JANE SEYMOUR
Birth Name: Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg
Date of Birth: February 15, 1951
Best known for her role as Dr. Michaela Quinn in the western drama series
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Women, Seymour was born in Wimbledon, England. Her father was a British doctor of Jewish origin, and her mother was a nurse from Holland. Seymour started
dancing at an early age and by 13, she made her professional debut with the London Festival Ballet.
Though her dream was to be a dancer, a knee injury forced her to take another path in life. At the time, she was dating Richard Attenborough's son Michael, and landed a bit part in Attenborough's Oh, What a Lovely War (1969). Next, she played a Jewish woman in The Only Way (1970) then landed a recurring role in the British TV series, The Onedin Line. Roles in several more films and TV series followed, but it wasn't until she was cast as heroine Solitaire in Live and Let Die opposite Roger Moore as James Bond, that she found fame.
Not long after, she moved to the U.S. to seek greater fame and fortune. Although she had a few lean years, she was finally cast in the mini-series Captains and the Kings (1976), earning an Emmy nomination in the process. A role in the TV pilot movie for the new series Battlestar Galactica (1978) again brought her to the attention of American audiences. She returned to feature film work
for a short time in 1980 starring opposite Christopher Reeve in the cult hit Somewhere In
Time, followed by Oh, Heavenly Dog! with Chevy Chase.
Seymour spent most of the '80s working in television, focusing on telefilms and
mini-series and earning the title "Queen of the Mini-series." In 1982, she won a Golden Globe for her performance in the mini-series, East of Eden and an Emmy award in 1988 for her supporting role in the TV movie Onassis: The Richest Man in the World. By the early '90s she struck gold, landing the starring role in the western Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, which followed the trials of a female doctor in 1860s Colorado. The series went on for six years and has spawned two telefilms. In 1995, she won a second Golden Globe Award, this time for her performance as Dr. Michaela Quinn.
In 1999, after years of campaigning and raising the required funds, Seymour's fans managed to get her a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame in 1999. More recently, she returned to the big screen with a supporting role in The Wedding Crashers (2005), starring Owen Wilson.
Married four times, she is the proud mother of four, including twin boys with her latest husband, James Keach. In her spare time she paints, does charity work for numerous children's organizations and writes books on various subjects.
Jane and her husband actor/producer/director James Keach own a 14th-century
manor house outside Bath, England called St. Catherine's Court.
Filmography:
Blind Guy (2006)
Odd Girl Out (2005)
Wedding Crashers(2005)
Touching Wild Horses (2002)
Junket Whore (1998)
The New Swiss Family Robinson (1998)
Quest for Camelot (1998) (voice)
La Révolution française (1989)
Keys to Freedom (1988)
Túnel, El (1987)
Head Office (1985)
Lassiter (1984)
Oh, Heavenly Dog! (1980)
Somewhere in Time (1980)
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)
Live and Let Die (1973)
The Best Pair of Legs in the Business (1972)
Young Winston (1972)
The Only Way (1970)
Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) (uncredited)