From Bionic Woman to self-help specialist, TV icon Lindsay Wagner is on Teesside and hoping to transform lives.
Gazette reporter Dave Robson speaks with Bionic Woman Lindsay Wagner (left) and Lindsay with mum Karen Stowe (right).
As Jaime Sommers, she was one of TV’s most glamorous stars in the 1970s and 80s.
The fictional childhood girlfriend of Six Million Dollar Man Steve Austin, in the show she was surgically rebuilt to give her extraordinary physical powers. It was a role that brought her worldwide fame.
Nowadays, the powers she uses are spiritual, having become a self-help therapist with an accent on spirituality and healing.
An “actress, author and advocate of human potential,” she conducts “Quiet the Mind and Open the Heart” workshops all over the world.
And now she’s on Teesside to lead two workshops for carers at the Marton Hotel and Country Club.
For a month or so, a cottage near Saltburn will be her base after Redcar mum Karen Stowe, having met Lindsay at a function in Birmingham, arranged sponsorship for her to come to England.
Karen, of The Ings, has a daughter Sophie, 16, with multiple and complex special needs. Meeting Lindsay Wagner, says Karen, transformed their lives.
“I did some work with Lindsay in America over the summer and it has had such a positive effect over me, I thought it would be fantastic for other people to experience it too.
“Nothing about my situation has changed, but Lindsay has helped me change my viewpoint and the choices I make. I’m more able to cope now.”
Lindsay’s 59 but, unlike some other showbiz stars, she doesn’t shy away from mention of the TV role that transformed her life.
She smiles: “When actors say ‘oh I’ve moved away from that role’, you know what? They’ll be saying that for the rest of their life. That show was a big part of my life and I’ll always recognise that.”
She’s been to England before, twice filming mini-series based on Barbara Taylor Bradford novels. She also enjoyed a family trip to the Cotswolds.
But this is her first stay on Teesside, where she was interested to hear of Redcar’s role in Atonement - even though she’d never heard of the film.
And within minutes of meeting her, I’m sitting on a sofa, eye to eye with the Bionic Woman herself, who takes me through ‘tapping’ techniques on recognised acupuncture points to help calm a particularly stressful day.
She said: “My goal is to help people make shifts in the perspective they are carrying - to release negative emotions and responses that we can’t do anything about.”
Fifteen minutes later, the anxiety I was feeling had reduced. So if she can do that in 15 minutes, who knows what three-day workshops can do for the soul?
The Middlesbrough workshops - for carers only and costing £65 - are on November 15 and 16, with a follow-up on December 7, or November 18 and 19, with a follow-up on November 25. She will also conduct an open workshop at Tankersley Manor near Sheffield on November 29 and 30, cost £117.
* For details of the workshops, call Karen on 07846 636920. For details about Lindsay, visit http://www.lindsaywagner.com.
UPCOMING LINDSAY APPEARANCES
Lindsay will be attending the 'MEMORABILIA' event in the UK on the 22nd and 23rd of November 2008 at the NEC in Birmingham, UK.
She will be signing autographs, meeting fans, doing Question and Answer sessions on stage and taking part in an official photograph session each day.
More information on the event and which other stars will be appearing can be found at www.memorabilia.co.uk
Lindsay will also be hosting her "Quiet the Mind and Open the Heart" workshop, also in the UK. This workshop is open to anybody who wants to attend, details are as follows:
Venue - Tankersley Manor, Sheffield
Dates - 29th and 30th November 2008
Time - 1 - 6pm both days
Price - £117 for the two day workshop (accomodation not included)
To reserve a space or to obtain further information please contact Karen at karen13@ntlworld.com.
In addition, Lindsay will be hosting a two hour workshop to address the siblings aged 12 and over of children with special needs, who face a range of challenges that other children do not in Redcar & Cleveland (in the UK). The workshop will be age appropriate and will include the opportunity to mix with other teenagers in similar circumstances. They will be educated in relaxation techniques and taught a simple but very effective method of dealing with their concerns and they will come away with the tools to be able to cope considerably better with their unique situation. This is an exciting and rare opportunity for teenagers in our area, so make sure you don’t miss out as there are only 25 places available and will be issued on a first come first served basis.
