celebrities today: lynda carter early life

Saturday, January 22, 2011

lynda carter early life

Lynda Carter born July 24, 1951 is an American actress and singer, best known for being Miss World USA and for her dual role as Wonder Woman and her alter ego, Diana Prince, on the 1970s television series The New Adventures of Wonder Woman (1975–79).
Contents
1 Early life
2 Career
2.1 Wonder Woman
2.2 Other credits
3 Personal life
4 Filmography
5 Albums
6 References
7 External links
Early life
Carter was born Linda Jean Córdova Carter in Phoenix, Arizona. Her father, Colby Carter, is an art dealer of Irish descent and her mother, Juana Córdova, is of Mexican descent with roots in Chihuahua, Mexico and previously worked in the telephone industry. 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.
During high school, Carter performed in a band called "Just Us", consisting of a marimba, a conga drum, an acoustic guitar, and a stand-up bass played by another girl. When she was 17, Lynda joined two of her cousins in another band called "The Relatives". Actor Gary Burghoff was the drummer. The group opened at the Sahara Hotel and Casino lounge in Las Vegas, Nevada, for three months; and, because Lynda was under 21, she had to enter through the kitchen. She attended Arizona State University and was a member of Alpha Xi Delta; but, after being voted "Most Talented", she dropped out to pursue a career in music. In 1970, Lynda sang with "The Garfin Gathering with Lynda Carter". Their first performance was in a San Francisco hotel so new that it had no sidewalk entrance. Consequently, they played mostly to the janitors and hotel guests who parked their cars in the underground garage. She returned to Arizona in 1972.
Career
In 1972, Carter entered a local beauty contest and gained national fame by winning Miss World USA, representing Arizona; in the international 1972 Miss World pageant, representing the U.S., she reached the semi-finals. After taking acting classes at several New York acting schools, she began making appearances on such TV shows as Starsky and Hutch, Cos, and Nakia and in "B-movies," including her only nude appearance, in Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw (1976).
Wonder Woman
Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman, displaying her ability to deflect bullets using her bracelets.
Carter's acting career took off when she landed the starring role in The New Adventures of Wonder Woman as Wonder Woman and her alter ego Diana Prince. The savings her parents had set aside for her to pursue acting in Los Angeles was almost depleted, and she was close to returning to Arizona when her manager informed her that she had won the part. Her earnest performance endeared her to fans and critics, and the series lasted three seasons. Thirty years after first taking on the role, Carter continues to be closely identified with Wonder Woman.
As the program was winding down, Carter told US magazine:
"I never meant to be a sexual object for anyone but my husband. I never thought a picture of my body would be tacked up in men's bathrooms. 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 feedback she had received for her poster as Wonder Woman.
Carter was also upset with some of the marketing of her image. Warner Bros. worked out a deal with the toy company Mego to create a Wonder Woman doll while the series was still on the air. In 1987, on The Late Show with Joan Rivers, Carter commented:
"I think that you're probably familiar with a problem in Hollywood, and that is that they market you, and they use you. They did a mask of my face and put it on the doll, and they put my name on for the first run of it. And then they took my name off and said they didn't have to pay me anymore. So it's the kind of thing that you can be used so much in this industry. I make nothing. I don't even make anything from the reruns. Don't ever settle for net profits. It's called creative accounting."
In 2007, toy company DC Direct released a 13" full-figure statue of Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman, limited to 5,000 pieces it was re-released in 2010. Also in 2010, DC Direct began selling a 5½-inch bust of Carter's rendition of Wonder Woman to celebrate the character's 75th anniversary