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Actress Jane Seymour to visit city to tout home
design, kids By MARY ANNE ZOLLAR
She acts (a tactic useful to polite Southern girls). She paints (her canvases would fetch a mint at a church charity fund-raiser). She loves kids (she has six). She's charitable (a volunteer for the American Red Cross and Childhelp USA). She's pretty (no explanation necessary). And she's enterprising. Seymour is looking forward to her first visit to Huntsville Friday and Saturday to launch her new lines of home furnishings and children's clothing at Parisian Parkway Place as well as to support the National Children's Advocacy Center. "I would love to meet the people of Huntsville," said Seymour, who has visited Alabama before. "Southern people are the most warm and loving and inviting people." Seymour will participate in a cocktail party benefit for the National Children's Advocacy Center 7 p.m. Friday, and conduct a seminar on home design at Parisian at 10 a.m. Saturday. At the home design seminar, she wants to do more than spout advice on dust ruffles and high tea technique. "I'm hoping to have a dialogue with the people who are purchasing my collection to come up with products that they want," said Seymour. Although the furnishings are based on the decor of her 14th-century English castle, St. Catherine's Court, the pieces wouldn't look out of place in either a modest apartment or suburban dwelling, Seymour said. "You don't have to have a castle to make an elegant home," she added. The items in the collection of duvets, picture frames, paintings, candlesticks, glassware and china number nearly 600, but are priced beginning at $8. They just look expensive, due to their opulent source of inspiration. "We took elements of St. Catherine's and transferred them into furnishings," Seymour explained. Architectural details became a china pattern. Ancient glass inspired Tudor wine goblets. Perhaps there's a special appeal to Seymour fans, who can own a bedspread just like the beloved Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, or sexy Solitaire, her character in the 1973 James Bond movie, "Live and Let Die." Seymour uses the collection's plump pillows and rich textiles in both her castle and Coral Canyon, the home she shares in Malibu, Calif., with her husband, director James Keach, and the couple's children. It was their twin sons, Kris and John, who inspired Seymour to write a series of children's books, which in turn inspired her line of children's clothing, "This One and That One," even before they were born. "During exams, the doctor would say, 'Well, this one's bigger than that one,' " said Seymour. After the boys were born, the names stuck, as in, 'This one's got more hair than that one.' " "Or we would get ready to go somewhere when they were babies, and we'd say 'You take this one, I'll take that one.' " This One and That One are mischievous cartoon kittens and appear as appliqus on the clothing or in the pattern of printed and embroidered fabrics. Although the twin kittens are boys, girls haven't been left out of the clothing collection. "We've come up with a female character, a baby kitten, the Other One," said the author. Seymour's children are so important to her that she feels the need to work to improve the plight of youngsters who don't have such a doting mom or abundant resources. "I'm so fortunate to have healthy children, to me there's nothing more important than helping kids that have been abused, or who are in the adoption system, or that have diseases," said Seymour. "Children are the innocent ones, and they need to be protected." For that reason, she is active in many charities benefiting children around the world. She uses her opportunities to travel to spread the word and boost children's causes wherever she goes. "What I've been doing is having charity events specific to that town and to the area," Seymour said. "If possible, something to do with children. That's always been my cause." When she comes to Huntsville, Seymour will partner with Parisian for a cocktail reception to benefit the National Children's Advocacy Center. "An Evening With Jane Seymour" will take place Friday at 7 p.m. at the new NCAC campus on Pratt Avenue. "She's someone we really admire, and we understand she's very passionate about children's issues," said Connie Carnes, NCAC executive director. Only 300 tickets will be sold at $150 each. Carnes hopes that the money will help replace $72,000 in funding lost through state budget cuts. "This is a very rare opportunity to be at an event where she is," Carnes said. "Not only will it benefit the center, but people who attend will get a lot of pleasure and enjoyment out of hearing what she has to say." Talented actress, artist, designer, successful businesswoman, classic beauty: It would be easy to say Seymour has had it easy in life. But in reality, she exhibits the drive to make the best of adverse circumstances. "I've had to deal with near bankruptcy, divorces, all the kinds of things that everybody has to deal with," said Seymour. And just when her hit program, "Dr. Quinn," completed a sixth successful season in 1998, it was dropped by CBS. But Seymour could be a poster child for making lemonade out of life's sour setbacks. "When life gives you a challenge, it's opportunity that follows," she said. Seymour took her newfound free time and began the St. Catherine's Court and This One and That One projects. "They would never have happened without 'Dr. Quinn' being canceled," she said. In her spare time, she has penned her sixth book, "Remarkable Changes." Published in April, it contains a forward by Christopher Reeve, her "Somewhere In Time" costar. Of the 50 films to her credit, "Somewhere" has the greatest following. In fact, Seymour is so popular with American fans, admirers raised four times the amount required, $10,000, to place her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was recently featured on two pages in People magazine's "Special Collector's Edition - 100 Greatest TV Stars of Our Time" published last month. Despite her busy lifestyle and glamorous surroundings, Seymour prefers the simple pleasure of creating and the warm company of loved ones to the fast lane of celebrity. "Painting with my children and my best friends. Maybe a quick swim and a lovely meal with my friends and my family. That would be my favorite day," Seymour said. She'll fit right in here. |