The workshop is free of charge and will take place on Thurs 4th December 2008 – 6pm until 8pm at the Marton Hotel and Country Club, Middlesbrough. Please click here for more information.
(click on Lindsay's picture for more information about the film.)
Lindsay Wagner
"Morrow"
Lindsay Wagner is an Emmy Award winning American actress, best known for her role as Jaime Sommers in the 1970s TV series The Bionic Woman. Wagner played a total of four different roles on the Marcus Welby, M.D. series between 1971-75, as well as a recurring guest role in The Rockford Files. Then in 1975, Wagner played Jaime Sommers, a former tennis pro who was the childhood sweetheart of Six Million Dollar Man, Steve Austin (played by Lee Majors). In a two-part episode entitled "The Bionic Woman", Jaime was critically injured in a skydiving accident and, at Steve's request, she was equipped with bionic limbs similar to his own (with the exception of his bionic eye, as Jaime was equipped with a bionic ear instead). Unfortunately, Jaime's body rejected her new bionics and she later died.
This was intended to be Wagner's last role under her Universal contract, but public response to the character was so overwhelming that Jaime was "brought back to life" with her own spin-off series, The Bionic Woman. The role earned Wagner an Emmy Award for "Best Actress in a Dramatic Role" in 1977. Following the cancellation of The Bionic Woman in 1978, Wagner continued to act, predominantly in television mini-series and made-for-TV movies. These included the highly rated 1980 mini-series Scruples, as well as three made-for-TV Bionic reunion movies with Lee Majors between 1987 and 1994. Wagner continued to act in the 1990s and 2000s. Her most recent projects have included the 2005 telemovie, Thicker than Water, with Melissa Gilbert, Buckaroo: The Movie (2005), and, Four Extraordinary Women (2006).
MORE THAN A MAGAZINE…IT'S A FRIEND
August/September 2008 Issue Highlights
On the cover:Lindsay Wagner
In an interview with Northwest Woman Magazine, actress Lindsay Wagner shares about her current projects and life as Bionic Woman.
Northwest Woman Magazine: Tell us about your roots in the Northwest. Lindsay Wagner: I graduated from David Douglas High School in Portland, went to the University of Oregon, and then to Mt. Hood Community College when it opened. We were in trailers and in one building on a construction site and now it’s a wonderful college. I currently live in Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula area...
Lindsay attends Day One of ROMA FICTION FEST 2008 in Rome, Italy.
Lindsay attends Day Three of ROMA FICTION FEST 2008 in Rome, Italy.
Lindsay is in Rome, Italy to attend the Roma Fiction Fest 2008 Closing Ceremony and Diamond Awards on July 12, 2008.
Left, Lindsay posing for the photographers on the Red Carpet. Right, Lindsay is joined by her sons Dorian (l) and Alex (r).
Actress Lindsay Wagner attends the Roma Fiction Fest 2008 Closing Ceremony and Diamond Awards on July 12, 2008 in Rome, Italy.
LINDSAY ATTENDS THE 34TH ANNUAL SATURN AWARDS
The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror held the 34th ANNUAL SATURN AWARDS at the Universal Hilton Hotel June 24th.
Walking the red carpet into the Pre-Show Reception, which was hosted by Universal Pictures’ HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY were many stars of a genre that draws a huge audience both to the theaters and our television screens.
Lindsay posing with Treeman (left) and posing on the Red Carpet.
Four Extraordinary Women gets a DVD release
Interview
Ex-"Bionic Woman" Lindsay Wagner leaps from acting to activism
Lindsay Wagner rose to fame in the mid-'70s when she guest-starred on Kentucky native Lee Majors' TV hit, "The Six Million Dollar Man." Public response to Wagner was so positive that the actress was given her own series. As "The Bionic Woman," Wagner won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She went on to star in more than 30 TV movies and miniseries, opting for roles that illustrated the complexities of modern life, including "Shattered Dreams" (a drama about domestic violence), and "The Taking of Flight 847: The The Uli Derickson Story" (about a heroine's cool in the face of airline hijackers).
