WONDERLAND • The Ultimate Wonder Woman Site

Enter Lynda Carter. While Cramer, Baumes, and Warner Bros. were knocking themselves out looking for what even they thought was the impossible, Lynda was quietly fulfilling all their requirements-only neither she nor they knew it yet.

Lynda came to Hollywood by way of Arizona and the Miss World Pageant, but it wasn't an altogether painless trip. Along the way were all the frustrations, disappointments, and broken hearts that any 25-year-old beauty could handle.

Growing up in Phoenix was a mixed blessing. Lynda is the youngest of three and just missed out on her family's good years. There was wealth and prosperity just until after she was born; her father was an antiques dealer, though Lynda prefers the more descriptive, "junkman-like Sanford and Son." Whatever you want to call it, antiques or junk, the Carter family suffered from some heavy financial setbacks, especially during Lynda's adolescence. That might have traumatized a lot of young girls, but Lynda was showing her super potential even then.

"I knew I had to go out and work to help out at home," Lynda says, "so, that's what I did. I took any job I could get, including working as a maid in other people's homes. I saw nothing wrong in that."

If that didn't make it difficult enough, her high school years at Phoenix' Arcadia High, were not much easier to take. She was, as she says, "Taller than all the boys except the tackles on the football team, and all my girlfriends seemed to be 5'3" blondes. I was even rejected as a pom-pom girl because I towered over everyone else."

Fortunately for Lynda, she channeled her teenaged disappointments and frustrations in a creative direction by taking singing lessons and writing songs. At 15, she joined a folk group called Just Us and toured with them throughout high school and for three years after graduation. She had enrolled in Arizona State University, but the thought of a singing career seemed much more attractive than a college degree, and she dropped out early on. She was not exactly the singing rage, however, so Lynda ended up back in Phoenix with nothing much else to do but enter a beauty contest.

She won first prize. And why not? She was a gorgeous 5' 10", with a stunning figure, very special blueish-greyish-greenish eyes, and lustrous long dark hair. It was the winning combination. She was clearly the most beautiful woman in the contest. Her next step was to the Miss Arizona-World contest, which she also won, and then Miss World USA with a fighting chance at the Miss World crown. She didn't win-Miss Australia did-and she was terribly disappointed. But the rewards of being Miss World-USA were plentiful, and Lynda the beautiful reigned for a glorious, public appearance filled year.

It was often a hectic and demanding job-being beautiful, pleasant, smiling, and cooperative all the time-but Lynda has nothing but good things to say about that year and about the phenomenon of beauty contests in general. A lot of people put them down as exploitative, inane, fiercely competitive, and placing emphasis on unimportant values in today's society, but Lynda disagrees.

"I think beauty contests are great," the former Miss World enthuses. "How else can a girl of a moderate income family get a chance to meet all the interesting people and see all the things I did?"

How else indeed? Look where it led her. From Phoenix to London to Hollywood to study acting. A lucky meeting with producers Cramer and Baumes, and Lynda was launched as Wonder Woman on November 7, 1975, on ABC. The ratings for that first show were more than just good, they were quite terrific, but ABC hesitated to commit themselves to positioning the show for the 1976 season. They already had "The Bionic Woman" scheduled as a series, and two superwomen would be one too many, they thought. Prodded by an offer from CBS (a rather prophetic one) to buy the series from Warners, ABC scheduled "Wonder Woman" for two one-hour specials that ran in April. Again, the ratings were better than good, yet ABC still wouldn't come up with a permanent time slot. In stepped NBC, claiming they would buy the series for their fall line-up if ABC didn't do something quick.

ABC did do something quick, and very unusual. They scheduled "Wonder Woman" specials, in different lengths, on a prime-time, pre-emptive basis. It was a new idea in programming that unfortunately didn't work for long. The ratings were good, but fans just couldn't get a grip on the timing. "Wonder Woman" was not on a regular enough basis to build up a really strong and loyal following. So when ABC announced their fall 1977 schedule, "Wonder Woman" (and "The Bionic Woman" as well) were nowhere to be found. ABC's reason? They were overcommitted to new shows, and they felt there was a definite, trend toward comedy rather than toward female superwomen' type adventures. Just to show how farsighted they were, of the 22 new shows that premiered in September 1977, only two made it through to the new year - "Love Boat" and "Soap," both ABC and both comedies.

