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Date and Issue: Volume 21 / Number 8 / August, 1977.
She's a rare species of star, with everything in the world going for her. Not only is Lynda Carter shockingly beautiful and extremely talented, she's also a truly nice individual with a down-to-earth attitude toward her career.
As a former Miss U.S.A., current Wonder Woman and rising recording star, it's obvious that she's one personality we're . sure to see in the spotlight for many years to come.
'TEEN got together with Lynda and her manager/future husband Ron Samuels at his Beverly Hills office one morning. In between bits of chatter about plans for the house they're buying, Lynda obliged us with the story of her climb to fame. At 25 years of age, Lynda may be best known as an actress, but in talking to her, it seems as though singing is her first love.
"Singing has been in my life as long as I can remember," reported the Arizona-bred brunette. "I've been writing poems and putting them to music since I was a child. People are surprised and don't understand how I could have the control to sing. They don't realize that I've been singing every day and performing since I was five years oldthat's how old I was when I did my first television show." Then Lynda added, "In school, I sang in the chorus and played the lead in all the musicals."
But Lynda didn't formally get into acting until she moved to Los Angeles four years ago. As a youngster, dancing was another of her pet preoccupations. "I took dancing lessons from the time I was five years old," she told us. "It was classical ballet from the London School of Ballet. An Englishwoman who had moved to Arizona for her health was our teacher. Once every eight months a woman would come from England to grade us. It was very rigid, but very real ballet, one of the best experiences of my life. I did it on and off for ten years.” With all that singing and dancing behind her, we wondered why she took to acting instead. "There was really no place for me to sing," explained Lynda. "I didn't want to sing in nightclubs anymore-I had done that for a while. I just wanted to write and be on the creative side of. things. I gave up singing for acting when I moved to California."
Then she added, "I just sort of put it on ice for a while. I've done some writing and recording, though, since then; but no actual performances. My success in `Wonder Woman' as an actress has given me the visibility to get back to the musical side. One thing led me to another, which in turn brought me back to something I love. They're two different adventures, singing and acting."
Certainly, her role as Wonder Woman has been the biggest boost to her career and popularity. Lynda admitted that it's the first real professional acting job she's had. "I had done some small things before," she noted, "but nothing of any significance until this."
She, explained how she got the part: "I had tested for another film and although that film was never made, they loved my screen test and the producer showed it to another producer who was producing `Wonder Woman.' Next, they tested me for the role of Wonder Woman, and three weeks later I had the part."
Had Lynda been a fan of Wonder Woman as a young girl? "I always read Wonder Woman," she noted. "Everybody around me did. When I got the part," she recalled, "I started to do* a lot of research. Now it's become something so much more than just a comicbook character-it's become a real live person in three dimensions, rather than a piece of paper. It's something I take pride in, because I have a good sense of humor."
Then on a second thought, Lynda commented, "People ask if I take it seriously and I just don't understand how anyone could ask that question. How can you not get the humor from. it? I just enjoy it and have fun with it." The easygoing, life-enjoying treatment Lynda gives herself probably accounts for the way she handled becoming Miss Arizona and then Miss U.S.A. in 1973. "That happened by accident, the way a lot of things in my life have happened," she began. "I had just come home from England. I had quit the road to do some recording and I really didn't have anything to do until then. So, I went to an agent to see about doing some commercials and she suggested that I enter the contest," she continued. "I entered, won Miss Arizona, won Miss U.S.A., came back and found out I had gotten the recording contract." Lynda was more than willing to share her reflections on the competition. "I entered for the experience. When I'm older, I don't ever want to say that I wish I had done something when I was twenty. I like to have as many positive experiences and adventures in my life as I can and that's the frame of mind I went into it with. I wasn't taking the competition seriously, only the experience." "It wasn't really as tacky as people said it would be," she continued. "The girls were interested in presenting themselves as intelligent as well as beautiful, and I was pleasantly surprised.” "Actually being Miss U.S.A. was sort of rewarding. I made no money; , I ended up spending my own. There were a lot of disappointments, but there were benefits too. It opened a lot of doors for me." Always having had her smashing looks lauded by the society around her, Lynda is very, conscientious about maintaining her great appearance. "Beauty comes from the inside out," she pointed out. "That's spiritual and physical beauty both. It really does come down to what you eat. I do go on a `junk food junket' once in a while, but most of the time I try to eat as many vegetables and roughage as I can, and as little red meat as possible. I do eat some fish and once in a while chicken, but mainly I just like vegetables and things that are made from them." She told us that she likes to get her protein by making drinks in the blender with protein powder, fruit and juice or milk and ice cream. She's also dedicated to her morning and evening exercise and loves to ride horseback and swim whenever she gets a chance. "When you don't feel well," she believes, "you don't look well and don't act well. If you feel great, you look healthy and act happy." Take it from one who knows.
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