Lynda Carter will always and forever be remembered as Wonder Woman, being the first actress to take up the lasso and bracers for the small screen in the seventies. Giving Diana Prince that boost of femininity and strength needed to bring America around to a female-led superhero show at the time.
Born Lynda Jean Carter on July 24, 1951, acting wasn’t anywhere on Lynda’s mind growing up. Instead, the future Amazonian would go for a singing career, starting early by playing local shows in pizza parlors and clubs around her hometown of Phoenix, Arizona.
Finding Your Place
While she would drop out of Arizona State University fairly early to pursue a singing career, Lynda Carter would realize after two years it just wasn’t what she wanted to do. Instead, she went back to her hometown in 1972, winning local beauty contests and eventually making it to the Miss World Pageant that same year, where she would place 15th while representing the United States.
That win would propel Lynda Carter to fame, and she would soon move to New York to pursue acting, studying at various schools across the city and starring in one-off roles across television and better-left-forgotten films.
Even with roles in small shows, she was barely scraping by and about to give up when fate shined on her: the call to play Wonder Woman. Lynda Carter was an avid fan of the comics since she was a child, and her dream had just come true.
Wonder Woman
The show became a hit and Lynda Carter an icon because of it, creating a part she would play for three seasons before the show ended in 1979. Notably, Carter would marry her talent agent and first husband Ron Samuels in 1977.
Carter would stick to television throughout the eighties and nineties, with some well-received television movies starring up-and-comers like Jim Carrey and Ben Affleck. While her marriage to Samuels would end in 1982 with Lynda Carter attributing it to her alcoholism, among other things.
Not long after her divorce, she would find love again with future Bethesda executive Robert Altman, marrying in 1984. Lynda Carter credits Altman with her sobriety, saying he was the one who convinced her she needed to enter rehabilitation for the sake of herself and their two children, Jessica and James.
Her resurgence in the nineties came due to even more television roles, continuing a string of made-for-television films from the eighties along with her own musical specials. She would experience a resurgence in her love of music at the time as well, returning to singing for small engagements and clubs.
Impact and a Comeback
By 2000 it was time to cash in on that sweet Wonder Woman nostalgia, and Lynda Carter had a lot to cash in. She would play Governor Jessman, a part written specifically for her, in Broken Lizard’s second-best film, Super Troopers. She would go on to reprise the role in the sequel almost two decades later.
Not to say she didn’t have a few misses here and there, with her made-for-television movies being much lower on the spectrum than her previous credits. She would also dip her toe into voice acting though, becoming a regular contributor to the Elder Scrolls franchise.
Nostalgia Roles
Her shining tribute in cinema would happen in 2005 with the film Sky High. The story about a superpowered high school would stand out with performances by a charismatic as hell Kurt Russell and villainous Mary Elizabeth Winstead in one of her early roles. Lynda Carter would play the principal of Sky High, a former hero much like Wonder Woman.
The movie would be a hit and lead to more cameo roles for Lynda Carter in films like Dukes of Hazard, directed by Broken Lizard’s Jay Chandrasekhar. She would also land guest roles in Law and Order as well as Smallville, with a nod to her time as Wonder Woman.
Carter stepped back from acting for the most part after 2008, which is understandable considering that was when she found a body floating in the Potomac River. That can be a little traumatizing. She would take up voice roles in more Bethesda games, however, and likely makes massive money off of every Skyrim release.
What is Lynda Carter doing now?
She’s done much the same through the 2010s and to now, only occasionally popping up in guest roles like Wonder Woman 1984 and her reappearance in Super Troopers 2. While she was set to reprise the role of Asteria in Wonder Woman 3, it doesn’t look like that’s anywhere near the table anymore.
During the same time, she returned to her singing career as well, going on tour for multiple dates and shows throughout the decade. She would also make a few residencies at cabaret clubs throughout Las Vegas.
Sadly, Lynda Carter would lose her husband Robert Altman in 2021. She keeps on though, championing kindness as a state of being and showing up as a fierce advocate of LGBT+ rights and safety, affirming Wonder Woman as a gay icon.
Though she has no plans on the table upcoming, she is still posting on her Instagram regularly, even giving some cheeky Wonder Woman cards for Valentine’s Day. With everything going on in the world today, Lynda Carter seems to be needed more than ever as an advocate and voice for kindness, which is exactly how she’s living.
