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Excerpted from The Amazing World of DC Comics #15 August, 1977 This is an article about Lynda Carter, and I hope you'll forgive me a bit of circuitous writing, I'll get to her in a minute - honest. But, first I want to tell you about Bill the Propman.  I
met Bill the first day I went to work over at ABC in Hollywood, writing
the Welcome Back, Kotter show. His job was to hang around the set, ready
to furnish whatever items were suddenly desired. Like if Gabe Kaplan suddenly
desired a left-handed Brazilian boomerang screwdriver(in lime-green),
Bill had to produce it. Amazingly, he usually could. Bill worked a great
number of shows and, like everyone else who worked on the lot, was altogether
blasé about celebrities. Various and sundry stars come and go,
through corridors and commissary, with nary an ogle. If I tell you on
that selfsame first day, I got trapped in an elevator with Olivia Newton-John
and Elliot Gould, the later ran into Groucho Marx in the hallways, and
that none of this impressed Bill in the least, you should understand.
Bill doesn't get impressed by stars. With two exceptions. And they were
both named Carter. One was named Jimmy and he was, at the time, the front-runner
for the office of President. Now, Bill had no intention of voting for
the man but he did go out of his way to catch a glimpse of him. And the
only other time I say Bill even the tiniest bit interested in a celebrity
was when Lynda Carter, a.k.a. Wonder Woman, was on the lot doing some
sort of guest appearance. I saw him running near Stage 57, and as he ran,
he yelled back at me, "Lynda Carter's over on 53! I've gotta see her!"
And when I saw Bill later and asked if he had, indeed, gotten his desired
glimpse, he said "Yes,' and on his face was a glazed stare. And the smile
of a beginning ventriloquist. Talk
about being catapulted to stardom: before she won the role of Wonder Woman,
Lynda Carter was a virtual unknown about town... an ex-beauty queen, of
which there are many, who could sing, and act, yet go totally unnoticed
by producers, casting directors, and, yes, even Bill the Propman. Then WW
happened and her agents were touting her all about town as(her publicist
said this, I didn't)"...the wonderment of vulnerability and exquisite loveliness."
Well, that's Wonder Woman, all right. She is now, in show business parlance,
a "hot property," soon to be seen in Francis Ford Coppola's film of "Apocalypse
Now." Inasmuch as Coppola is known to have been a frequent comic book reader,
one might well draw the conclusion that she got the part(as a Playboy centerfold
girl) because of her embodiment of feminine perfection. And, who knows?
One might even be right about that. In any event, here's the back-story
on her...Lynda Carter(who cannot seem to agree with her publicist on how old she is) is a native of Arizona; in fact, she was Miss Arizona, followed by being Miss USA. She went to London for the Miss World pageant and made a good showing. But she didn't win, which may, in retrospect, have been a blessing. It gave her the chance to move to Los Angeles and immerse herself in an acting career, studying with Stella Adler, Lieux Dressler, and Charles Conrad. Within months, she was getting small roles on television: a guest shot on "Nakia,"(which I have on good authority, was on NBC for around a minute and a half) a pilot or two, et cetera... And then came a call from her agent to go be interviewed for the lead role of Sharon Fields in the then-pending film of Irving Wallace's novel, The Fan Club. The film, by the way, is still pending and likely to remain so for some time. In any event, the producer, Larry Gordon, was impressed with the comely Ms. Carter, though he felt her wrong for his film. So he called his friend, Douglas Cramer, you see, was producing the SECOND pilot of Wonder Woman, now known as "The New, Original Wonder Woman," to distinguish her from the previous less-than-successful version starring Cathy Lee Crosby. THIS Wonder Woman, developed for television by the wickedly-witty Stanley Ralph Ross, was to be faithful to the source material. And Cramer agreed with Gordon that Lynda Carter was perfect for the role. Lynda went immediately into training, being rather super critical of her own physique. She plotted out a strict, mainly vegetarian diet for herself and spent many long hours in training, both with dialogue coaches and physical training instructors. One of her dialogue coaches told me that Lynda was absolutely serious about the part; that she wanted to do more than play the