Jane Seymour | |
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 Seymour in 2019 | |
| Born | Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg (1951-02-15)15 February 1951 (age 74) |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1968–present |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 4 |
| Website | www |
| Signature | |
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Jane SeymourOBE (bornJoyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg; 15 February 1951) is a British actress. After making her screen debut as an uncredited teenage extra in the 1969 musical comedyOh! What a Lovely War, Seymour moved to roles in film and television, including a leading role in the television seriesThe Onedin Line (1972–1973) and the role of psychicBond girlSolitaire in theJames Bond filmLive and Let Die (1973).
Critical acclaim followed, with a nomination for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series for her role inCaptains and the Kings (1976). In 1982, Seymour won her firstGolden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for her role in the miniseriesEast of Eden (1981). She received three additional Golden Globe nominations in that same category: one for her portrayal ofWallis Simpson, the twice-divorced American wife of the former King Edward VIII, in the television filmThe Woman He Loved (1988), and another two (in consecutive years) for her role in the miniseriesWar and Remembrance (1988-1989). HerWar and Remembrance role also garnered her a nomination for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Special.
Seymour also won aPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Special for her portrayal ofMaria Callas inOnassis: The Richest Man in the World (1988).
In 1993, Seymour was cast asDr. Michaela Quinn in the television seriesDr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, a medical drama set in theWild West. For her performance in this role, over the course of its six-season run she received nominations twice for thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, twice for theScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series, and four times for theGolden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama. She went on to win one of the latter awards.
Seymour was given a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame,[1] and, in 2000, was appointed anOfficer of the Order of the British Empire.[2]
Seymour also had roles in numerous films, includingSomewhere in Time (1980),The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982),La Révolution française (1989),Wedding Crashers (2005),Love, Wedding, Marriage (2011),Little Italy (2018),The War with Grandpa (2020) andFriendsgiving (2020).
In addition to her acting career, Seymour established a nonprofit, the Open Hearts Foundation, co-authored several children's books and self-help books, and created jewellery, scarves, furniture, rugs, handbags, paintings and sculptures under the labelJane Seymour Designs.
Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg was born on 15 February 1951[3] inUxbridge,Middlesex (now part ofGreater London), England, to Mieke van Tricht (1914–2007), a nurse, and Benjamin John FrankenbergFRCOG (1914–1990), a distinguishedgynaecologist andobstetrician.[4][5] Her father wasJewish; he was born in England to a family fromNowe Trzepowo, a village in Poland.[6] Her mother was aDutchProtestant (with family fromDeventer) who was aprisoner of war duringWorld War II and had lived in theDutch East Indies (nowIndonesia).[7][8][9] Seymour has stated she learned Dutch from her mother and her fellow survivors from the Japanese internment camp, who frequently spent holidays together in the Netherlands when she was a child. Encouraged by her parents (who sent her to live with family friends inGeneva to practise her languages), she learned to speak fluent French.[10]
Seymour's paternal grandfather Lee Grahame had come to live in the East End of London after escaping the Czaristpogroms when he was 14. He is listed in the 1911 census as living inBethnal Green working as a hairdresser and went on to establish his own company.[11] Seymour's father Benjamin qualified at theUCL Medical School in 1938.[12][13][14] He joined the medical branch of theRAFVR after the outbreak of war, serving inEngland,Belgium,Italy andSouth Africa,[4] ending his service as asquadron leader with amention in despatches.[13] After the war, Frankenberg continued his career at various London hospitals, includingSt Leonard's Hospital, Hackney, the East End Maternity Hospital, the City of London Maternity Hospital and finallyHillingdon Hospital, for which he designed the maternity unit.[4] A close associate ofPatrick Steptoe, he assisted in pioneering discussions onin-vitro fertilisation and published papers on adolescent and teenage sexual behaviours.[4]
Seymour was educated atTring Park School for the Performing Arts inHertfordshire. She chose the screen name Jane Seymour, after the English queenJane Seymour, because it seemed more saleable.[7] One of Seymour's notable features isheterochromia, making her right eye brown and her left eye green.[15]
In 1969, Seymour appeared uncredited in her first film,Richard Attenborough'sOh! What a Lovely War. In 1970, Seymour appeared in her first major film role in the war dramaThe Only Way. She played Lillian Stein, a Jewish woman seeking shelter fromNazi persecution. In 1973, she gained her first major television role as Emma Callon in the successful 1970s seriesThe Onedin Line. During this time, she appeared as the female lead Prima in the two-part television miniseriesFrankenstein: The True Story. She appeared asWinston Churchill's girlfriend Pamela Plowden inYoung Winston, produced by her father-in-law Richard Attenborough.
