women do.

Ten things you probably didn't know about Lynda Carter

1

Makes motivational / professional talks.

2

While filming

Battle of the Network Stars

(1976), he sprayed host Howard Cosell's head with champagne after his team won the tug of war without knowing he was wearing a hairpiece.

Cosell was enraged.

Every time she saw him in a New York restaurant, she would send him a bottle of champagne, and he always knew it was hers.

Gal Gadot, as Wonder Woman.

Who did Lynda Carter want to play her, back in 1999?

Photo WB

3

When asked about 1999 who he would like to see play Diana Prince / Wonder Woman in the movies, he said he would prefer actress Catherine Zeta-Jones or model Cindy Crawford.

4 She

is of English and Irish descent through her father, and of Spanish and French descent through her Mexican-born mother, Juana Córdova, whose ancestors came from Córdoba, Spain.

5

The son of one of his stuntmen, Jeannie Epper, told his classmates that his mother was Lynda's double in the series Wonder Woman (1975), but they did not believe him, even after he showed them a photo of her mother in Wonder Woman costume.

When Lynda found out about this, she invited the entire class to the set so they could see Jeannie herself in action.

Always present.

She was at the premiere of the first "Wonder Woman" movie in Los Angeles in May 2017. AP Photo

6 She

returned to her first love, singing, in the play

Chicago

 at the Adelphi Theater in London's West End on September 26, 2005 as Mama Morton, the women's jailer.

He did it in an 8-week mini-season.

7

His only appearances naked in movies were produced with one of his first,

Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw

(1976), who led Mark L. Lester, who later would

make

Llamas revenge

, with Drew Barrymore, and

Command

, with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In "Sky High", comedy of 2005. Photo File Clarín

8

She has been involved in many charitable causes, including a pioneering role with the Susan G. Komen Foundation (for breast cancer education and research) where she received the Jill Ireland Award for her volunteer work, the Red Cross, USO , Ronald McDonald House, and many children's charities.

9

Carter released an album titled

Portrait 

in 1978, but album sales were low.

He released the Jazz

At Last- 

type LP

in 2009, 31 years after his first album, which reached a respectable # 6 on the Jazz charts. 

10

After being convinced by her second husband, Robert Altman, she attended a rehab center near Washington DC and turned to religion to take her first steps toward sobriety.

The treatment was successful and Carter has remained sober ever since.

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