Top Ten Anniversary: Female TV Leads

Top Ten Leading Female TV Characters

Continuing our celebration of one decade of Poseidon's Underworld, we now turn to our all-time favorite leading female characters on television. Again, there aren't likely to be many surprises since these ladies have most all been featured here one way or another over the course of this blog's history, but we're using the occasion of our ten year anniversary to create some Halls of Fame, if you will. Interestingly, my tastes seem to run to the polar opposites, very good gals or very bad! The ladies are listed alphabetically according to their characters' first names.

ABBY EWING of Knots Landing -- Donna Mills was brought in after the show had already been airing for one season in order to shake up the famous cul-de-sac. One can safely say she did so! That Mills was known for playing put-upon victims and soft romantic heroines helped make the whole thing that much more dynamic. Abby arrived as a middle class single mother that the other women felt they could trust, but she was soon unveiled as a man-eating, money-hungry vixen who let almost nothing prevent her from reaching her high-flung goals. Yet, there was also a vulnerable motherly side that kept the character balanced. Mills, and her stunning eyes, made an indelible impression.

ALEXIS CARRINGTON COLBY of Dynasty -- Much like Ms. Mills above, Joan Collins was brought onto Dynasty after its brief initial season in order to add conflict to the show. From the very start, Collins strove to have input into the character's presentation from the style of clothing she wore to the insertion of sarcastic humor amid all the turmoil. The result was an international sensation. In the process, real life businessmen wondered whether they ought to have discarded their first wives so cavalierly lest they return to the fray, scorned and ready to wield their own power. Collins also, along with costar Linda Evans, made cat-fights into a much-adored spectator sport among prime-time soap opera buffs. For my own part, Collins work on the show crystallized an already fervent adoration of her that began when I was a tyke and continues to this day!

BLANCHE DEVEREAUX of The Golden Girls -- When this sitcom was put together, the producers gathered a positively perfect cast of ladies. Ironically, Rue McClanahan was initially hired to play ditzy Rose while Betty White had been tagged for the outrageously sexual Blanche. The two wisely opted to swap roles, playing against their established types, and the rest is history. To me, Blanche was always funniest in the first four years or so of the series, when McClanahan was actually less overtly attractive and shapely and the character wasn't written as severely bitchy as she later emerged. Somehow that made her antics more amusing. All of her saucy remarks were delivered in a hooty accent that the director of the pilot wouldn't allow the actress to use, but thankfully she was able to utilize it thereafter.

JAIME SOMMERS of The Bionic Woman -- Lindsay Wagner guest-starred on The Six Million Dollar Man as an old girlfriend of Lee Majors who is severely injured and repaired with bionic parts, but then dies when her body rejects them. Wagner, however, was so popular in the two-part episode that a series all her own was built for her, revealing that she hadn't truly died. Wagner's innate charm and down-to-earth style made the superheroine relatable and believable (and, like any idealistic heroine, Jaime was humane and just.) Legions of little girls (and not a few boys!) duplicated her hand-to-the-ear gesture on the playground, pretending to be able to hear faraway events. I know I also, even at sixteen, hardly put my foot out of a car without thinking of the time she stopped one from rolling away with her bionic leg!

JENNIFER HART of Hart to Hart -- "This is Mrs. H. She's gorgeous!," said Max, the Hart's chauffeur and Man Friday as Stefanie Powers' face appeared in the opening credits of this stylish mystery series. Sometimes chemistry just soars off the charts between people and such was the case when Powers was paired with Robert Wagner as two wealthy socialites whose lifestyle somehow always places them in the proximity of a crime, usually a murder. Having toiled in an endless string of movies and TV shows, Powers really found her wheelhouse with Jennifer, who had the most distinctive way of calling out, "Jonathan!" to her husband. Actually, everything she said and did, each expression, was distinctive and also intoxicatingly captivating. Ten years after its five-season run, the duo returned for a series of eight popular TV-movies.

KELLY GARRETT of Charlie's Angels -- Jaclyn Smith (one of only two ladies here who hasn't received a tribute of her own, though it's often been considered) came to the trendsetting and wildly popular detective series with the least experience (and third-billing.) Her good girl private eye, ever earnest yet firm when necessary, won audiences over and led to her becoming a household name. Smith is the only Angel to have stayed for all five seasons of the show, which means that she is the only one who appears in all cast photos no matter the line-up. She stayed the course and achieved top-billing, then parlayed her fame into a plethora of successful TV-movies and miniseries. We always know that Kelly will do the right thing, whatever the cost.