In 1973, Seymour achieved international fame in her role asBond girlSolitaire in theJames Bond filmLive and Let Die. IGN ranked her as 10th in a Top 10 Bond Babes list.[16] In 1975, Seymour was cast as Princess Farah inSinbad and the Eye of the Tiger,[17] the third part ofRay Harryhausen'sSinbad trilogy. Filmed in 1975,[18] it was not released until itsstop motion animation sequences had been completed in 1977. In 1978, she appeared asSerina in theBattlestar Galactica film and in the first five episodes of the television series. Seymour returned to the big screen in the comedyOh Heavenly Dog oppositeChevy Chase.
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In 1980, Seymour played the role on stage of Constanze inPeter Shaffer's playAmadeus, oppositeIan McKellen asSalieri andTim Curry asMozart. The play premiered on Broadway in 1980, ran for 1,181 performances and was nominated for seven Tony Awards, of which it won five.
Also in 1980, Seymour was given the role of young theatre actress Elise McKenna in the period romanceSomewhere in Time. Though the film was made with a markedly limited budget, the role enticed Seymour with a character she felt she knew. The effort was a decided break from her earlier work and marked the start of her friendship with co-starChristopher Reeve.
In 1981, she appeared in the television filmEast of Eden, based onthe novel byJohn Steinbeck. Her portrayal of main antagonistCathy Ames won her aGolden Globe.[19] In 1982, she appeared inThe Scarlet Pimpernel withAnthony Andrews and herAmadeus costar Ian McKellen. In 1984, Seymour appeared nude in the filmLassiter, co-starringTom Selleck, but the film was a box office flop. In 1987, Seymour was the subject of a pictorial inPlayboy magazine, although she did not pose nude.
In 1988, Seymour got the female lead in the twelve-part television miniseriesWar and Remembrance, the continued story from the miniseriesThe Winds of War. She played Natalie Henry, an American Jewish woman trapped in Europe duringWorld War II. That same year, she won anEmmy Award for playingMaria Callas in the television movieOnassis: The Richest Man in the World.[20][21]
In 1989, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of theFrench Revolution, Seymour appeared in the television filmLa révolution française, filmed in both French and English. Seymour appeared as the doomed French queen,Marie Antoinette; Seymour's two children, Katherine and Sean, appeared as the queen's children.
In the 1990s, Seymour earned popular and critical praise for her role asDr. Michaela "Mike" Quinn in the television seriesDr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and its television sequels (1993–2001). Her work on the series earned her a second Golden Globe Award. While working on the seriesDr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, she met her fourth husband, actor-directorJames Keach.
In the 2000s, Seymour continued to work primarily in television. In 2004 and 2005, she made six guest appearances inThe WB seriesSmallville, playing Genevieve Teague, the wealthy, scheming mother of Jason Teague (Jensen Ackles). In 2005, Seymour returned to the big screen in the comedyWedding Crashers, playing Kathleen Cleary, wife of fictionalUnited States Secretary of the Treasury William Cleary, played byChristopher Walken. In spring 2006, she appeared in the short-lived The WB seriesModern Men. Later that year, Seymour guest-starred as a law school professor on an episode of theCBS sitcomHow I Met Your Mother and as a wealthy client on theFox legal dramaJustice. In 2007, she guest-starred in theABC sitcomIn Case of Emergency. She also appeared inITV'sMarple: Ordeal By Innocence, based on theAgatha Christie novel. She was a contestant onseason five of the US reality showDancing with the Stars; she finished in sixth place, along with her partnerTony Dovolani. Seymour guest starred in "One Life to Lose", a soap opera-themed episode of the ABC crime dramedyCastle.
Seymour appeared in the Hallmark Channel filmDear Prudence (2008); the romantic comedyLove, Wedding, Marriage (2011); and the Hallmark Movie Channel filmLake Effects (2012).
In April 2016, she starred as Florence Lancaster inNoël Coward's playThe Vortex, presented in Singapore by theBritish Theatre Playhouse.[22] In 2022, Seymour began playing the title role on the Irish[23]Acorn TV seriesHarry Wild.[24][25][26]
In 2020, Jane starred inRuby's Choice, an Australian comedy/drama produced and directed byMichael Budd. It follows Ruby (played by Seymour) as a woman with earlydementia and its impact on her and her family when she is no longer able to live independently and moves in with her family. Jane wonAustralian screen industry Network Award for best actress.
