WONDERLAND • The Ultimate Wonder Woman Site

	Hubby Ron Samuels may be Lynda Carter's Svengali but TV's Wonder Woman likes it that way.

	Wham! Zap! Crash! It had to happen. Who else but a boy wonder would make a proper mate for Wonder Woman Lynda Carter? On TV, she tosses men around like used Kleenex. But in Ron Samuels, it looks like Lynda's met her match.

	"In all modesty, I'm the best at what I do. I'm No. 1," insists Ron. What this super-Hollywood go-getter does is manage the careers of entertainers, among them Bionic Woman Lindsay Wagner, Charlie's Angel Jaclyn Smith, model-actress Jennifer O'Neill and Wonder Woman Lynda Carter, who is also his new wife.

	Ron's gaudy feats in the barracuda atmosphere of movie and TV finagling ratify his brash self-assessment. Thanks to his wily negotiations, Ms. Wagner, Ms. Smith and the new Mrs. Samuels will earn more than $1 million apiece this year.

	From the 15 percent he gets from them and his other clients (he manages four other performers and owns and ad agency), the Beverly Hills-bred promoter, at 34, will rake in about $700,000 this year.

	For Lynda Carter, 25, Ron has taken a floundering, uncertain actress and groomed her into a multifaceted performer who gets astonishing media coverage. New Farrahs are made from this kin of publicity.

	Hardly a household word last season after 11 appearances in "Wonder Woman," a show ABC presented only sporadically as a special, Lynda is doing a full season of 26 shows this year. Ron convinced CBS to pick up "Wonder Woman" from ABC and give it a one-hour prime-time slot this fall. Of course, CBS also had its eye on the Nielsen ratings, which showed that "Wonder Woman" was slowly attracting a new audience. The show's comic-strip mentality may have been aimed at the "Sesame Street" set, but daddies were getting progressively interested in watching Lynda fill Wonder Woman's size-38 breastplate.

	As a result of Ron's adroit negotiating, the statuesque Lynda (almost five nine) now has power of script approval. She and Ron have also metamorphized Wonder Woman from a one-dimensional World War II Nazi-fighter into a with-it 70s reformer. Among her other fringe benefits: a private phone on the set, a sumptuous trailer, a full-time secretary and a chauffeur-driven limousine.

	No wonder Lynda gushes when she relates the tale of how she and her new hubby met. "Ron was at the studio visiting a friend," Lynda recalls. "He asked if we could get together for lunch. We did, and right at the beginning I asked him if this was business or pleasure. He said that I certainly was someone who spoke her mind. It turned out that his business was pleasure. But it also evolved into business. How could it be otherwise? Ron is so lovable, and he's such a genius when it comes to managing talent."

	Lynda's a living tribute to what lovable Ron can do. She wasn't getting very far on her own. The daughter of a middle-class antique dealer in Phoenix, Lynda spent her formative years being self-conscious about her height. "In high school," she says, "I was too tall to be on the pep squad, too tall to feel comfortable on a date and too tall to feel at ease anywhere." As an antidote, she took up singing. She didn't set the world on fire, but managed to tour with a rock group after graduating from high school.

	In 1973, her height didn't cause her any trouble in winning the Miss World-USA title, so she decided to try for the brass ring in Hollywood. The TV geniuses were looking for a cross between Olga Korbut and Godzilla to star in "Wonder Woman," but settled on Lynda. She might still be playing that dimwitted, javelin-throwing sex object if she hadn't connected with Ron. Now, in addition changing Wonder Woman's image, Ron has negotiated a record contract and a Vegas showroom for Lynda.

"Lynda has a lot more dimension than you see on "Wonder Woman," Ron insists. "She has an IQ of almost genius, and she is one of the best singers in the world -and I'm overly critical."

Ron thrust himself into the center of industry chatter two years ago by maneuvering Universal Studios, which produces "Bionic Woman," into giving Lindsay Wagner an unprecedented contract $5 million in five-years.

What made his accomplishment eye-catching was that shortly before he took over guiding her career, Universal had let Lindsay Wagner's $50,000-a-year option drop, and she was looking for work as a waitress.

For Jaclyn Smith Ron negotiated a tripling of her salary this year, got her a movie for TV and jacked up her income from endorsements and modeling.

Now that Ron has married one of his TV superwomen, the question of jealousy, both professional and sexual, naturally arises. The press is always implying that Ron's relationship with Lindsay Wagner was once more than just business. "That's absolutely ridiculous," he says fatly. Adds a business pal: "Lindsay is very happly married. As for Jackie Smith she makes Goldilocks look like a liberal." Nevertheless, Ron often has a time of it juggling the sensitive egos of his three TV ladies. Just try to get them all-together for a picture.

To keep his stars rising, Ron rises at 6:30 a.m. and does 50 push-ups and 300 sit-ups to keep his 148-pound body trim. He then goes off to his Beverly Hills office for a 14-hour day, Saturdays frequently included.

"I'm driven," he confesses. "I guess I got it from my father."

His father was a freewheeling entrepreneur who did very well around Los Angeles in restaurants, furniture and aircraft parts. Ron started as a $75-a-week trainee under producer Aaron Rosenberg. He soaked up the nuance of the film trade, and on weekends made valuable contacts playing golf with Hollywood bigwigs. The secret of his success seems to be a sensitive eye for future stars, mainly female, and the cunning knowledge of how much the traffic will bear for their services.

Divorced with no children, Ron met the previously unmarried Lynda Carter around Christmas last year. They were married May 28 and now live quietly in a five-bedroom French country house that sits atop a hill in Benedict Canyon.

Ron blows his money on vintage cars and on a shower of diamonds for Lynda. He has designed several hundred thousand dollars worth of baubles for her, including a big triangular diamond wedding ring, a diamond ID bracelet and a cross-shaped diamond necklace, all of which are kept in a bank vault, despite the three fierce German shepherds guarding their home.

For Lynda, Ron has been her only romance. "I went out with a couple of guys before," she says, "but I was looking for someone strong and gentle without being macho, someone I could rely on. Nobody can mess with me or take advantage of me because of Ron. I don't see my career threatening our relationship, but if I did, I'd quit. I'd follow Ron to the ends of the earth."

Says Ron, "Meanwhile, we are both close to the spirit of God. we count our blessings every day."

Patting Ron's bejeweled hand, Lynda adds, "And every night before we go to sleep, Ron says, "I love you more than anything."

They didn't say whether there was a Wham! Zap! Crash! in the background.