By Meredith Moss
Dayton Daily News

Who wouldn't be intimidated by Jane Seymour?

Hold your tongue or face the consequences
In addition to racking up Emmys and Golden Globe awards for her acting talents, the English-born celebrity also writes children's books, produces documentaries, designs home fashions and kids' clothing and is a serious painter and sculptor. Not to mention being a wife and mothering six children.

She's probably best known for being a Bond girl in Live and Let Die, for playing opposite the late Christopher Reeve in the romantic Somewhere in Time and for her leading role in the television series, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

And she's so doggone gorgeous to boot.

Despite her beauty, fame and achievements, Seymour comes across as pretty down-to-earth and accessible not at all intimidating, judging from a half-hour phone conversation.

Seymour will be the kick-off speaker for the Junior League of Dayton's Town Hall lecture series Thursday and Friday. She'll also make an appearance at Parisian on Saturday afternoon.

"At Town Hall, I'll talk about how life challenges can be turned into opportunities," says Seymour, who grew up in Wimbleton, the daughter of a British obstetrician and his Dutch wife. She chronicled her life in her book Remarkable Changes.

Among the challenges she has faced are three near-death experiences.

"After things like that happen to you, you get rid of a lot of emotional baggage and have an amazing freedom," she says. " You don't want to die, but you don't fear dying. You don't want to waste time."

It's obvious that Jane Seymour doesn't waste time.

"I go to sleep at night and dream ideas and wake up and try to manifest them," she says. "So long as I'm being creative, I'm happy."

She traces her creative drive and her ability to juggle many tasks back to childhood.

"When I was a kid, we didn't have much money, I went to ballet school in London and had a partial scholarship to perform as a ballerina. I had to have handmade shoes and I went through a couple of pairs a week. So to keep that up I learned how to crochet items and knit-wear and sold them in London."

These days multitasking means taking her paints with her on location when she's filming or granting a phone interview while she's at home in Malibu, getting her 8-year-old twin sons off to school. She and her husband, James Keach, also have a 14th century manor house in Bath, England.

Seymour has just returned from her one-woman art show in Youngstown, and has started working on an independent film called Odd Girl Out. The Wedding Crashers will be out in April, and in January she'll start filming The Blind Guy with her husband directing for Court TV.

She's continuing to introduce new items to her St. Catherine's Court home collection, produced in cooperation with Saks Inc. "To me, dressing your home is similar to dressing yourself or your kids," she says. "It's about expressing your unique personality. If I'm living in hotel room when I'm working on a film, the first thing is candles and fresh flowers. And I might hang a piece of art I find locally."

Meanwhile, she's looking forward to her Dayton presentation.

"I'm hoping to impart to my audience that life is about living," she says. "It happens in the moment."