Luckily for everyone, CBS came to the rescue, and "Wonder Woman" became safely ensconced in a new home. They bought the show for 26 regularly scheduled one hour episodes. They were at least partially convinced to do it by Ron Samuels, Lynda's husband, agent, and all-around magic maker. He is the driving force behind many of TV's top moneymaking stars. CBS switched the format to a modern setting, partially for money reasons, partially to give it more flexibility. As a "period" series, it was expensive, with a lot of dollars being spent on props, costumes, and costly 40's sets. It was also getting boring, fighting all those Nazis, and the new format gives Lynda a little bigger range.

"The plots have been-and will be-based on domestic and international problems," Lynda explains. "Some of the guest leads are 'larger than life' in terms of destructive power, and then other shows will be based on a more human interest slant. The scope is wider-from outer space to a child in trouble, perhaps."

To anyone who missed the first episode, "The Return of Wonder Woman," the total turn-around might have been a bit confusing. In that show, Diana finished up her duties in the United States just after World War 11 was over and went home to Paradise Island. Then, another plane crashed, and another Steve Trevor survived-but this time, it's the original major's son (remember, Wonder Woman is immortal and ageless), played once again by Lyle Waggoner. And so, life and Wonder Woman continue on....

As for Lynda, she's as unlike Wonder Woman offstage as you could possibly imagine. She's had a tough job with the character, who has enjoyed a comic strip existence for more than 25 years. The original "Wonder Woman" cartoon was created because Charles Moulton felt little girls were being left out. The boys had "Superman," "Batman," and "Captain Marvel" to follow in the funny papers, but there were no superwomen. So he invented one. And thousands of young girls grew up with the fantasy of someday changing their own hum-drum lives into exciting, danger-filled ones, just like Wonder Woman's.

There's something magical in watching the transformation of a bespectacled, uniformed, plain Jane into an exotically beautiful, brightly costumed superwoman who is as deft in repelling bullets with her silver bracelets as her counterpart is with a steno pad. Lynda is convinced her portrayal is meaningful because she tries to show that "a woman doesn't have to be unattractive to be independent." And she does it in her own unique way.

"I have welded the two so much that there are things about myself and the values I have that the character has," Lynda says. "Diana Prince is probably more me than Wonder Woman is because, obviously, Wonder Woman is a fantasy and Diana is more a human being. And I wear glasses, too."

Though her acting has been called limited by some, and her skills rudimentary by others, Lynda does do most of her own stunts. She's a natural athlete, a former swimming champ, tennis player, ballet student, and constant dieter (when she first saw herself in her Wonder Woman costume, she immediately went on a diet and lost ten pounds. She felt a lot better for it, although nobody even noticed any difference).

Lynda trained long and hard with one of the top stuntmen in Hollywood to learn just how to land correctly; to throw her golden lasso so that it hits the mark; and how to use her arms and turn correctly so she could deflect enemy missiles. It was an arduous, sometimes even torturous program, but Lynda's physical skills and excellent condition made her a fast and able student. She's really the only one of the super duper women on TV who does so much of her own stunt work. Lindsay Wagner had a professional for the really difficult stunts her role demands; the Angels and Angie Dickinson rely much less on the real physical stuff than Lynda does-although they are all in top condition.

Lynda puts in a 12-15 hour day on the set there are a lot of costume and set changes-but her life is not all work and no play. She manages to keep up her tennis and swimming and spends as much time as possible with her husband. Either she has more energy than all the rest of the superwomen on TV put together, or she's just not as vocal about her complaints: Lynda is one of the few series stars who doesn't usually mention how little time she has to live her life because of her work schedule. She frequently has only about a week to study each script, sometimes while filming at the same time.

Lynda and Ron had a true delayed love-at-first sight reaction to each other. Their first meeting wasn't a bell ringer, although they felt the good vibes even then. It was at an ABC party in 1975, and there were just so many people there, it was quite impossible to get to say more than "Hi, how are you?" to anyone. Ron was there with his star client, Lindsay Wagner; he had been-quite successfully-devoting all his time and effort to her career. There were rumors raging at the time about whether Lindsay would marry Ron or her longtime boyfriend, Michael Brandon, and the odds were about evenly divided. Ron and Lynda didn't really get to meet until a year later, when he turned up on the "Wonder Woman" set to visit a friend.