Now, Wagner, 58, spends much of her time conducting experiential workshops titled "Quiet the Mind & Open the Heart" through her non-profit organization, PeaceMakers Community. She'll hold the two-day workshop this weekend at Dogwood Hill Inn in Prospect, Ky.
"I never envisioned myself here, but I've always wanted to live my life in service," Wagner said. "That was true before I was in the movie business, while I was in the movie business … and now."
Wagner took time out from her preparations to talk about how she went from actress to activist.
Q: When did you begin conducting workshops?
A: It's been an evolution. The workshops, as they exist right now, it's been a couple of years. Prior to that I was doing work in the Los Angeles County jails (with facilitator James Beard and Sheriff Lee Baca) … in some of the particular programs they have for incarcerated domestic-violence (perpetrators).
How did you begin working with men who have committed domestic violence -- and why?
I grew up in the midst of (domestic violence). I understand it deeply from being in the midst of it as a child. That's why I can honestly say that as much wonderful work that has been done to shelter women … until everyone in the syndrome has the opportunity to be helped in a positive way, we won't bring about healing. Of course protect, continue to protect (those who've been abused). To me, the women are only one-half of the syndrome, and the syndrome is never going to end in our species, in my opinion, if we don't look at both sides of it. … We can shelter victims all we want, but (we need to) embrace and offer the kind of help to perpetrators as we do victims. … Not everybody wants help, but a lot of people do.
How did your work in the jail system evolve into you holding workshops around the country?
I started a support group for the gentlemen who'd get out of jail and keep working the process. That's been the evolution of it. I've done private word-of-mouth work for years through my own personal healing and evolution of the journey. I passed that on. … We have such negative, angry, judgmental ways of approaching people who do things that cause pain to others, it makes it very hard for people to look at that themselves.
How do you try to make it easier?
It's kind of like stepping through the looking glass. … We're going to respect you as a child of God here. It's spiritual but not religious. You can be of any religion or no religion. But we're going to help you be a higher you. It's very holistic. It encompasses education, if you need more education. It encompasses cutting-edge psychology. It encompasses scientific brain research: How a man's brain works; how a woman's brain works. It's so rare that people set up that kind of healing environment for domestic-violence offenders. … To me, that's been a part of what's held back the domestic-violence movement from being more successful than it has been in the past few decades.
So, conducting workshops for people from all walks of life was just a natural extension of what you were doing.
I believe that God kind of inspires you: "Go over here for a while. Over here." I was guided, inspired to make a left turn down this road for a while. I have always felt that this was my desire all these years. Most of my movies were all true stories about people, about human potential because I have such faith in that. I believe at the core of our human potential is the connection to the divine. We tend to think of it as something separate from us, but to me that's where it comes from, that part of us that's connected to something much greater than ourselves.
What do you mean by "quiet the mind and open your heart"?
Our mind -- all that stuff that won't stop that we can't stop thinking and worrying about -- has nothing to do with our present situation. But our mind doesn't compute that, and it gets in our way of us really being present and in the moment. Understanding and looking at how our personal perception -- what's already in our minds -- of any circumstance in life … is, in fact, what creates our experience of that event, of how we feel when we look in the mirror.
Do you have any plans to return to acting?
No, I'm really not (acting) anymore. I'm really enjoying this work. It's kind of a natural extension for me because that's what my film career has been about. I'm not saying I'll never do another film. But I'm just more focused on this.
Have you seen any episodes of NBC's remake of "Bionic Woman"?
I haven't seen anything except for the snippets. It's going to be very different. … It'll be interesting to see what the old-timers think of it.
What are you most looking forward to about your trip to Louisville?
Aside from just seeing Louisville? … Getting together (earlier in the week) to do a reception benefiting The Center for Women and families. It's just what I've learned so far about what they're doing is so great.
