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nothing pretentious about her, but she knows who she is. She laughs a
lot but switches to seriousness in a flash. |
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 INTRO: At what paint in your life did you decide you would grow up tó be who you are? |
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CARTER: I must have been about three years old. I remember seeing the Dinah Shore TV show, and I thought to myself, "That's what I want to do," you know, blowing kisses, having people clap-I thought that was a great job to have. |
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INTRO: Your mother told me that as a little girl you performed in a pink tulle dress that she made for you, you tapped your foot to the music and sang. Do you remember? |
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CARTER: Yeah, I just opened my mouth and sang, "La, la, la." Then I embarrassed my brother when the audience applauded: the clapping hurt my ears, so I just walked off the stage. I don't think I had any inhibitions at all. I have no stage fright; I've always loved to preform. I think that's the thing in my career that gives me the most [satisfaction]. |
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INTRO: Didn't you perform while you were in high school? |
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CARTER: Yes. I was about 15. After I graduated from high school, I went on the road. |
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INTRO: Did your parents encourage you along the way? |
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CARTER: My father didn't, but my mother did. My father thought I should do something serious, be serious about things [laughs]. |
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INTRO: He didn ï think this was serious? |
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CARTER: No, he thought I should work for a living [laughs]. You know, be something good like a secretary. |
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INTRO: Little did he know. While we're talking about your childhood, did you ever read Wonder Woman comic books? |
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CARTER: Sure. |
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INTRO: Was she a role model for you? |
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CARTER: To a certain extent, sure. I loved comic books. I also liked Betty and Veronica. You know, you're into cartoons when you're a kid, and Wonder Woman was one of them. The idea certainly was one I enjoyed. I think a lot of people still enjoy them today. And the Wonder Woman image, whether it's on the cartoons or the show or whatever, is a good one for kids. |
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INTRO: How do you think your performance as Wonder Woman has affected your career? Has it typecast you in any way? |
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CARTER: It's had a positive effect. I think it's typecasting to a certain extent, but I don't seem to have any trouble getting other things. I'm grateful to have had the part and to have been so successful at something for five years. Now I have a solid base for my career with my music, as well as television and motion pictures. |
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INTRO: What kind of show will you be doing in Las Vegas? |
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CARTER: Well, it's basically a musical show with contemporary music, but I put in three or four different nostalgic tunes. I also dance. I added dancers for my trip to Monte Carlo, and I'm considering bringing them to Las Vegas. I don't usually work with dancers on the stage, so this will be interesting; it'll be fun. |
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INTRO: You also played Atlantic City. What do you think of it? |
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CARTER: I love it; I love Harrah's. Downtown is a little urban [laughs], a little rough. You don't really go outside of
the hotel. But Harrah's is right on the marina-there are sailboats and fishing-and it's an entirely different atmosphere than downtown. |
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INTRO: How did you like doing the Rita Hayworth movie? |
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CARTER: I loved doing the part. I knew that it would be filled with controversy because it's someone's story and she's still living and all that, but I didn't let
that throw me. |
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INTRO: You were never able to talk to her, were you? |
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CARTER: No. And even if I had been able to meet her, she is in the last stages of her disease now, and I think she's failing; I feel really badly about that. But playing Rita Hayworth was by far my most challenging role. I have an uncanny ability to put my mind on something, and it's done. I had really wanted to do something that combined my music, my dance, and my acting-something that was dramatic. I used to think, "Now, how am I ever going to find a project like that, a tour de force? How am I going to do that?" I was halfway through shooting Rita Hayworth when I realized that I was in the middle of it. Doing it. Because I hadn't thought of it like that at the time. I really have an affection for her, and it's an excellent film. I'm really happy with it. It was so much fun to do. What's interesting is my brown eyes; there's a definite difference in my whole demeanor because of the brown eyes. |
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INTRO: You must wear contact lenses in the movie. |
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CARTER: Yes, and they just alter everything. I photograph differently, I look different-I don't look like the same person. |
