WONDERLAND • The Ultimate Wonder Woman Site

Lynda Carter may look like TV's best excuse for dads to watch a show aimed at a younger audience. She's tall, sexy, is "wonderfully" proportioned.

If it weren't for those three gorgeous "Angels," Lynda would easily be TV's number one sex symbol.

So you'll never guess who Lynda's favorite movie star is! Shirley Temple.

"I fell in love with Shirley Temple movies when I was a kid. They were all broadcast on television in Phoenix and I never missed one. I would sit in front of my TV set and pretend I was just like her, that I had hair that curly, a smile that beguiling, and that I could sing and dance with Shirley's ease. I'm so glad she's grown up to become such a gracious woman. I know being a child star must be a difficult life. She seems to have weathered the pressures better than anyone."

Like so many little girls who grew up in the fifties and sixties, Lynda took every lesson you can name. Singing lessons. Tap-dancing lessons. Speech lessons. Modeling lessons. Ballet lessons.

"I wanted to run off to Hollywood when I was about five years old.-But my family, conservative and smart as they are, decided I'd better grow up a lot more before I decided what to do with my life."

"Now I know they were right, though I must admit I was furious at the time. I knew I could make it in Hollywood. I was wrong. Show business is a much tougher business than I imagined it to be. If I'm an adult and can admit how hard it is to deal with the lifestyle, think how kids must wonder what's happening to them.

"I really admire all the bright young talent that's around today. They seem to be a healthy bunch of kids. And there are so many of them. I think there are more child stars today than there have ever been. We've got Tatum O'Neal, Jodie Foster, Kristy McNichol, and so many more. They're all over TV. And they seem to be so confident."

Lynda got to Hollywood in the classic way.

She was named Miss World-USA and used her title to open doors in the TV and movie industry.

"My title opened the doors, but my talent kept them from kicking me out," she says proudly. "It is not enough to be pretty anymore. There are thousands of pretty girls in Hollywood. In fact, being pretty may work against you. The big thing now is for actresses to look more real, whatever that means. I've never thought I looked 'unreal' until I signed on as 'Wonder Woman.'

Lynda loves her role as ‘Wonder Woman' because it gives her a chance to "dress up and play a cartoon character."

"I love movies that take you out of ordinary life," she says. "I long for a return to romance on the big screen and on TV. And I think it's beginning to happen."

Besides "Wonder Woman," Lynda has more projects up her lovely sleeves. She has an album on its way to the record stands.

And she plans to produce a movie.

"I want it to be a super oldfashioned-style movie in which I get to wear lots of gorgeous clothes and have a grand time. I'd prefer a frothy comedy, something on the order of those Katherine Hepburn-Cary Grant comedies. Jean Arthur and Audrey Hepburn are actresses whose movies I love too."

After all, Lynda is too old and too tall to remake Shirley Temple.