Lindsay attends the Academy of TV Stunts Peer Group Party
Saturday, August 13, 2007.
Lindsay attended the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' Academy of TV Stunts Peer Group Party on Saturday, August 13th, 2007 in North Hollywood, California. Also in attendance, were David Hasselhoff and Paul Michael Glaser among others.
THE SURFER KING is released on DVD
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
In August of 2004, Lindsay filmed a few scenes for an independant feature film entitled "The Surfer King" and director Bernie Murray shares his experience with working with Lindsay on this film as well as a few photos on the set and from the premiere which took place in April of 2006. Now, "The Surfer King" will be released on DVD on August 21, 2007. Please click here to find out more about Bernie's experience and for some exclusive photos!
Family, celebrities turn out to honor ED TRASHER with city's 286th star
Thursday, May 10, 2007
From left, Robert Alexander, Singer/actress Della Reese, Ed Thrasher’s sister Marilyn Ball, Lindsay Wagner and Linda Gray pose for a picture Thursday during the unveiling of Ed Thrasher star at the Palm Springs Walk of Stars in downtown Palm Springs.
You might not remember the songs on any album by your favorite band, but if the cover art or band logo is great, you'll always know what it looks like.
Late on Thursday afternoon, Ed Thrasher, the 12-time Grammy nominee for album art direction who died Aug. 5, 2006, was posthumously honored with the 286th star on the Palm Springs Walk of Fame, at 160 S. Palm Canyon Drive.
Joining Walk of Fame chairman Bob Alexander in dedicating the star, were Palm Springs Mayor Ron Oden, who proclaimed May 10, 2007, Ed Thrasher Day and recited a poem, "The Old Master"; actress Linda Gray, who was Thrasher's former wife, and their children, Jeff Thrasher and Kehly Gray Sloane; his sister, Marilyn Ball; his niece, actress Lindsay Wagner; and Della Reese, who sang an a cappella version of Louis Armstrong's "Wonderful World."
Gray told the small crowd of about 60 that "today is a day of love."
"We're all here to celebrate Ed's life," she said.
It was Thrasher, she said, who coined the phrase "Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back" for Frank Sinatra's 1973 coming-out-of-retirement album.
"He was always on the cutting edge," she said.
Thrasher started his career as an assistant art director at Capitol Records in the mid-1950s, moving on to Warners/Reprise in the early 1960s.
During his years in the record industry, Thrasher photographed and designed album covers for artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Van Morrison, the Grateful Dead, the Doobie Brothers, Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby and even Tiny Tim.
He used a moody self-portrait of Joni Mitchell for her "Clouds" album, which encouraged artists to become more involved in the cover designs for their work.
Wagner thanked the Palm Springs Walk of Fame committee and the city of Palm Springs for the walk, which honors not only stars but also the people behind them.
"We're nothing without the Ed Thrashers," she said. "It honors the whole city that you honor (these people)."
After the 40-minute ceremony, Thrasher's daughter, Kehly Sloane, said she was pleased that her father's star was in the city he chose to live in after leaving Los Angeles.
"It's really nice to have a place I can bring my children and they can see how the city honored my father."
Ball, who lives in La Quinta, thought it was appropriate that Thrasher's star was in Palm Springs rather than Hollywood. "He loved living here," she said. "Once he moved here from Los Angeles, he never looked back."
BRINGERS OF THE GOLDEN BALL
NEW BOOK
The Secret, Religion, Self-help, Spirituality, and Enlightenment - All In One New Book?
What do The Secret, Law of Attraction, self-help guru Tony Robbins, Hollywood actress Lindsay Wagner, spirituality, religion and world peace have in common? They all come together in Dr. Robert March's new book Bringers of The Golden Ball.