Amazon Princess. She wanted to be Wonder Woman. Talking to Lynda Carter, you get the feeling that she believes in intense involvement in every project she undertakes. Further, she prides herself on a particularly high level of intuition and high consciousness derived, she says, from her past lives as a member of English nobility, a trail-blazing pioneer, the wife of a Pharaoh, an Indian, et al. She did most of her own stunts on "Wonder Woman," herself, often when they required strenuous running or leaping. Put simply, she works to keep herself in the best possible shape, both physical and mental. Sure sounds like Wonder Woman to me. The ABC executives agreed. After screening Lynda's pilot as Wonder Woman, everyone concurred she was perfect, apart from obvious physical qualifications, she had a light enough "sense of self." To carry off the role of Wonder Woman, to be convincing, not ridiculous, doing the super-feats and parading about in the costume. People often said that the hardest thing George Reeves had to do as Superman - and the achievement that was testimonial to his talent - was that he never seemed awkward or embarrassed in the Superman costume. He conducted himself with enough aplomb that viewers could suspend their inherent disbelief and believe him as the Man of Steel. The head honchos of the network and studio were all worried that an actress who was both beautiful and strong enough to play their Wonder Woman would not be able to act well enough to create that same acceptance. Last year, an ABC exec who had been dead-set against the whole program confided to me that only seeing Ms. Carter go though her paces that changed his mind. Her ability was further demonstrated in a 1976 movie, "../bobbi Jo and the Outlaw," in which she co-starred with Marjo  e
Gortner. The film itself was nothing to light Roman Candles over; another
in the increasing succession of guy-and-girl-on-the-lam movies, replete
with wholly unmotivated shootings, totally unnecessary car chases and, as
is de rigueur of such exploitation films, a coterie of cretinous law enforcement
officials who serve as the enemy. Absolutely nothing about the film distinguished
itself, but for Ms. Carter's and Gortner's portrayals of the title roles.
So... if anyone was of the opinion that Lynda Carter's talents began and
ended with playing bullets and bracelets, that may certainly be denied.
And the subsequent success of the "Wonder Woman" show offers further denial.As I write this, the official word from on-high at ABC is that the "Wonder Woman" show is no more. Those friends on the staff as could be reached expressed shock when the word came down. The ratings, though on a down-trend, were good - in some instances, spectacular. ABC has used the show in different time slots on an intermittent basis and, in most of those positions, it had done very well indeed. Dickering is currently under way with both NBC and CBS to see if wither would care to continue the series... and, by the time you read this, you should have some idea as to what success, if any, came from those negotiations. If none, then "Wonder Woman" may go down in television history right behind "Bridget Loves Bernie" and "Red Skelton," which are two highest-rated shows ever to be canceled. And what of Lynda Carter? Well, to the probable delight of Bill the Propman, she will not doubt be quite in evidence. Already, there is talk of another series, of movies, and of record albums. (She, in addition to all else, sings and writes songs, and, most likely, trisects singles in her spare time). Oh - and one last word about Bill: I asked him one day why, of all the stars and gorgeous ladies who undulated around the lot, Lynda Carter was the one who had his heart registering Ten on the Richter Scale. Said Bill: "Well, you see, in this job, the first thing you learn about stars is that stars are human beings. No more, and usually, no less. Just people. So, you stop being star struck and just treat them like ordinary folks." "But, what about Lynda Carter?" I asked. "I'm gettin' to that. Remember when Jimmy Carter was here? Well, him I had to go to see. A president isn't a human being... he's bigger than life. A president is like Superman, except Superman, he doesn't raise peanuts or fall down, or erase tapes." "And Lynda Carter - ?" "Far as I'm concerned, she is Wonder Woman... or as close as you're gonna come." Well, that's what he said. And I've learned three immutable rules about television: never spit on the script girl, never eat a video tape machine, and most of all, never argue with Bill the Propman. |