"I looked at Lynda and I just said 'Wow!' Ron remembers. "He asked if we could have lunch," Lynda says. "We did, and right at the beginning, I asked him if this was business or pleasure. He said that I was certainly someone who spoke her mind. It turned out that his business was pleasure. How could it he otherwise? Ron is so lovable, and he's such a genius when it comes to managing talent. "Ron is a gorgeous man, and I've never been so in love with anyone before."

And Ron is equally enthusiastic about his woman. "It shakes me up. I'm very much in love with Lynda. I love her more than anything. I look after Lindsay Wagner's interests 24 hours a day... and I love Lynda Carter 24 hours a day."

Quite a busy schedule for Mr. Samuels, and one, some think, he's not juggling as well as he might. "He's so blinded by his love for Lynda," an acquaintance said, "that he hasn't got much interest for anything else.... He's just too busy to be where he's needed."

None of his clients are complaining, though, and Mr. and Mrs. Samuels just ignore the taunts. They are, it's true, totally wrapped up in one another, learning and growing and making their marriage a solid one. When they were first making wedding plans, Ron announced to the world, "I feel as if we're married already. I'm more married to Lynda than I could possibly be to any other human being as long as I live. We are emotionally married . I respect her. I'm committed to her. And I love her."

In much the same love-filled tone of voice, Lynda gushed, "I'd much rather spend time alone with Ron talking than anything else. There are so many things to learn about someone you're in love with. It's intriguing. It's an adventure. It's a mystery. I don't know if I can ever know Ron entirely. He is such a growing person, he is constantly changing. "I was looking for someone strong and gentle without being macho," Lynda continues. "Someone I could rely on." All of Lynda's dreams were fulfilled when she met Ron. Lynda and Ron are totally together on just about everything, and have been from the very day they took their wedding vows.

It was a perfect California morning, blue skies, birds singing, glorious sunshine. Only family and a few close friends were there-neither Ron nor Lynda wanted their wedding day to be a free-for-all. The service was non-denominational, written mostly by Lynda and Ron themselves, although a minister did officiate. And for all of Lynda's modern thinking and independent spirit, when it came to the wedding, tradition had a very major place. She wore a beautiful Mexican wedding dress in off white and came down the aisle on the arm of her father. Standing up for her, as the maid of honor, was her sister, Pam. The best man was Ron's very good friend, George Litt, who also volunteered his gorgeous house and gardens for the ceremony and party that followed. The actual ceremony was brief, but beautiful, and those closest to the altar say that both Lynda and Ron had tears in their eyes as they said their "I do's."

After the ceremony, and after Lynda had tossed her bouquet into the crowd, there was a Mexican style fiesta, complete with a strolling Mariachi band. Lynda and Ron spent a glorious weeklong honeymoon in Hawaii before the demands of both their careers brought them back to Hollywood.

Despite Lynda's work schedule, she tries to be domestic. She loves to cook and to be at home, and the Samuels' have tried to arrange their time so that most-if not all-of their evenings are free to be together. Children are in the future. They want a few, definitely, but not until they've had a few years to themselves first. Lynda says she'd quit show business before she'd let her career threaten her marriage. "I'd follow Ron to the ends of the earth," she says.

It's easy to see that Lynda loves married life. It may be a bit harder for them to find the same kind of time to spend together as they had when they first met-Lynda was on a break from filming then -but they work at it. "We really take the time to talk with-not ateach other," Lynda says joyfully. "Because if we don't make the time, it's never going to be there.

"Ron is so cute! He's my first and only love. I wake up in the morning and he's there and I get a little something in my heart that I've never experienced before. It's sharing wins and frustrations and all of that. Sharing is the best part. It's not so much of what it is in particular, but helping one another out of their frustrations."

Lynda Carter was dating a lot of people when she met Ron, but none of them was for real. She wants this romance with Ron to go on forever. He gives her a great feeling of security. They are both strong-willed individuals, but Ron seems to see the total picture when Lynda is looking at just one little element. So it works out just fine; there may be an occasional "battle of the wills," but they complement each other's thinking perfectly.