Lindsay attends screening of documentary film: H20PI 2006 RUN TO MEXICO
April 22, 2007
Harkins Movie Theaters on April 22 at 6:00 PM in Sedona, Arizona. Special Guest, actress Lindsay Wagner, attended the screening of the film documenting the 1500 mile run by Hopi Water Messengers from the Hopi Mesas to Mexico City for the World Forum on Water. The Hopi runners carried messages about the Hopi Water Ethic to share with the Forum assembly. The story is one of great courage, determination and endurance on the part of the runners and their support crews. They faced long days of grueling hardships as they ran through the desert. Lindsay Wagner, who has been a constant supporter of American Indians, was joined by Vernon Masayesva and other Hopi Elders in a dialogue following the film. Please visit ioet.org for more information.
Lindsay is honored at the 5th ANNUAL
TV LAND AWARDS
April 22, 2007
Lindsay attended the 5th Annual TV LAND Awards on April 15, 2007. Her character Jaime Sommers from THE BIONIC WOMAN was nominated for "Greatest Gear" and won. Lindsay used her "bionic speed" to accept the award which was voted online at TVLand.com. Charity activist Heather Mills of Dancing with the Stars presented Lindsay with this award. The ceremony was telecast on Sunday, April 22, 2007. Please visit the TV Land website for further details.I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Lindsay on yet another well-deserved achievement!
April 12 & 19, 2007
Lindsay was interviewed for the Supreme Master Television show entitled 'Good People, Good Works', a program that documents great and noble deeds and the people who carry them out. It tours around the world to feature the selfless works of people trying to make a difference while helping others and their selfless actions that serve as reminders of our own loving and caring nature. Their passion for the causes and actions to foster change are bringing about positive change in society and their stories are truly inspirational. Lindsay's first part of a two-part interview was aired on April 12, 2007 with part two airring on April 19, 2007. To view part two of this exclusive online interview, please visit Supreme Master Television. A big thank you to Lindsay Wagner's Official Fan Clubfor the scoop!
Child's Cry is released on DVD
The 1986 television movie "Child's Cry" starring Lindsay Wagner, Peter Coyote and Taliesin Jaffe was released in the United Kingdom on May 28, 2007. To order your copy, please visit the following stores:
Synopsis: After 6-year-old Eric is found by the police sleeping and alone at the zoo, and showing signs of being molested, a social worker tries to find out who committed this awful crime; his father, a stranger or someone he knew.
Better, Stronger, Faster... THE BIONIC BOOK
Before Hiro on Heroes, there was Steve Austin - The Six Million Dollar Man. Before Buffy Summers on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, there was Jaime Sommers - The Bionic Woman. Now, television's classic wonder people of the 1970s are back and stronger than ever in - THE BIONIC BOOK: THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN AND THE BIONIC WOMAN RECONSTRUCTED, written by best-selling author Herbie J Pilato (Bewitched Forever, The Kung Fu Book of Caine). Co-billed as the Cybernetic Compendium To TV's Most Realistic Sci-Fi Superhero Shows, THE BIONIC BOOK is chuck full of commentary culled from Pilato's exclusive interviews with Bionic stars Lee Majors (who played half-superman/half-mechanical marvel Steve Austin), Lindsay Wagner (Jaime Sommers - Steve's female counter-part and one true love), series creator (and science fiction novel icon) Martin Caidin, executive producer Harve Bennett (who would later help to ignite the Star Trek feature film franchise), producer/director Kenneth Johnson (The Incredible Hulk and Alien Nation) and actor Richard Anderson, the latter of whom portrayed Oscar Goldman - Steve and Jaime's stoic but understanding super-viser on both shows (and who has penned the book's foreword). Much more than a mere TV trivia guide, THE BIONIC BOOK explores in-depth the social, psychological, medical and scientic influence, appeal and message behind two of the most popular and heroic science fiction television programs of all time!
Bionic Book cover courtesy of Matt Hankinson.
ON THE WEB: To order your copy of The Bionic Book, please visit the publisher's website by clicking here.
Lindsay: National Spokesperson for the SLEEP NUMBER BED by
SELECT COMFORT
Please click on the picture above for a free DVD and to visit Select Comfort's official website.
Buckaroo still has not been released and an email to the director went un-answered, so no new details about this project. Please visit the movie's official site by clicking here.
