Showing posts with label Wonder Woman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wonder Woman. Show all posts

Monday, March 9, 2009

Fantastic Femmes--Rosario Dawson

Note: this page has been updated with NEW info HERE!
Rosario Dawson straddles the line between being a fanboy dream goddess and being a fangirl herself with surprising ease. (And, no, I'm not going to make any obvious jokes...)
Why do we say she's a "fangirl"? Besides being a hardcore Trekker and comic book fan, Rosario is also the creator /co-writer of the comic book Occult Crimes TaskForce (the lead character Sophia Ortiz is illustrated in her image).
As for being a "fanboy dream goddess"...if you've seen Sin City, GrindHouse, or even Adventures of Pluto Nash (She and Pam Grier are the ONLY reasons to bother with that turkey!) you wouldn't be wondering about the designation...
Rosario is one of the more civic-minded performers in show-biz, devoting her time and her name to a wide variety of causes including voter registration, gay rights, preventing domestic violence, and conservation. Very cool!
Trivia:
She co-starred with Tracie Thoms twice, in Rent (where she & Tracie were the only lead performers not from the Broadway version) and GrindHouse presents: Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof / GrindHouse "Death Proof".
Rosario performs her own singing in every film her on-screen persona sings in (Rent, Josie & the Pussycats, and Adventures of Pluto Nash) and she's on the soundtrack albums of all of them!

Genre appearances include...
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the Lightning Thief (Persephone)
Haunted World of El SuperBeasto (Velvet Von Black)
Wonder Woman [2009] (Artemis)
KillShot (Donna)
Gemini Division [webisodes] (Anna Diaz, producer)
Eagle Eye (Zoe Perez)
Grindhouse Presents: Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof / Grind House "Death Proof" (Abernathy)
Clerks II (Becky)
Devil's Rejects [edited from film, scenes on DVD version] (Nurse Marcia)
Sin City (Gail)
RunDown (Mariana)
Adventures of Pluto Nash (Dina Lake / performer: "It's Alright")
Men in Black II (Laura Vasquez)
Josie & the Pussycats (Valerie Brown / performer on all "Pussycats" songs)

Check out...
Rosario's Official WebSite
Sassy: THE fan source for Rosario Dawson
Rosario Dawson Shrine
Valerie Brown has also been played by Patrice Holloway (singing) & Barbara Pariot (acting) in Josie & the Pussycats / Josie & the Pussycats in Outer Space

Monday, January 5, 2009

Fantastic Femmes--Linda Harrison

Note: this page has been updated with NEW info HERE!
We bet that, after Linda Park, you thought we'd do Battlestar Galactica's Grace Park, right?
Nope, we're presenting our third (and last) "Linda"! (We will get to Grace a little later on...)
Like Linda Park, most of this Linda's credits are genre credits!
And, Like Lynda Carter, she ALSO played Wonder Woman! In fact, she was FIRST, although the general public never got to see her!

In 1966, at the height of the "camp" craze spawned by Batman, the show's producer William Dozier tried three more comic characters as tv series.
One, The Green Hornet, ran for a 26-episode season.
The second, Dick Tracy, never made it past the pilot.
The third, Wonder Woman, reached the "test reel" stage, with about 10 minutes of footage being shot. Linda was Wonder Woman, opposite a plain-Jane Diana Prince played by Ellie May Walker. After seeing the footage, 20th Century Fox execs vetoed even going for a 30-minute pilot and the project died.
The footage has surfaced on a number of bootleg vhs and dvds and the Internet.

A year later, 20th began pre-production on the first Planet of the Apes film.
Concerned that the ape makeup, so critical to the success of the film, might not look right on film, a screen test was done with Edward G. Robinson as Dr. Zaius, James Brolin as Cornelius, and Linda as Zira playing opposite Charlton Heston.
The concerns proved valid. The makeup was redesigned before main unit shooting began. (You can see the test footage on the Planet of the Apes Special Edition and Behind the Planet of the Apes DVDs)
Linda was then cast as "Nova", the non-speaking human female lead in both Planet of the Apes, and it's immediate sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes. (And yes, I know she has one line in BtPotA!)

She married 20th Century studio boss Daryl V. Zanuck between filming the two Apes movies.
After BtPotA, Linda changed her name to "Augusta Summerland" and did minor tv and film roles
She divorced Zanuck and retired from acting in 1978.
Linda returned to acting in 1985, in Cocoon, produced, ironically, by her ex-hubby, Zanuck!
Genre appearances include...
Planet of the Apes [2001] (Woman in cart)
Cocoon / Cocoon: the Return (Susan aka Mom)
Planet of the Apes / Beneath the Planet of the Apes (Nova)
Planet of the Apes Makeup Test (Zira, played by Kim Hunter in three films)
Way, Way Out (Peggy)
The Fat Spy (Treasure Hunter)
Wonder Woman "Who's Afraid of Diana Prince?" [test footage] (Wonder Woman)
Batman "The Joker Goes to School" / "He Meets His Match, the Grisly Ghoul" (CheerLeader)

Check out...
Cult Sirens: Linda Harrison
The Forbidden Zone (PotA FanSite)

Nova returned in the animated Return to the Planet of the Apes episode "Flames of Doom", voiced by Claudette Nevins. Note: most purists consider both the animated and live-action PotA tv series to be "alternate universe" and / or non-canonical.
"Nova", played by Lisa Marie in the 2001 PotA movie remake, was a chimpanzee. Not the same character.

Other Wonder Women since Linda include...
Wonder Woman (1973) Cathy Lee Crosby
New, Original Wonder Woman / New Adventures of Wonder Woman (1975-1978) Lynda Carter
Super Friends / The All-New Super Friends Hour / Challenge of the Super Friends (1973-83) Shanon Farnon
SuperFriends: the Legendary Super Powers Show (1984) Constance Crawford
The Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (1985) / Superman (1985) "Sorceress of Time" "Birthday Party" BJ Ward
Justice League / Justice League Unlimited (2002-06) Susan Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning (WW as child in "Kid's Stuff")
Justice League: New Frontier (2008) Lucy Lawless
Wonder Woman (2009) Keri Russell
Video Game performers: Tara Platt, Courtenay Taylor