Ah, yes, “Wonder Woman,” the 1970s’ distaff answer to “Batman” and “The Adventures of Superman.” It would have been very interesting to have seen Kate Jackson in the eponymous role. I wonder how Ms. Jackson would have liked working with the late Lyle Waggoner on “Wonder Woman”? Of course, the handsome Mr. Waggoner was considered to be another Robert Duvall or William Holden in the acting profession.
And, I recall that Debra Winger appeared as Drusilla. a semi-regular on “Wonder Woman” before she hit the big time in “Terms of Endearment” and “An Officer and a Gentleman.” I wonder if Ms. Winger has fond memories of her days on “Wonder Woman”? Well, I guess everyone in the acting profession has to start somewhere. Paul Newman appeared early in his distinguished acting career in “The Silver Chalice,” a real cinematic stinker. And, Michael Landon, the irrepressible “Little” Joe Cartwright on “Bonanza” and the beloved Pa Ingalls on “Little House on the Prarie,” started out as an angst-ridden teenager in “I Was a Teenage Werewolf,” a film, which undoubtedly was a big hit at the Collinsport Cinema, when the film debuted in 1957. (I wonder if the youthful Caroyyn Stoddard, Maggie Evans, Joe Haskell, Harry Johnson and Buzz Hackett were all there at the theater as excited pre-teen movie-goers?)
I’m reminded that like “Charlie’s Angels,” “The Monkees” had many noted future musical performers audition for that rock & roll comedy tv series. Legendary guitarist and singer Steven Stills reportedly auditioned unsuccessfully for the show. And, there’s even an urban legend that the late, unlamented Charles Manson also auditioned for “The Monkees.”
On another note, I’ve noticed that other American soap operas (with very few remaining on network television today) often had celebrity guest stars appear on those daytime programs. Elizabeth Taylor, Carol Burnett and
Sammy Davis, Jr. all appeared on several of the popular soap operas. Wouldn’t it have been cool to have seen some of the classic horror film actors appear on “Dark Shadows”? Just imagine how great it would have been to have seen the hallowed likes of Vincent Price, Lon Chaney, Jr., Peter Cushing and, of course, Sir Christopher Lee on DS.
Although, considering how frugally-minded the late Dan Curtis was said to have been, I don’t think we would have even seen such lesser known horror film icons as Jonathan Haze, Tor Johnson and Maila “Vampira” Nurmi as celebrity guest stars on DS, Alas, what
might have been.