MAUDE FINDLAY of Maude -- We adore Dorothy Zbornak of The Golden Girls, but practically every off-the-cuff insult or slow-burning grimace was taken for a test drive first on Maude. With All in the Family's staggering success featuring a far-right character like Archie Bunker, Norman Lear took the other tack and looked for comic gold in a far-left character with Maude. It's safe to say that TV viewers never saw anyone quite as outspoken or as aggressively opinionated as Maude, but even during the most controversial and touchy subjects, Bea Arthur delivered comedy with gusto. Her habits of saying people's names twice ("Oh, Walter, Walter...") or exclaiming "God'll get you for that..." were trademarks of the show. And though TV certainly became ever more topical and permissive, I just don't think anyone could ever top Ms. Arthur when it comes to an aggravated insult or even a startled gaze.

SABLE COLBY of The Colbys -- No dramatic TV character ever caught my attention more than Stephanie Beacham as Sable. Among the least known of a star-filled cast, she came out punching and swiftly became a standout, be it tangling with her craggy sister-in-law Barbara Stanwyck or with her actual sister Katharine Ross. Critics claimed that Beacham was merely playing an Alexis wannabe, but the characters were actually distinctly different. Alexis hadn't been able to cope with her husband's emotional and physical absences and turned to other men. Sable lived completely for her husband and family and was steadfastly faithful to him even though he inexplicably carried a torch for her dreary sister Ross. (Sable's history was unduly tampered with later on Dynasty.) Beacham imbued every line of dialogue with supreme weight and always looked eye-popping. The day she finally granted husband Charlton Heston his divorce ought to have garnered an award nomination, but by then the show was close to cancellation. To this day, youtube is filled with all of Sable's scenes strung together and they remain the principle merit of the show.

VICTORIA BARKLEY of The Big Valley -- The very definition of upstanding, Victoria (as portrayed by Miss Barbara Stanwyck) was the moral compass of the whole region near Stockton, California and the guiding force of its most prominent family, The Barkleys. Stanwyck made it clear from the start that she wasn't going to fret around the house in crinoline while the boys went out to fight. She played with a longer wig and plenty of dresses for one season before shifting to an anachronistic shorter 'do with more trousers and gauchos (not to mention false eyelashes!) She performed with gusto, hurling herself into all sorts of rigorous stunts while always somehow retaining a ladylike image (and behind the scenes running herd on her gaggle of young costars, making sure they behaved professionally!) I probably learned more about discerning right from wrong through Victoria Barkley than from anyone else in my own real life.

WONDER WOMAN of Wonder Woman -- If I approached the new Wonder Woman (2017) movie with apprehension, it's because I already had "my" Wonder Woman, the glorious Lynda Carter. (For the record, I did enjoy Gal Gadot and, for the most part, the movie.) No one will ever, in my opinion, match Carter for that combination of luminous beauty, altruistic innocence and iconic inhabiting of the famous character. It was just a perfect marriage of actress and role, though it must be said that the series itself was never up to snuff, writing-wise, with the performance Carter was providing. Oh, and if you think kids on the playground imitated Jaime Sommers, think about how many slinked towards a secluded spot and then reenacted Carter's legendary twirling transformation from Diana Prince into the red, white and blue heroine!

Bonus Pic

I just had to share this clipping I found while searching for the right photos of these ladies. I couldn't agree more with the text on it. I've watched a lot of TV over the last half-century and no one ever knocked me out the way Ms. Beacham did!

Fun Find: Rona Barrett's Gossip, Feb 1980.

Today's fun find has been in my possession for quite a while, probably about the mid-1990s when a friend gave it to me, knowing of my fascination with Gregory Harrison and some of the other folks featured. This magazine figures into a story about my meeting Gregory Harrison, which you can read here within his tribute!

The curly-haired gent that Lindsay Wagner is resting atop was not only her personal manager, but also the producer of several specials and TV-movies of hers including The Two Worlds of Jennie Logan (1979) and Scruples (1980), though he was married to Lynda Carter and producing specials for her as well. Those two divorced in 1983.

There's a wave of handsome guys on this page, one of which, Sam Jones, has a tribute here in The Underworld.

