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Jane Seymour (actress)

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For other people named Jane Seymour, see Jane Seymour (disambiguation).
Jane Seymour
Jane Seymour in 1994
Born
Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg
Spouse(s)Michael Attenborough (1971–1973)
Geoffrey Planer (1977–1978)
David Flynn (1981–1992)
James Keach (1993–present)
Websitehttp://www.janeseymour.com/

Jane Seymour, OBE (born Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg on February 15, 1951) is an English actress best known as a Bond girl in the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die and the star of the 1990s American television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and its telefilm sequels.

Biography

Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg was born in Hayes, London, England, to John Frankenberg, an English Jewish obstetrician of Polish and German origin, and his Dutch wife, Mieke Frankenberg. John died in 1990 after 40 years of marriage and Mieke died on October 2, 2007. Their daughter took the stage name Jane Seymour, also the name of King Henry VIII's third wife, at the age of 17. She was educated at the independent The Arts Educational School in Tring, Hertfordshire, in England.

Acting career

Seymour has had a long acting career in both film and television, beginning in 1969 with an uncredited role in Richard Attenborough's film version of Oh! What a Lovely War. Soon afterward she married Attenborough's son, Michael Attenborough. Her first major film role was as Lillian Stein, a Jewish woman seeking shelter from the Nazis with a Danish Christian family in the 1970 war drama The Only Way.

From 1972 to 1973, she gained her first major TV role as Emma Callon in the successful 1970s series The Onedin Line. During this time she appeared as female lead Prima in the two-part TV mini-series Frankenstein: The True Story and as Winston Churchill's lover Pamela Plowden in another of the films produced by her father-in-law, Young Winston. She also drew her first major international attention as Bond girl Solitaire in the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die. IGN ranked her as 10th in a Top 10 Bond Babes list.[1]

Seymour divorced Michael Attenborough in 1973. She then took only two minor TV roles until cast as Princess Farah in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, the third part of Ray Harryhausen's Sinbad trilogy, in 1975. (The film was not released, however, until its stop motion animation sequences had been completed in 1977.) In 1978, she played Serina in the Battlestar Galactica motion picture, and then in the first two episodes of the series that followed, until the character was killed. In 1981, she was cast as Cathy Ames in the TV miniseries of John Steinbeck's East of Eden. She also played the role of an undercover reporter in a TV movie about the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.

In 1980, Seymour returned to the big screen in the comedy Oh Heavenly Dog opposite Chevy Chase, and as Elise McKenna in the romantic fantasy Somewhere in Time opposite Christopher Reeve. Seymour appeared nude in the 1984 film Lassiter, co-starring Tom Selleck, but the film was a box office and commercial failure. In 1987, Seymour was the subject of a pictorial in Playboy magazine, although she did not actually pose nude.

Seymour won the female lead in the 12-part TV miniseries, War and Remembrance (1988), in which she played Natalie Henry, an American Jewish woman trapped in Europe during World War II. The series was based on the successful novel by Herman Wouk, and is noted for its accurate and graphic depiction of the Holocaust.

In 1989, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, Seymour appeared in the television movie La révolution française (filmed in both French and English). Seymour appeared as the doomed French queen, Marie Antoinette; the actress' two children — Katherine and Sean — appeared as the queen's children.

Seymour continued to take numerous roles in TV movies and series, most notably as Dr. Michaela "Mike" Quinn in the TV series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and its TV-movie sequels (1993–2001), through which she met her fourth husband, actor-director James Keach. In 2004, she made several guest appearances in the WB Network series Smallville, playing Genevieve Teague, the wealthy, scheming mother of Jason Teague (Jensen Ackles). She also made a guest appearance on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Seymour returned to the big screen in 2005 with playing Kathleen Cleary, wife of fictional U.S. Secretary of the Treasury William Cleary (Christopher Walken), in the comedy Wedding Crashers. She returned to TV in the short-lived WB series Modern Men, broadcast in spring 2006.

In fall 2006, Seymour guest-starred as a law-school professor on an episode of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and as a wealthy client on the FOX legal drama Justice. In 2007, she guest-starred in the ABC sitcom In Case of Emergency, which starred Lori Loughlin and Jonathan Silverman. She also appeared in ITV's Marple: Ordeal By Innocence based on the Agatha Christie novel. She was a contestant on season five of the U.S. reality show Dancing with the Stars.

Seymour is currently the face of an advertising campaign for the Scottish furniture chain Reid Furniture in the UK. In 2008 she replaced Selina Scott as the new face of Country Casuals.

Personal life

Seymour has heterochromia: where her right eye is hazel and her left is green. In 2007, she admitted to having undergone plastic surgery, including breast augmentation and blepharoplasty.[2]

Seymour has been married four times, and has four children:

In 1984, Seymour bought with then-husband David Flynn the Grade One listed St Catherine's Court for £350,000, located in the village of St Catherine, near Bath, Somerset. After spending £3 million on refurbishments, she spent her summers at the house and her winters in Malibu. After her divorce from Flynn and marriage to Keach, she spent more time in America, and made little use of the house, so she began to rent it out. In 1994, during that season's filming for Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, she rented it to English rock group Radiohead, who recorded their album OK Computer at the house. Another famous group that has occupied Seymours' home is the band The Cure. In May 2007, she was granted a 24-hour alcohol and entertainment licence under new UK regulations. However, this caused much disturbance with neighbours, who claimed the access lane was too narrow and the noise too excessive. Seymour won the court battle, but sold the house in November 2007.[3]

Seymour was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II on New Year's Eve, 1999. She became a U.S. citizen on February 11, 2005 during a naturalization ceremony held in Los Angeles, California.

