WONDERLAND • The Ultimate Wonder Woman Site

	"I guess I'm just a good old-fashioned girl," claims Lynda Carter, superstar superheroine of TV's hit comic-series Wonder Woman. "I believe in love, romance, honesty, sincerity and truth. In many ways I am Wonder Woman and her alter-ego, Diana Prince. Maybe that's why I got this choice role when so many more seasoned actresses were turned down for the part."

	Lynda is a tall, statuesque lady, whose eyes twinkle and whose smile says things she doesn't speak. For the past year-and-a-half, she has been the idol of millions of children and almost as many adults (men and women) as she fights evil as the original female superheroine of the comics, Wonder Woman.

	The comic strip Wonder Woman was created in 1942 by Charles Moulton, who believed that little girls needed a cartoon heroine to challenge evildoers as Superman did for their brothers. His creation was Wonder Woman-Diana, an inmortal Amazon lady from Paradise Island. Armed with a few magical devices, she fights Nazis and other baddies while watching over her 'secret love' a US Air Force Major, Steve Trevor. The first series of TV shows stayed true to the mainline comic, but CBS has made updates and changes for the second season.

	The decision to hire Lynda Carter for the Wonder Woman series was not hard to make. Her appearance is just what the comic sets forth. The six-foot actress sports silky long hair, sparkling blue-green eyes, and fills the costumes with a svelte figure from the 38" bustline down to the gold boots. No real Amazon could do better.

	Actually, the height factor that was one of the keys to netting the ex-Miss World USA the role was a hindrance to her school days and early career as a singer.

	"I was taller in school than most of the boys and all of the girls," Lynda told CELEBRITY, "That left me out of a lot of activities, including being a cheerleader. I compensated for it by singing and writing music. I have been doing that since I was ten."

	Lynda's singing career really gained momentum when she was hired at age fifteen to sing with a folk group, Just Us. She toured the country after graduating high school in Phoenix, Arizona, and sang with a number of groups.

	"I recorded a lot of demonstration records that went nowhere," Lynda remembers. "We (the group) did one record in England, but it was stopped because of all the hassles with work permits. I didn't like that - being somewhere where I wasn't free to perform."

	In 1973 Lynda became for all intents bored with her singing career, and entered the Miss Arizona World beauty pageant on a whim. After winning the local title she went on to win the Miss World USA title, and then to lose the Miss World title. The only logical next step was -Hollywood. In the midst of drama lessons and a few auditions, Lynda Carter suddenly became a star at 25!

That stardom may soon be responsible for her realization of a long overdue dream. "One of the happiest things that is happening to me right now is that Paul Anka has expressed great interest in producing an LP album of my singing. I'd be doing some of his songs and a few of my own compositions. And the notoriety I gained as Wonder Woman has made this possible. Funny, though, many people here in Hollywood look at me as an actress and have been asking, 'Can she sing?' not knowing that singing is what I've been doing for fifteen years!"

In person, Lynda Carter is stunning, fresh and full of the joy of life... not to mention success. Her presence is strong and that makes the character she plays much more powerful, not only on the tube, but in real life, too.

Almost a walking encyclopedia of Wonder Woman lore, Lynda has one of the world's most extensive research libraries of materials on her character. "I got a lot of stuff while we were working on the pilots. I had a large collection before the show was even aired," Lynda boasted. "A lot of this material was in the form of gifts from friends when I got the role. After the show was aired and successful the gifts and stuff poured in from everywhere."

"Do you get a lot of women's liberation support?" we asked. "Women have for a long time used the character of Wonder Woman as a sort of symbol of power for women."

"My feelings about all that are that I am already liberated," Lynda answered. "and I don't want to be liberated any more, because then I wouldn't be liberated. I enjoy being a female and I enjoy being an independent female. Being married doesn't lessen my freedom; it gives me more. Now I have the protection of Ron. That means I can step out harder and further in what I want to do than before. And that is NOT very 'women's lib'. I believe in equal pay and equal opportunity. I believe that the best man/woman should win, but I don't hold with the feeling that the way to achieve this is by hitting someone over the head. I think the way to achieve sociological change is by example and tenacity."