Rona focuses on the back end for this page of photos. Tanya Tucker, Treat Williams (who I didn't recognize!) and Candy Clark are one of the last trios I'd expect to see partying together! 

Things come up a little short in this section, with Dudley Moore, Gary Coleman and Herve Villechaize featured (along with a model completely unknown to me, Candice Boone. Her proposed TV series, by the way, doesn't seem to have come to fruition.)

The caption says that Dustin Hoffman has no women in his life, but in 1980 he divorced Anne, the mother of his children and in the same month married his present wife Lisa (with whom he sired four more.) Suzanne Somers' son Bruce Somers (from her brief first marriage) was seldom ever written about to my knowledge. He grew up to work behind the scenes in the biz, occasionally helping with some of her infomercials.

Some handsome men on this page, from Erik Estrada, who was recovering from a motorcycle accident, to Patrick Wayne (who was planning a movie about his famous father John, which has yet to be done by him or anyone else!) Rona gets a little snotty (not to mention narrow-minded) about Richard Gere and his choice of roles.

This profile of Frederic Forrest is interesting since, though he did wind up working through the mid-2000s, he never really quite followed through on the promise of his key roles in The Rose and Apocalypse Now (both 1979.)  His Oscar nomination for The Rose was lost to Melvyn Douglas of Being There and his role in the mega-flop One From the Heart (1981) seemed to curb his burgeoning film career (which had already gotten a late start.)

For whatever reason, I have never really been drawn to Peter Barton. At the time of this article, he was at the dawn of his acting career after working as a model. The short-lived series Shirley (1979-1980) starred Shirley Jones as a widow with three children to look after, including stepson Barton (The Quail Family?? LOL) Barton later went on to The Powers of Matthew Star (1982-1983) prior to a successful run on The Young and the Restless. Barton is now fifty-eight, off-screen since 2005 and still single.

As I was thirteen the year The Blue Lagoon (1980) came out, the whole wave of publicity surrounding the movie made quite an impression on me. When the movie made it to cable, millions of us watched and waited for all the skin that Christopher Atkins put on display! As for Gregory Harrison, his shower during the opening credits of Trapper John, M.D. changed my life! Still single at this time, he married Randi Oakes of CHiPs later in the year and they have four children together.

As the article says, just one of countless books on The King was in the works, this one by his stepmother and her three sons, one of which was barred from Graceland after Elvis allegedly carried on a month-long affair with his wife! Below that, Farrah Fawcett laments the way her stalled movie career was progressing and the way expectations stood in the way of her perception as an actress. It would actually be TV that helped give her a certain degree of cred with things like 1984's The Burning Bed.

Next we have news of a dust-up between Britain's Princess Margaret and the Irish in the wake of her uncle's murder. The columnist Irv Kupcinet, by the way, is the man whose actress daughter Karyn was strangled to death in a 1963 murder that was never solved. Len Cariou puts forth some rather brave remarks about the singing "talent" of his A Little Night Music (1977) costar Elizabeth Taylor!  

Without question, the marriages and and domestic issues of Princess Caroline dominated many a gossip rag in the 1980s. The marriage discussed here, her first, would actually end later in the year. Her second husband, father of three of her four children, died in a speed-boating accident. She is still wed to her third husband (since 1999.) Below, an unbelievable account of Mark Hamill assaulting a studio commissary waiter with a turkey sandwich!

The medical emergency described in the Della Reese article is a near-fatal brain aneurysm that she suffered in 1979. After two operations, she made a full recovery. You have to sort of marvel at the fact that they chose of photo of her wearing a turban to run with this story! Richard Gere, at this stage of his career, was known for dropping trou in most of his movies, but was beginning to retreat from it as his career progressed.

The most fascinating tidbits in this section include the fact that Dan Haggerty of Grizzly Adams fame had been involved in a fight with police and put on probation (!) and that Jeff and brother Beau (with a goofy haircut) Bridges would light up marijuana at home in front of their exasperated father.

We adore Stefanie Powers, always have, and there are some interesting (if a tad dramatic at times) quotes from her in this interview.