Seymour is a celebrity ambassador for the non-profit organization Childhelp. She regularly makes appearances at fund raisers and events for the child abuse prevention and treatment organization and is an ardent supporter. In 2007 she sponsored a children's Art Pillow contest as part of the Jane Seymour Collection. One-hundred percent of the proceeds went to Childhelp.

An allergic reaction to antibiotic medicine on a film shoot in Spain almost killed the actress, and the scrape with death profoundly changed her whole outlook on life. Seymour explains, "I saw the white light and I saw, from the corner of the room, them trying to resuscitate me and I saw a syringe with blood in it. "It did change my whole life because, when you die, I realized you take nothing with you except for what you've done."[4]

On December 2, 2008, she was honored by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation in a ceremony in Los Angeles for her work with people with disabilities.

She currently resides in Malibu, California with her husband and twin boys.

Books

  • 1986: Jane Seymour's Guide to Romantic Living
  • 1998: This One 'N That One: Yum! The Tale of Two Cookies by Jane Seymour and James Keach
  • 1998: This One 'N That One: Splat! The Tale of the Colorful Cat by Jane Seymour and James Keach
  • 1999: This One 'N That One: Boing! No Bouncing on the Bed
  • 2001: Two At A Time: Having Twins - The Journey Through Pregnancy and Birth
  • 2003: Remarkable Changes: Turning Life's Challenges Into Opportunities
  • 2007: Making Yourself At Home: Finding Your Style and Puttin it All Together
  • 2008 (Dec. 22): Open Hearts: If Your Heart is Open it Can Never Stay Broken

Filmography

Film

Television

Title Year Role Notes
The Strauss Family, TV mini-series 1972 Karolin
The Onedin Line, TV mini-series 1972–1973 Emma Callon
Frankenstein: The True Story 1973 Agatha/Prima
Our Mutual Friend, TV mini-series 1976 Bella Wilfer
Captains and Kings, TV mini-series 1976 Marjorie Chisholm Armagh
The Four Feathers 1977 Ethne Eustace
Killer on Board 1977
Battlestar Galactica 1978 Serina Appeared in first five episodes
Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders 1979 Laura Cole
East of Eden 1981 Cathy Ames
The Scarlet Pimpernel 1982 Marguerite St. Just
The Phantom of the Opera 1983 Maria Gianelli/Elena Korvin
Jamaica Inn 1983 Mary Yellan
The Haunting Passion 1983 Julia Evans
The Sun Also Rises 1984 Brett Ashley
Dark Mirror 1984 Leigh Cullen/Tracy Cullen
Obsessed with a Married Woman 1985 Diane Putnam
The Woman He Loved 1988 Wallis Simpson
Onassis: The Richest Man in the World 1988 Maria Callas
Jack the Ripper 1988 Emma Prentiss
War and Remembrance 1988–1989 Natalie Henry
Sunstroke 1992 Teresa Winters co-executive producer
Heidi 1993 Miss Rottenmeier
Praying Mantis 1993 Linda Crandell executive producer
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman 1993-1998 Dr. Michaela Quinn
A Passion for Justice: The Hazel Brannon Smith Story 1994 Hazel Brannon Smith executive producer
The Absolute Truth 1997 Alison Reid
Dharma and Greg 1998 Herself Season 1 Episode 19, Dharma's Tangled Web
A Marriage of Convenience 1998 Chris Winslow Whitney
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: Revolutions 1999 Dr. Michaela Quinn
Enslavement: The True Story of Fanny Kemble 2000 Fanny Kemble executive producer
Yesterday's Children 2000 Jenny Cole/Mary Sutton
Murder in the Mirror 2000 Dr. Mary Kost Richland executive producer
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: The Heart Within 2001 Dr. Michaela Quinn
Heart of a Stranger 2002 Jill Maddox
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit 2004 Debra Connor 1 episode
Smallville 2004–2005 Genevieve Teague Recurring character
How I Met Your Mother 2006 Professor Lewis
Justice 2006 Karen Patterson Episode: Filicide
Modern Men 2006 Dr. Victoria Stangel
In Case of Emergency 2007 Donna
Marple: Ordeal by Innocence 2006 Rachel Argyle
Dear Prudence 2008 Prudence McCoy Hallmark Channel
My Name is Earl 2008 Herself

Awards

  • 1988: Emmy Award for Onassis:The Richest Man in the World
  • 1996: Golden Globe Award for Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman
  • 1996: Family Film Award for Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman
  • 2000: OBE - Officer of the British Empire

References

  1. ^ "IGN: Top 10 Bond Babes". Stars.ign.com. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
  2. ^ Daily Mail article
  3. ^ 'Neighbour from hell' Jane Seymour sells mansion after row with residents Daily Mail - 6 December 2007
  4. ^ "Near Death Experience Changed Seymour". contactmusic.com. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
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