Lynda is quite certain she knows the reasons for the success of the Wonder Woman show, mostly because those reasons are very much a part of her own psyche. "The people want fantasy, romance and old-fashioned ideas," Lynda explained. "They are tired of violence and overkill. Old-fashioned ethics and ideas are where the future of this country is. Old-fashioned ethics are becoming new-fashioned. Truth and beauty are in. I don't need to be sexually liberated. I can say yes or no. I can be who I want to be and do what makes me feel good. I think that's what part of the character is all about.

"I never had any doubts that I would be out of work," Lynda told us. "I knew the show was a success and that we'd do more more of the shows. It was just a matter of who would be showing them. I also intend to stick with the series as long as they air it. I believe in loyalty to one's business and have no plans to do it for a few seasons and split for greener pastures as soon as I get tired. I'll be Wonder Woman as long as they want me."

Under Lynda's contract, she isn't really able to do much else than the show, and her schedule limits her time even more. What isn't spent rehearsing stunts and shooting the show is gobbed up with singing, writing, preparations for her LP recording and two live acts, one for Las Vegas for concert tours. When her own network TV special comes up later this year, time will really feel the squeeze. It is no wonder that what little leisure time Lynda Carter has is jealousy guarded and kept for her husband (who is also her manager) Ron Samuels, who also guides the careers of a Charlie's Angel (Jaclyn Smith) and The Bionics Woman (Lindsay Wagner).

Ron and Lynda met several times in business before their romance blossomed. One day he came to the Wonder Woman set and they had lunch. The next day it was tennis. The following day it was love. That was it!

"One of those dates," Lynda confided, "I was watching his mouth as he talked to me and he asked me what I was thinking. I told him honestly that I was wondering what it would feel like to kiss his lips. He really blushed! As it turned out he was very impressed with the fact that I always say honestly what is on my mind and no other woman he ever knew was that straightforward."

And why marriage, in this day and age of liberated couples living together sans ceremony? For Lynda and Ron there was never any question about that.

"On our third date Ron told me that if I was really as honest and beautiful inside as he perceived me to be, then I was the girl he wanted to marry," Lynda confided. "He was the only man I had ever dated who I thought of in terms of marriage. It was just good old-fashioned values, feelings-honest and true. We have had a very romantic storybook relationship right down to the wedding."

The couple married last Junes in a private ceremony. It was a romantic yet fun wedding with Ron sporting a custom-made white silk jacket which his bride proceeded to anoint liberally with icing from the cake. One of the bridesmaids was so nervous she put both contact lenses in one eye!

The honeymoon was short - a weekend in Hawaii before the grind of business began again on Monday morning for the newlyweds.

"We discuss work and business," Lynda confided to CELEBRITY, "but he is my husband and lover first and manager afterwards. Many Hollywood show business marriages fall apart because of the actress-manager relationship in marriage. One person living off another's successs. Ron and I were both very well off before we met, so neither of us is dependent upon the work of the other for wok."

The couple are now decorating their house, and spend a few hours each week entertaining friends when not 'alone together' playing tennis on their backyard court or traveling.

"I have one rule for guests," Lynda says, "and that's to say goodnight to them early, so Ron and I can have late evenings together. That's the way we like it. I'm just so happy that I finally met him. My mother always told me I would know when the right man would appear and I just knew it was Ron from the start."

"If I hadn't met Ron, I might never had gotten married at all," Lynda confessed. "The strong men who are also gentle and understanding are almost non-existent for me. Ron is strong and aggressive, but also gentle and very sensitive, more sensitive, in fact, that I am. So I feel very lucky that I found him. He's the only man I have met in my entire life that I feel I can lean on, believe in and trust."