The film was released theatrically across Australia and New Zealand on 3 March 2022. On 7 March 2022, Ruby's Choice premiered in Santa Barbara, California at the 37th Santa Barbara International Film Festival where it was a Nominee Best International Feature Film.[27] Seymour's 'Ruby's Choice' makes U.S. premiere at SBIFF|first=Joe|last=Buttitta|date=March 8, 2022</ref> On 24 September 2023, at the Burbank International Film Festival (BIFF), won Best Foreign Film and Best Feature Film with Ruby's Choice. The event coincided with the honouring of the legendary filmmakerTim Burton.[28] 'Ruby's Choice' will be released nationwide in North America on May 7th, 2024."
Seymour appeared in theNetflix movie,Irish Wish,[29] released on March 15, 2024, on Netflix.[30] It debuted at number one on Netflix's most watched films list two days after its release.[31]
In 2025, Seymour began hosting anAcorn TV/BBC America series calledRelative Secrets.[32][33][34]
Seymour has been married and divorced four times. Her first marriage was toMichael Attenborough. She was then briefly married to Geoffrey Planer.[35]
In 1981, Seymour married David Flynn. The marriage produced two children: Katherine Flynn (born on 7 February 1982) and Sean Flynn (born on 31 July 1985). Flynn involved her in the housing market, which left her "completely beyond bankrupt".[36] They divorced in 1992.[37] The following year, Seymour married actorJames Keach. Together they had twins, John Stacy and Kristopher Steven, born on 30 November 1995, and named after family friendsJohnny Cash andChristopher Reeve and James's brother, actorStacy Keach.[1]
In February 2005, Seymour became a naturalised citizen of the United States.[38]
Seymour is a celebrity ambassador forChildhelp, a national nonprofit organisation dedicated to helping victims ofchild abuse andneglect.[39] In 2007, she sponsored a children's Art Pillow contest as part of the Jane Seymour Collection, with the proceeds going to Childhelp.[40]
On 12 April 2013, it was announced that Seymour was divorcing Keach.[41] The divorce was finalized in December 2015.[42]
In February 2018, she posed forPlayboy for a third time, becoming at the age of 67 the oldest woman to be photographed for the magazine.[43] In thePlayboy interview, Seymour revealed that she briefly quit acting after being sexually harassed by an unnamed film producer in the early 1970s.[44][45]after earlier referring to this in her 1986 book Jane Seymours Guide to romantic Living. Seymour'sMalibu house almost burned during the2018 fires, but was saved, according to her, "by an incredibly devoted gardener and neighbour".[46]
Since 2023, she has been in a relationship with musician John Zambetti.[47]
In the 1980s, Seymour began a parallel career as a writer of self-help and inspirational books, includingJane Seymour's Guide to Romantic Living (1986),Two at a Time: Having Twins (2002),Remarkable Changes (2003) andAmong Angels (2010). She also co-wrote several children's books, with her then-husbandJames Keach, for theThis One 'N That One series.[37][48]
In 1985, Seymour appeared atFashion Aid, a one-time fashion show fundraiser held at theRoyal Albert Hall in London. An event organised byBob Geldof to raise funds for the ongoingEthiopian famine caused by the policies ofdictatorMengistu Haile Mariam, the finale of the show saw her partake in a mock wedding withFreddie Mercury. Seymour wore a white lace wedding dress that was designed byDavid andElizabeth Emanuel – who had previously createdPrincess Diana's wedding gown.[49]
In 2008, Seymour replacedSelina Scott as the new face of fashion labelCC (formerly known as Country Casuals) under theAustin Reed banner of retailers.[50][51]
Likewise in 2008, Seymour teamed up with and designed the "Open Heart Collection" forKay Jewelers, which promoted it with the advice, "Keep your heart open and love willalways find its way in."[52] Beginning that year, she saw to it that she would always be wearing one of the collection's necklaces whenever seen in public while not in character for any of her acting performances. In the same year, Seymour also wrote and published the booksOpen Hearts: If Your Heart Is Open, love Will Always Find Its Way In andOpen Hearts Family.
A 2.08-carat cushion-cut fancy vivid blue diamond in an 18-karat rose-gold-plated platinum setting was named "The Jane Seymour" in her honour by World of Diamonds Group, which had mined it in Russia, cut and set it. The ring was presented to Seymour in April 2016 in Singapore while she was there to star inThe Vortex.[53][54][55]
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