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| INTRO:
I remember someone doing an interview with Rita Hayworth and asking her if her success and position interfered in her marriages. She said, "Well, the men that I married thought they were marrying Rita Hayworth, Gilda [from her 1946 movie], and they got me. " Have you experienced anything like that? |
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CARTER: Yes, and I think that [problem] could be applied to anyone who is attractive, especially a celebrity. There are preconceived ideas and notions that the men you go out with have. There's no way to get around it. Hopefully the men in your life or the man in your life has the wherewithal to see past that and to establish the relationship and build the relationship from a solid foundation, because that's pretty much love. And that's probably why marriages don't work. |
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INTRO: How would you describe what happened in your marriage? |
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CARTER: I worked a lot. I worked, and the reason the marriage failed was because it was based on my working-not his working, but my working. And there
was no support toward the marriage; there wasn't any [pause] attempt made to really build a marriage; it was building a career. And I was working all the time. I got very, very tired, and I don't think he really cared much for anything outside of that. That's the reason it failed. |
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INTRO: Was he a manager before you married him,? Is that haw you met him? |
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CARTER: No, I met him though some mutual friends on a set. He was managing Lindsay Wagner and a few other people. He's been a successful manager. He's good at what he does; I'm not taking anything away from him at all, in that regard. I'm sure that he will be doing fine again. |
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INTRO: So what do you see as happening next in your life? |
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CARTER: I've basically taken over all my own business. I have agents, of course, and lawyers and everybody, but I've taken over my own business in the last year since I divorced my husband. This has been an action-packed year, let me put it that way. And I'm having a great time. I'm having more fun; I didn't do anything for five years. I worked-that's all I did. Some people thought I was leading this glamorous life, but all I did was work. I didn't go to parties. I didn't go to the theater. I didn't have a lot of friends over. I was just a machine. |
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INTRO: So you're making up for lost time? |
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CARTER: Yes. I'm zipping up here and going to London and shopping in Paris and visiting friends in Mexico and spending a lot of time in New York. I've got some commitments with the network, and I'll probably be moving to New York to spend some time there, hopefully to go back to studying [acting] with Sandy Meisner. |
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INTRO: Do you have a timetable on that? |
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| CARTER: Yes, I want to do it this fall. I've got some commitments with the networks, and I've got some personal appearances, but I want to study; I want to get back into what it is that I've always loved about my craft. I've studied my music and acting, but I haven't been in a real workshop situation in years. And if I expect to do good things in my career, I've got to pay the dues and put my nose to the grindstone. |
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INTRO: Well, you've gotten a lot of on-the-job experience, that's for sure Getting back to the more personal side of Lynda Carter, would you say you have an equal number of men friends and women friends? Who are your best friends, men or women? |
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CARTER: My best friends are men. I'm very close to my family, my sister and my mother, and I've got some very, very good female friends. But there is one special man who happens to be a very good friend of mine [laughs]. I enjoy the company of men, and I always have platonic relationships where I can go dancing and have a great time and feel totally safe. |
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| INTRO: Do you remember
your first date? |
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| CARTER: [Pause.] That's good. God, I thought of a lot of my dates as first dates-because they were usually first and last [laughs]. |
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INTRO: Why was that? |
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CARTER: I don't know; boys didn't seem to like me. I think that I was probably gregarious and probably just intimidated the hell out of them. |
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INTRO: Too independent? |
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| CARTER: I think so, probably. |
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INTRO: So you didn't date much when you were younger? |
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CARTER: All the boys were short in my class. I dated older fellows usually. I didn't date a lot; I was really involved in my music; I've always been pretty much single-minded about my career, and that is why I have a different direction. I'm really switching gears right now in my life: going back to studying, having some fun, living a little bit. I don't want to turn around 10 or 15 years from now and have my life revolving around whether or not I get a part. That's nothing. I want to have a family; I want to play and have fun. |
