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 How
nice it's to start an autobiography saying that one is truly
happy. I'm interested in making that clear because many magazines
lately are determined to affirm that I'm gonna divorced my husband
or that I'm jelous of Lindsay Wagner who's under my husband's
management. I want tosa y that Lindsay and I are very good
friends, and I should thank her for introducing me to Ron. By the
end of 1976 I went to a party and Lindsay introduced me to a
handsome young man, who said was Ron Samuels, her manager. I
congratulated them both for their success. Lindsay for her series
and Ron for being the manager of stars like Jaclyn Smith, the
lovely actress from "Charlie's Angels", and Jennifer O'Neill.
Months later when I started shooting Wonder Woman, he came one day
to the set and it was love at first sight. A few weeks later on
May 1977, we decided to get marry while he was becoming my manager
at the same time. And ever since I'm the happiest woman in the
world. |
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I don't have any gift as a writer because I started by the end
instead of telling it the easy way and chronologically. I will do
it like in many biographies I have read. Well, I was born in
Phoenix, Arizona, on July 24, 1952. I still can say that because
with 23 years I still feel very young. The bad thing is that
jounalists may keep it in their files and then... I'll tell you
something about my family. I'm the third daughter of Colby and
Jean Carter. My pather was an antique dealer and he fell in love
with all objects to a point that he felt sorry when somebody
wanted to buy something. My mother inherited a small fortune from
my grandparents and dedicated to do some business. Nobody in
the family dedicated to the art and nobody would thought I would,
simply because of my height. Since I was 7 or 8, I had this
complex of feeling to tall to a point of thinking that one day I
would become a giant. I used to be taller than boys of my age and,
and when I was 15 I already had the height I have now. I was
terrified to keep growing but fortunately I kept on that height.
When I went to a ball there was no boy who asked me to dance. In
spite that I always used plain shoes with no heels. At school they
called me "the watusi" because I looked like the African warriors
with long legs and skinny arms... Coincidentally a passion for
singing was awakening in me. I had a nice voice and took several
courses of music. My mother thought I could sing opera singing
like Wagner's heroines, but I chose something simplier, like folk.
When I was 16 I was singing at a local Phoenix club, four days a
week, earnings 90 bucks. Soon after I asked my parents for
permission to go on tour with a quartet and I never stopped for
four years. My life was going from one town to another until when
day when I was 20 and I got tired of it all and returned home. |
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It was 1973,
when some friends encouraged me to enter the "Miss Phoenix"
contest. I did it and I won. Obviously the next step was "Miss
Arizona" and I won again. The I defended the state in the "Miss
World U.S.A." contest. The fourth step was going to London to
conquer the "Miss Universe". This time I was defeated by a
beatiful Australian but I became her first runnerup. All this made
evryone talk about me, but in Hollywood they were more interested
in my measures than my possibilities as an actress. I was 38-25-35
and according to the tecnicians it would help me to get to stardom
more easily than with the best qualifications in the dramatic
arts. But I chose to study with two prefessors, Charles Conrad and
Lieuz Dresler. Then I made some screen tests and got some small
roles... The truth is that I got very dissapointed when Doug
Cramer, the Wonder Woman producer saw and he thought I was perfect
for the part. The funny thing is that he didn't consider my figure
but my "candid smile." The series became a hit. |
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ABC put at my
service anything a star could wish, but when the time came for
renewing my contract for the second season they didn't wanted to
pay what my husband and manager asked. So Ron decided we should
flip to CBS who was willing to pay a million dollars for 24
episodes! And they gave a wagon with all facilities. It felt like
a Hollywood star from the golden age. But when I'm really happy
it's when I'm not working and I enjoy my time with Ron at our
Ranch atop of Benedict Canyon, with a pool surrounded by tropical
trees and a garden. What else could I ask? Maybe a child, or
several ones... But someday they will come. For one I still got
some time for "Wonder Woman." |
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Date and Issue: Volume XV / Number 765 /March 29, 1978.
