With a NEW Wonder Woman tv series currently filming, we thought it only appropriate to look at the
first actress to embody the Amazon Princess on screen!
In 1966, at the height of the "camp" craze spawned by
Batman, the show's producer William Dozier tried three
more comic characters as tv series.
One,
The Green Hornet, ran for a single 26-episode season.
The second,
Dick Tracy, never made it past the pilot.
The third,
Wonder Woman, reached the "test reel" stage, with about 10 minutes of footage being shot. Linda Harrison was
Wonder Woman, opposite a plain-Jane
Diana Prince played by Ellie May Walker. After seeing the footage, 20th Century Fox execs vetoed even going for a 30-minute pilot and the project died.
The footage has surfaced on a number of bootleg dvds and YouTube...
A year later, 20th began pre-production on the first
Planet of the Apes film.
Concerned that the ape makeup, so critical to the success of the film, might not look right on film, a screen test was done with Edward G. Robinson as Dr. Zaius, James Brolin as Cornelius, and Linda as Zira playing opposite Charlton Heston.
The concerns proved valid. The makeup
was redesigned before main unit shooting began. (You can see the test footage on the
Planet of the Apes Special Edition and
Behind the Planet of the Apes
DVDs)
Linda was then cast as "Nova", the non-speaking human female lead in
Planet of the Apes, and it's immediate sequel,
Beneath the Planet of the Apes. (And yes, I know she has
one line in
BtPotA!)
She married 20th Century studio boss Daryl V. Zanuck between filming the two
Apes movies.
After
BtPotA, Linda changed her name to "Augusta Summerland" and did minor tv and film roles
She divorced Zanuck and retired from acting in 1978.
Linda returned to acting in 1985, in
Cocoon, produced, ironically, by her ex-hubby, Zanuck!
) to horror, and even appeared in a number of music videos!
(Maya Herrera)
(Ana) 
(Angel)
(Callisto)
(Laurie)
(Caridad)
[1993]
(Woman in cart)
(Susan aka Mom)
/ 
/ 
(1985) / 
"Sorceress of Time" "Birthday Party" BJ Ward
(2002-06) Susan Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning (WW as child in "Kid's Stuff")
Vanessa Marshall