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INTRO: What's your idea of an ideal weekend? |
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CARTER: Oh, it depends on the time of year; definitely some type of sport activity, whether it be water skiing, snow skiing, scuba diving, playing tennis, horseback riding, bicycling-anything that's outdoors and sports oriented. That would be my idea of a perfect weekend with somebody that I love. |
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INTRO: What qualities attract you mast in a man? Describe your type. |
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CARTER: Tall; I don't ever want to be around a short man again. Sense of humor, kind, handsome, bright, talented, someone that loves music. |
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INTRO: What kind of music? |
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| CARTER:
All music, a music lover-rock'n'roll to classical. |
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INTRO: Would he be in a creative type of career, or would he be an engineering type? |
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CARTER: Well, I think that he would have to be creative in whatever field he was in. If he's a lawyer, then he's not a divorce lawyer [laughs], but he's a highpowered type of person that uses his degree not so much to make money as he uses his mind to create things. |
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| INTRO: How old would he be? |
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| CARTER: Middle 30s. |
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INTRO: What if he were a few years younger than you? Would that matter? |
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CARTER: No; only his maturity would be of concern to me. |
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INTRO: I assume also that he would be very supportive of you-supportive instead of competitive. |
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CARTER: Yes. What often happens is that they want-it's a constant fight with their egos. I hope that I'm not sounding bitter, because I don't mean to at all. But I think a man should be a man. If he has to say, "I am a man," what is he? If he has to keep saying, "I'm the man here. I'm supposed to be doing this or that." But now I've met a fantastic man. |
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INTRO: Are you in love with him? |
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CARTER: I don't know if I should say that. I haven't said that before to anybody. I don't want to comment on it because I'm afraid to let the press get in the middle of the relationship. I think that tends to separate people. But he's fabulous; let's just say he's fabulous, and he's funny, and he's tall and dark and handsome, and he's everything. |
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INTRO: And he is a lawyer, and his name is Robert Altman But we know you don't want to discuss him too much, so let's move to a more general topic, like your image. How do you like people to think of you? |
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CARTER:. I would like people to think that I'm kind and talented and all. I want to be liked; it upsets me when people don't
like me. |
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INTRO: Don't you think a lot of that is jealousy? |
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CARTER: Yes, it is; it's just hard-I don't think I'm jealous of anybody. I don't feel that way inside; I don't covet anything that anyone else has. I suppose when you are not a liar and you're not a covetous person, you don't expect other people to be. If you're not a liar and someone tells you something, you believe them because you're not suspicious; you have no reason to be. |
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INTRO: What about the Christian aspect of your life: you got very involved with the Billy Graham thing at one time, didn't you? |
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CARTER: Not so much Billy Graham as just Christianity. Christianity has had a big impact on my life. I think that in a lot of ways it helped me to grow up and have a perspective on my life. I was really starving, spiritually. I love God, and I feel very good about that part of my life now. I don't feel that I'm lacking... The spiritual side is nourished, and I like that. |
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INTRO: I understand from your mother that you even gave up your show business aspirations for about a year. |
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CARTER: What? |
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INTRO: I'll read you what she said: "Lynda got very influenced by the Christian thing and Billy Graham in the ninth grade. She announced that she had decided to give up show business, which she did for about a year." |
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CARTER: That had nothing to do with it. I don't know where she came up with this. My mother was very anxious to have me go on with music and all. I got so tired of it that I didn't sign up for one creative class-not chorus, not drama, nothing my first year. But it had nothing to do with Christianity. It was rebellion. |
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INTRO: You obviously outgrew that stage. What about now? Do you see the music the singing and dancing-becoming more and more a part of your career? |
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CARTER: No. It's a pretty good part of my career now. I would like to keep a balance, because it gives me an opportunity to explore every facet of my creative nature, and I want to be able to do parts in films that are really me. I'm really excited about going back [to New York] to study soon. |
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