How Lynda Carter Became the First Superhero and Still Helps Women Around the Entire World Believe in Themselves

Nowadays, you can see a lot of strong female characters on the screen, but until the 70s of the previous century, such characters were extremely rare. But the feminist movements that are becoming stronger and stronger have changed both everyday and cultural lives. And thanks to all of this, the series Wonder Woman appeared which inspired many girls and women.

We at CHEERY decided to find out how Lynda Carter, who was the first person to portray Wonder Woman, managed to change the world of cinema.

In her childhood, Carter was fascinated by female superheroes.

As a little girl, Linda Carter loved reading comics about Wonder Woman. The idea of a female superhero seemed incredible to her, because she grew up, surrounded by women that went through some tough stuff and were used to being strong and decisive.

She remembers her mother telling her, “Oh, you can do anything that you set your mind to. We women were out there in the factories and were doing all these jobs that we were always told that we couldn’t do. And when they needed us, we were right there.”

She tried a lot of things before becoming an actress.

Carter has been a rebel since childhood. Her mother once noticed that it was impossible to change Linda’s mind about anything. Before she was on tv, she worked as a waitress, traveled around the country with a music band, and won the Miss USA title. She presented her country at the 1972 Miss World. She finished top 15.

But the competition for the crown didn’t leave the girl with any pleasant memories because she didn’t get the results she wanted. Carter said, “I didn’t get any prizes. They smack a little banner on you, they stick a crown on your head and call you a beauty queen.” And the experience itself was really painful.

When she got the part of her life, she only had $25 in her account.

And after the competitions, Carter decided to become an actress. She felt that she lacked the necessary experience, so she signed up for an acting class in New York. Linda got a few simple roles in tv-series, but the competition was so tough, and she had so little money, that she was preparing for finding a different job.

Then, she attended the audition for the series Wonder Woman. Aside from her, there were around 2,000 other actresses for consideration, even famous stars of the time, such as Angela Bowie and Joanna Cassidy. Some people in the studio didn’t like the fact that Linda lacked acting experience. But executive producer Douglas Kramer remembered, “The minute she stepped into the wild costume, I knew — and we all knew — that we had found our Wonder Woman. She is Wonder Woman.”

Carter fought for women’s rights from the first day of filming.

In one of the first episodes, Wonder Woman says quite provocative words, “Women are the wave of the future and sisterhood is stronger than anything.” But soon after that, the studio decided not to add any feminist messages, and it was a bummer for Linda. The creators thought, such a tone of the show would repel most of the audience.

The actress still insisted on making Wonder Woman an incredibly strong character that had everything under control and often helped men in tough situations. And Carter wanted to picture Diana in the most realistic way possible for the audience to believe they are watching a real woman.

She paved the way for female stunt doubles.

Until the 70s of the previous century, women would rarely get big roles in adventure movies, so male stunt double would do all the stunts for women. When Carter first saw the person that was supposed to be her in the next scene, she started laughing. The body shape of the stunt double was obviously masculine, and the revealing Wonder Woman costume made it obvious it was a guy.

So, Linda decided to do the dangerous stunt herself. She had to fly at the height of 50 feet, clinging to a bar under the helicopter. The scene needed to be done fast because of the light conditions, so Carter didn’t ask for permission from the producers. They were furious when they found out because she wasn’t even wearing a safety net. And they decided to hire a female stunt double for her.

Jeannie Epper was hired as her stunt double. She was one of the first female stunt doubles in the history of cinema and tv, and she was later recognized as one of the 100 most significant people in the industry. Jeannie grew up in a family of a stunt double and was one of the first kids to do stunts on the screen. After she stopped working on the show, she was the double for Kathleen Turner in Romancing The Stone, and in the 21st century, she did the stunts in Catch Me If You Can and Kill Bill.

Once, Epper’s son boasted to his classmates about his mom being in Wonder Woman. The kids didn’t believe him and laughed at him. Carter found out and invited the entire class to the set for them to see Jeannie Epper portraying the famous character.