"Lynda is a beautiful, beautiful person," her husband says glowingly. "Not just physically, but in every way. She is absolutely everything I ever wanted in a human being."

It's clear that the feeling is mutual. Lynda has that special glow in her eyes everytime she talks about Ron, and she keeps telling anyone who'll listen, "This is the most wonderful thing that's ever happened to me." It's a perfect love story. Between her husband and her career, Lynda Carter seems to have found true happiness.

"Wonder Woman" is a smooth, professional production with a proven track record. Lynda is called on more to exhibit her physical prowess than her acting talents, and if she's not quite ready for an Oscar, at least she's brought some human qualities to a superhuman character. No one can deny she's a beautiful woman who uses her well proportioned physique to its best advantage and does a pretty good job of providing a real live superheroine to her adoring public.

If Lynda has her way, and Ron's continuing help, you'll soon see another side of her talent. She has started writing songs again, picking up where she left off when she took up acting, and she's really thrilled to get back to it. "Music is the sleeper part of my life," says Lynda. "Something I love and really enjoy doing. It's just that I never had the opportunity, nor have I really wanted to do it before now. Now, I can do it with much more flair and a much bigger send off than I could have if I had never quit touring and began acting."

Lynda writes what she likes to call "top forty country," a cross between country and soft rock. She's putting together a nightclub act using mostly her own material, and she'll start breaking it in with personal appearances and concert dates around the country. Ron's already gotten her a recording contract and a future booking in Las Vegas. And that's only the beginning. Lynda's goal is to do as many different things as she can-to expand as an actress, to sing in nightclubs and on records, maybe even to try her feet at dancing. Great Hera! From superwoman to superstar in only two short years.

"Lynda has a lot more dimension than you see on 'Wonder Woman,' " her husband and mentor says proudly. "She has an IQ of almost genius, and she is one of the best singers in the world. And I'm overly critical."

	Great Hera! Lynda Carter traded in her bathing suit and her Miss World-USA title for a golden breastplate and star-spangled hotpants and became the new Wonder Woman.

	Great Hera again! Right out of the pages of Charles Moulton's 1942 comic strip creation came the idea for TV's superest super heroine. She was immortal, an Amazon who fled from the ancient Greek, male-dominated society of 200 B.C. to Paradise Island, unchartered and undisturbed, at least until a U.S. Army plane, piloted by Major Steve Trevor, crash-landed on the Amazon's utopian acreage.

	Wonder Woman-Diana to her close friendsfell madly in love with the Major, whom she nursed back to robust health. Obviously, she couldn't just pick up and leave her fellow Amazonians for a mere mortal. So she took a sort of leave of absence from the island and, disguised as the relatively unattractive Yeoman First Class, Diana Prince, arrives in the United States to be assigned as secretary to Major Trevor. He has absolutely no idea that she and Wonder Woman are one and the same. When circumstances call for saving the United States-and/or Steve-from peril, evil, or whathave-you, Diana Wonder Womanizes herself with a quick twist and slips out of her uniform and into her red, white, and blue finery. Her golden belt gives her the superhuman strength to fight her enemies; the silver cuffs are the perfect accessory for deflecting bullets, and her golden lasso forces whomever she wraps it around to tell nothing but the truth.

	The way the series actually came into being is an interesting bit of television politics. Warner Communications, who owns the company that puts out "Wonder Woman Comics," decided that if Universal could get away with its almost-comic strip series - "The Six Million Dollar Man" - they could go one better. They had the real thing.

	In 1974, the first "Wonder Woman" pilot, set in the present, hit the airwaves. It starred Cathy Lee Crosby, a fragile blonde, and it didn't work. But in the best traditions of never letting go
of a good idea, and with the hope that it might yet be a hit, the producers, Douglas C. Cramer and Bud Baumes, decided to try and capitalize on the nostalgia craze and put the setting back to 1942, "An age of innocence when you could tell the good guys from the bad guys," as Cramer put it. As for a star, they were searching for a "dark-haired girl who looks like the girl in the strip. She should be built like a javelin-thrower, but with the sweet face of Mary Tyler Moore."