It's annoying that David Hodo, the Construction Worker of The Village People, opted to dress this way, hat and all, at a black tie event, but it's likely no one there would have known him (nor would his photo have been published) had he not! (Or maybe the novelty of seeing him dressed properly might have led to an equal amount of publicity.) It's nice to see Lucy in action and look at Adam Rich's even littler, cuter brother! Laverne & Shirley was quite a hit, lasting from 1976-1983 (and really only ending then because Cindy Williams wanted out.) 

Catherine Bach wisely opted to wear something tasteful despite her TV series' inherent tackiness. Lindsay Wagner, freshly divorced from Michael Brandon, is shown on the arm of Liza Minnelli's latest ex-husband Jack Haley Jr. (Interesting, isn't it, that Haley's father was the Tin Man and Liza's mother was Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, 1939?) Dionne Warwick's hit song at this point was "I Know I'll Never Love This Way Again." She had recently become the host of Solid Gold as well. I enjoyed seeing this latter-day photo of Miss Rita Hayworth, too.

This page of movie star romances takes note of Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal, who did establish a long, if tormented, relationship. It also mentions Doris Day's fourth and final husband, who she divorced in 1982. Martin Mull's marriage to Sondra Baker only lasted until 1981. And Sylvester Stallone never wed Susan Anton, but he did fall for another statuesque blonde, Brigitte Nielsen, though their union only lasted from 1985-1987.

Margot Kidder's erratic personal life is foreshadowed a bit in this article about her brief marriage to John Heard. She would soon be facing a multitude of personal and career traumas. Chuck Connors never wed again after this last wife. Despite the mention of Candice Bergen's relationship with Stan Dragoti, she actually wed French film director Louis Malle later in 1980. Margot Kidder's Superman (1978) costar Jackie Cooper is mentioned as having marital troubles, but these two actually did stick together all the way up to her death in 2009. Good for them! The final couple mentioned, but not pictured, is Lou Ferrigno and future wife Carla. I met these two in the late-'80s when he was doing publicity for a gym near my restaurant. She was noted as being fairly impatient and rude, but seeing here that she had been a restaurant manager, maybe she knew some things that my then-employer didn't! LOL They're still together, by the way, and have three children.

Oh dear... I almost didn't include this spread in the wake of Stephen Collins' recently revealed allegations of sexual abuse with minors. Interesting that he's referred to as looking "trustworthy" in the first sentence and later mentions that he's trying to get away from his perceived image as "clean-cut" and an "All-American Hero." 

He does come off as pretty grounded and centered in this piece (and how gorgeous he was!), but his sexual deviancy was in place at least as far back at 1973 by his own admission.

We loved Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and especially the camp riot The Promise (1979), which is bad at an almost science-fiction level while still being touching in some ways!

I mean, just look at the nearly unrecognizable Kathleen Quinlan!

This was a fun page, revealing the (somehow!) unknown to me trivia that Candy Clark and Marjoe Gortner were once man and wife! By the way, Paul Newman's movie "The Day the World Ended" was released (with a thud) as When Time Ran Out... (1980)

Most sites I visit mention nothing about this lawsuit or the outcome of it. I wonder if there was a settlement or not.

This article tells of a memorable concert that Frank Sinatra gave to benefit the handicapped children of Egypt. Within a year or so's time, Anwar Sadat would be assassinated and his wife Jihan made a widow.

Brigitte Bardot published her first book in 1978 and the next one wasn't until many years later, so this article is a tad confusing. Regarding the photo of Jane Seymour, she is beautiful there and Somewhere in Time (1980) is a favorite of mine that I always intend to profile, but never actually do!

I enjoyed this page, with remarks from Laurence Olivier on Marilyn Monroe and feedback from famed photographer (and my own very favorite) George Hurrell. Many other comments, mostly positive for a change, are included by others. I could have done without Woody Allen's gushing over underage Muriel Hemingway, especially now that he's married his own stepdaughter! There's also a blurb from O.J. Simpson.

I don't think one could say that Fernando Allende really "made it" in Hollywood, though he did continue to work there for a time after this profile, including a role on Flamingo Road (1981-1982) and guest roles on popular series. Eventually he moved to Puerto Rico where he carried on a successful TV and (occasional) movie career.

Some interesting pairings in this one. Donna Summer (getting ribbed in the caption!) with Dolly Parton and Barbara Carrera with legendary director George Cukor. It would be fun to see the unretouched photos mentioned in Richard Gere's caption. Before Pam Dawber landed "sexiest man alive" Mark Harmon in 1987, she dated this handsome hunk, who eked out a touch and go acting career from the '80s through the late-2000s. Mary Tyler Moore's career did rebound after Ordinary People (1980), but unfortunately her marriage came undone by 1982. to the surprise of many. (Look at the body language here, however...)