Linda came up with some of the famous episodes from the series.

The creators had a hard time figuring out how to show the transformation of Diana Prince into Wonder Woman. At first, they wanted to show it slowly, but it would take too much time and cost too much money. So, Linda came up with the transformation move which became one of the trademarks of the series.

The series was never definitively closed.

Wonder Woman was on the screens for 3 seasons, and even though there were rumors about closing the show, the actors didn’t know whether they should believe them. The crew was told about the end of the series right at the last moment.

The project earned Carter not only fame but also very good money. In the beginning, her fee was $3,500 per episode, and by the end of the show, she’d get $1 million per season. It made Linda one of the highest-paid actresses of the time.

Linda preferred family life to career.

After the series ended, Linda had a lot of offers, but she decided to focus on her personal life. She said that she spent so much time on the set that she had no time left for anything else. Soon, she met lawyer Robert Altman, and they got married in 1984.

They bought a house in Maryland and had 2 children: son James, and daughter Jessica. Both of them decided to pursue a career in law. Carter says that it’s her family that made her life full, “I found that it’s always the people in your life — the friends and family that you choose to spend time with. It is every step you take that is the more difficult step in taking care of your children. The easy way out often ends up being the hardest.”

Carter followed the ideas of Wonder Woman in later life.

Even though Linda had less work, she didn’t devote all of her time to her family. The actress is known for her active social position, and for many decades, she’s attracted attention to many important issues. So, she is a supporter of the LGBT+ community.

In 2015, Wonder Woman was appointed official UN ambassador. Linda Carter was also present at the ceremony. The actress said, “The greatest honor and responsibility of playing Wonder Woman was serving as a role model for fans around the world, particularly girls. I’ve seen first-hand how a powerful yet compassionate superhero can inspire women to believe in themselves and men to support equality.”

She thinks her character is queer.

In June 2022, a scandal broke out online when Linda Carter published an illustration where Wonder Woman was in front of the rainbow. Many fans were outraged. They thought that Diana was never part of the LGBT+ community.

But the actress didn’t care: she explained why she thought Diana was queer, and also suggested supporting the organizations fighting for LGBTQIA+ rights. She wrote a tweet, “Every time someone comes up to me and says that WW helped them while they were closeted, it reminds me how special the role is.”

The actress doesn’t think her character’s costume is offensive to women.

Even though the role of Wonder Woman left a mark on all of Linda Carter’s future life, she doesn’t regret she played this character. When critics say that her costume is too revealing, she notes that male superheroes also wear costumes that accentuate the body, and nobody cares.

Linda says, “Get over it. That’s a woman’s body. We are all that. We’ve always been that, but we’re also every other shape and color, and size. It’s not our problem what we look like, it’s yours. I am a woman. This is how I look. I’m smart, and I’m this and I’m that as well.”

The actress said on her Instagram page that she still keeps the famous bracelets that protected her character from all sorts of trouble. She wrote, “I think there’s a certain association between a superhero and her costume or accessories that make the bracelets so appealing. Here’s the secret, though: it was never about the bracelets. The power of Wonder Woman lies within every woman and girl who dares to be bold and brave in this world.”

Linda appeared in Wonder Woman 1984, but in a new role.

In 2020, Linda appeared in a movie about Wonder Woman. But this time, she played a different character — the famous Asteria. Carter really liked Gal Gadot as a superhero. She admitted it was a bit strange to see a different person, playing Diana Prince, but the movie itself made her cry, laugh, and clap standing.

The role in the film even inspired her to write a new song, “Human and Divine”. She says that Wonder Woman of 1984 is based on a love story. She wanted to devote the song to the feelings of Steve and Diana, but then she realized, “This is the love we all yearn for. It is an anthem to the great love stories of the ages. My hope is that this song will inspire the connection to the love in your own life.”

In your opinion, can movies about strong female superheroes change the world for the better?