Interview with Jane Seymour

Like her character in Dr Quinn, Jane Seymour is also a doctor's daughter also uprooted to the 'Hollywood west' with English origins .Another point in common, Dr Quinn fell in love with her beloved mountain man, as Miss Seymour got married for the 4 th time. And at 44 she is pregnant with twins! Wedded and professional bliss joined under a Californian blue sky after a stormy life..

Q::Can we say Dr Quinn came just in time in your career?

Jane: You are right .The past 3 years of the series's success has wiped away the memories of the hard times.

Even if my first two husbands are still my friends, these 3 divorces exhausted me.

My father's death in 1990, my sister's illness and my financial problems didn't help.And then came the criticism of my professional abilities .I was called the queen of mini series. As for me I don't mind, in spite of the attacks .. I am ready to claim this title..I shot more than a hundred hours of movies such as East of Eden The Sun Also Rises, Jamaica Inn. ..Richard Chamberlain and I share the TV viewers' loyalty and that is the only important thing..

Q: What do you think of the huge success of Dr Quinn ?

J: A true miracle !.In the beginning nobody believed in it .When I first read it I was not sure about the story of this lady doctor in the west ..I didn't know what to think of an heroine who was for sexual equality,and race equality and the protection of the environment.In fact I am like her .My mothers'name is Mieke she is dutch. Dr Quinn is Michaela . I am a doctor ‘s daughter and I was a nurse for the Red Cross .. Strange similarity..In memory of my father who had just passed away I accepted the role.Today I carry it as I carry my future children.By the way the producer will use the different stages of my pregnancy and include them in the story till my delivery.

Q: You are 44 .Aren't you afraid of this hard time?

Jane: I will prepare for them the same as for my other children, following the advice of my father who was a famous British surgeon and gynecologist.If we have a daughter as we hope, she will be named after my younger sister Sally, she nearly died of a brain hemorrhage in 1993.Since this hard time we are closer …

Q: What kind of child where you ??

J:   To tell the truth I was never a quiet little girl.Rather the ugly litlle duck ..and when I learnt dancing I was transfigured..At 16 I was already a ballerina in the famous Kirov company.

Q: Did you already dream of being an actress?

Jane: Not at all !! I had to withdraw from the dance because of problems with my joints.First I became a modell for Max Factor. I didn't like to just sit around.

At 18 I started off in the cinema with my first father-in law Richard Attenborough(Gandhi's director). I have played everything- comedy on Broadway, a James Bond girl for the cinema and a lot of heroines- Maria Callas, The Duchess of Windsor, and even Marie Antoinette in the French Revolution, a french movie in which my children also had roles.

Q: Why did you change your name ?

Jane: I was born Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg.Personally I prefer Jane Seymour who was one of Henry the 8 th wives .In fact I am known as American but I have pure British roots, In spite of my exile in Hollywood in 1978. In 1983 when I went back to Bath, near Bristol, Avon, for the filming of Jamaica Inn, I found the park and the manor where I first fell in love, in ruins.- He was 24 and I was17..I bought and renovated straight away this 11 th century house,Rasley Hall, named Ste Catherine and I settled there.

Q: What does your husband think of it

J: .Even though he was born in New York, James (James Keach) who is one of the series' directors, likes Hollywood where he works .But he doesn't despise his new lord's life even if he remains very American ..As for me I am very British. It was difficult for me at the beginning to get used to California ..

To lose my English accent I decided to phone the switchboard operator ,I taped our conversations and I listened to them for hours to imitate them..Today I have a perfect accent ..In fact these good telephone ladies don't know I owe them my celebrity !

translated from the French.