I have one thing to say about Ruth Buzzi and her husband (to whom she is still wed, by the way!), You GO, Ruthie! Georg Stanford Brown and Tyne Daly weren't as lucky. They split in 1990. Not sure if Nancy Morgan Ritter planning "for tomorrow" included being divorced from John in 1996... What a rotten photo of the lovely Jaclyn Smith. And who ever expected to see Princess Grace and Gloria Gaynor chatting it up? (Lord, that hairdo on Grace...)

Here, we find Muhammad Ali sparring with his pal, recording artist Teddy Pendergrass. In 1982, Pendergrass was paralyzed from the chest down in a horrific one-car automobile accident. Did you know that his fellow passenger was a transsexual who was uninjured in the crash? I didn't. Sean Connery is lucky if he made anything off that bomb Meteor (1979)!   

Robert Walden is sort of taken to task in this article for something I feel he's right about! I do recall Jean Stapleton having a hellacious time trying to break free of her Edith typecasting. 

I recall watching (and liking) Donna Pescow's Angie (1979-1980) when I was a kid and it's strange that as popular as it seemed to be, it only lasted that one season. The TV-movie that Lauren Bacall is unhappy about starred Kathryn Harrold as her. It barely made a ripple then or now. Hawaii 5-O's James MacArthur tells about sleeping over at Joan Crawford's house and witnessing the notorious bed-harness contraption that Christopher had to sleep in. 

This color photo is the sum total of what the "Star of the Month" gets in this magazine! No article, nor even a detailed caption!

Could Conrad Bain's wife Monica's glasses get any bigger? I'll say one thing about Shera Danese, she remained with Peter Falk up until his death in 2009. But Debbie Reynolds' new beau?!??! I can't believe anyone at the magazine would fail to recognize (gay) hairstylist to the stars Sydney Guilaroff! (And, yes, I know he claimed to have slept with Garbo and Ava Gardner...) 

Some fun star power on this page, from Jeff Bridges to Jack Lemmon and Peggy Lee to Gene Kelly and Jean Simmons. Gabe Ferrer and Debby Boone remain wed to this day, by the way.

A variety of tidbits here regarding the still-burgeoning fame of Martin Sheen to Barbra Streisand's criticism of the title song for The Main Event (1979), which I happen to like a lot! Interesting that Lesley Ann Warren played a stripper a few years before playing a love-struck customer of stripper Christopher Atkins in A Night in Heaven (1983.)  

The remainder of the profile on "Hollywood's Hottest Hunks." Andrew Stevens, who we adored as a child, was divorced from Kate Jackson before the year 1980 was up! And, for the record, we hate a mustache on him!

For those interested is the tail end of the "Global Gossip" section, too. I haven't been able to figure out what Peter Sellers' (?) picture is doing there... There's an amusing story about David Soul's girlfriend, though, and some interesting details about the overseas marketing of both Laverne & Shirley and The Muppet Show.

No matter how many attempts I made, I could not scan the entire page of this section, which is confounding and ridiculous! You get most of it, except some captioning and the edge of one photo. Shirley MacLaine actually divorced her rarely-seen husband in 1982 and never wed again... The caption for Grace Kelly read,"I've always hated being known for my looks." (Yeah... me too!)

Some nice rare photos and pairings on this page. I love Felicia Farr's hair and gown (a far cry from the sloppy way she looks in the one from the Thalian's Ball in 1980!) BTW, you can spy Warren Beatty over Kim Novak's shoulder in her photo.

I LOVE Stella Stevens' helmet 'do in this photo. Dorothy Malone is also a fave of mine. I had completely forgotten about Tuesday Weld and Dudley Moore having been married! They were wed for five years and even had a son together. Tommy Sands allegedly had his career brought to a halt by Frank Sinatra after the breakup of his marriage to Nancy.

Finally, this last page (in color!) does not disappoint. Not only do we get Carol Burnett in a Santa suit and a cute photo of Chris Atkins and Brooke Shields, but we also spy hunky Grant Goodeve, yummy Gil Gerard and Robert Hays in a Speedo! A fitting way to end, in my opinion!