Lynda Carter

Rarely in Hollywood casting history was an actor or actress so perfectly matched to his or her role, as that of Lynda Carter - the delight of all teenage boys and the envy of all girls - during her amply bosomed run as the Amazon princess on the 1970s hit TV show, Wonder Woman ( 1975-79). Carter was born in Phoenix, Arizona, the daughter of Juanita (Córdova) and Colby Carter. She performed in a band during high school called 'Just Us', which consisted of a marimba, a congo drum, an acoustic guitar, and a stand-up bass played by another girl. When she was 17, she joined another band for more exposure called 'The Relatives' (because two members were cousins) which opened at the Sahara Hotel casino lounge in Las Vegas for three months. Because Lynda was under 21, she had to enter the casino through the kitchen. Gary Burghoff (who played Radar O'Reilly on M*A*S*H) was the drummer. In 1970, she joined the last band she sang with, called 'The Garfin Gathering with Lynda Carter', and their first performance was in a brand new San Francisco hotel that had no sidewalk entrance built yet, so they played to mostly the janitors and whatever hotel guests parked their cars in the underground garage. But she performed so well under such intimidating circumstances, that Howard "Speedy" Garfin nicknamed Lynda "Wonder Woman!" In 1972, Carter won a local Arizona beauty contest and gained national attention in the United States by winning Miss World USA 1972, representing Arizona.


She began making appearances on such TV shows as Matt Helm, Starsky and Hutch and Cos, she was also in the TV movie A Matter of Wife... and Death (1976) with Rod Taylor and the feature film Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw (1976) with Marjoe Gortner. Carter's acting career took off when she landed the starring role on Wonder Woman as the title character and her secret identity, Diana Prince. The savings she had set aside from her days of touring on the road with her band to pursue acting in Los Angeles were almost exhausted, and she was close to returning to Arizona when Carter's manager informed her that Joanna Cassidy had lost the role and Carter had the part of Wonder Woman. Carter's earnest performance greatly endeared her to both fans and critics and as a result, she continues to be closely identified with Wonder Woman. The Wonder Woman series lasted for three seasons, which aired on ABC and later on CBS from 1975 to 1979. Carter's performance, rooted in the character's inherent goodness combined with a comic-accurate costume and a catchy theme song made for a depiction that was nothing less than iconic. After the show ended, Carter told Us that "I never meant to be a sexual object for anyone but my husband. I never thought a picture of my body would be tacked up in men's bathrooms. I hate men looking at me and thinking what they think. And I know what they think. They write and tell me." Carter continued to pursue her interest in music. During the late 1970s she recorded the album Portrait. Carter is credited in several variety television programs for being a co-writer on several songs and making numerous musical guest appearances. She also sang two of her songs in a 1979 Wonder Woman episode, "Amazon Hot Wax"

For Apocalypse Now (1979) she was originally cast in the role of a Playboy Playmate Bunny, but the filming of her scenes was interrupted by the storm that wrecked the theater set prompting a delay of nearly two months for rebuilding. By the time Francis Ford Coppola, the director of the film was ready to shoot again, Carter's contractual obligations to Wonder Woman had forced her back to the States and her scenes were reshot with Colleen Camp. In 1980 Carter made a guest appearance on The Muppet Show. In the episode's running gag, Kermit the Frog repeatedly reminds the other Muppets that their guest is Carter and not Wonder Woman. This is to no avail as the Muppets ineptly attempt to become superheroes by taking a correspondence course and Miss Piggy portrays "Wonder Pig", a spoof of Carter's television character. She was quickly given a variety of her own musical TV specials, including Lynda Carter's Special (1980), Encore! (1980), Celebration (1981), Street Life (1982), and Body And Soul (1984). She landed the title role in a biographical film about actress Rita Hayworth titled Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess (1983). Carter's next major role after Wonder Woman was in the crime drama television series Partners in Crime with Loni Anderson in 1984. She then portrayed Helen Durant in the 1989 CBS television film Mike Hammer: Murder Takes All where she booby-traps Las Vegas entertainer Johnny Roman (Edward Winter), her husband Doctor Carl Durant, and his employee accountant Brad Peters (Jim Carrey) causing their deaths. Carter performed in a variety of film roles in the 2000s.

In 2001, she was cast in the independent comedy feature Super Troopers, as Vermont Governor Jessman. The writers and stars of the film, the comedy troupe Broken Lizard along with the director Jay Chandrasekhar had specifically sought Carter for the role. Inspired by the character detour from her usual roles, she agreed to play a washed-up, former beauty queen in the horror/comedy film The Creature of the Sunny Side Up Trailer Park (2004) which was directed by Christopher Coppola. Carter made her first appearance in a major feature film in a number of years in the big-screen remake of The Dukes of Hazzard (2005), also directed by Chandrasekhar. She appeared in Disney's action comedy film Sky High (2005) as Principal Powers, the headmistress of a school for superheroes. The script allowed Carter to poke fun at her most famous character when she states: "I can't do anything more to help you. I'm not Wonder Woman, ya'know". In 2006, she guest-starred in the Sci Fi Channel vampire film Slayer, co- starring Danny Trejo. The following year Carter returned to the DC Comics' television world in the Smallville episode "Progeny" (2007), playing Chloe Sullivan's Kryptonite-empowered mother. Carter decided to do a variety of theater projects. From September to November 2005, Carter played "Mama Morton" in the West End London production of Chicago. In 2006, her rendition of "When You're Good to Mama" was officially released on the Chicago: 10th Anniversary Edition CD box set.

Carter is among the interview subjects in Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle, a three-hour documentary narrated by Liev Schreiber that premiered on PBS in October 2013. In 2017, Carter rejoined the Warner Bros./DC Comics film and television family on the second season of The CW's Supergirl television series in the role of President Olivia Marsdin. During production of the 2017 Wonder Woman feature film, director Patty Jenkins approached Carter to appear in a cameo role in the film, as Carter confirmed, "Patty asked me to do a cameo in this. She was in England, and I was doing my concerts," explaining she had singing engagements that made her unavailable. "At that time we couldn't get our timing together. So, this next time, if she writes me a decent part, I might do it." Carter did make a cameo in the post-credits scene of the sequel film, Wonder Woman 1984 where she plays Asteria, the "Golden Warrior" of the Amazons.

Carter has been married twice. Her first marriage was to her former talent agent, Ron Samuels from 1977 to 1982. On January 29, 1984, Carter married Washington, D.C. attorney Robert A. Altman, Carter and her husband have two children: James Altman (born January 1988) and Jessica Carter Altman (born October 7, 1990). the couple lived in Potomac, Maryland. On February 3, 2021, Altman died at a hospital in Baltimore due to complications from a medical procedure; he was 73. In a June 4, 2008 interview with People magazine, Carter stated that she had in the past entered a rehabilitation clinic for treatment of alcoholism and that she had been sober for nearly 10 years. When she was asked what the recovery process had taught her, Carter explained that the best measure of a human being is "how we treat the people who love us, and the people that we love".