Jane Seymour looks back at Dr. Quinn, Wedding Crashers, Live and Let Die, Smallville, and more

The Bond Girl. A. Quinn, Dr. A crasher at a wedding occurrence. When Jane Seymour looks at her extensive resume, she is frequently as surprised as the rest of us who are watching her: “There are times when I look at it and I think to myself, ‘Oh my God. I accomplished a great deal.'”

During the course of a half-hour conversation that took place while she was getting her manicure, the Emmy-winning actress took EW on a journey through her nearly sixty years of career as a performer. She began with her new Acorn television series, Harry Wild, and went all the way back to her early days as a chorus member in productions of The Nutcracker directed by the London Festival Ballet.

“I continued dancing — a lot of dancing,” Seymour, who is now 71 years old, says about her early career journey. “When I was seventeen years old, I participated in what is known as a British pantomime, which is comparable to a Christmas show. The choreographer asked me to become the understudy for the leading lady, and I only had one line to perform.

In addition, the choreographer strongly suggested that she try out for the role of Oh! What a Lovely War, which was Richard Attenborough’s debut film in 1969. I was one of the thousands of other girls who tried out for the role. It is unlike anything else I have ever seen. According to Seymour, it was comparable to lines that stretched around the block in Shepherd’s Bush. And I’m in there right at the wee hours of the morning. I am given the opportunity to sing and dance for a short period of time. After that, after that, after that. Is similar to A Chorus Line, but even worse. After receiving two callbacks, I was able to make it to the final call of twelve girls. Richard Attenborough was present at that time, and he chose me as one of the six or seven potential candidates.

“They needed a girl to say a line, and the others didn’t dare [raise their hand],” Maggie Smith said in reference to a circumstance in which she appeared. And I just responded with a “Sure.” The immortal line that Maggie Smith says, “Is there a man digging your garden when he should be digging trenches?” is one that I had during my time in the industry. ‘And I run up, and I say, ‘He should be digging trenches,’ with a really squeaky voice,'” the actress recalls, describing how she was fired from her school play due to the time commitment required to film War. “That was bad news because my parents had bought tickets — but I had to rehearse with Richard Attenborough, which was much more important.”

She was married to Richard Attenborough’s son Michael from 1971 to 1973, and Seymour points to that film as the reason she became an Attenborough herself. Additionally, she attributes her first agent to that film. When we were watching [the dailies], Dickie’s agent was present, and we were also watching the news. Dickie’s agent then asked, “Who is that girl, three from the left?” during the conversation. “Oh yes, she’s really good,” said [Attenborough], who was also present. He responded by saying, “No, she is going to be a movie star.” I would like to come on her behalf.'”

According to the aspiring actress, she initially declined the offer made by the agent, “if you can believe it.” She had the intention of enrolling in a three-year acting school; however, “mercifully for me, the acting school said that I had to go and work in Scotland to sweep the stages for at least a year before they would even see me again.” However, she was able to attend the school. A moment ago, I had a conversation with the agent in which I stated, “Well, if you’ll let me out in a year so that I can go back to drama school, that’s wonderful.” As a result, I joined him, and shortly after that, I began working. Martin Potter and I worked together on a movie called “The Only Way,” and I never stopped working on it.

The fact that she has 151 credits on IMDb, including the 1980 film Somewhere in Time, which she will be honoring as part of the TCM Film Festival this coming weekend, demonstrates that she is not false. Considering that a manicure only lasts for a limited amount of time, we were unable to go over all of those projects. However, this merely indicates that we will need to schedule a pedicure for the books.