Wonder Woman: Lynda Carter
Lynda Carter returns to the Kennedy Center with an all-new evening of song
Photo by Todd Franson
You wouldn’t think Lynda Carter would have a favorite video game, but she does.
“Probably Skyrim or Fallout,” she says.
It should come as no surprise, of course, that both titles are produced by Bethesda Softworks, which is owned by her husband Robert Altman’s ZeniMax Media. But Carter isn’t sitting around all day attached to a video game controller.
“I don’t really know how to work all those things,” she laughs, calling it “a generational thing.” She does note, however, that she’s frequently done work for Bethesda, starting with The Elder Scrolls series, in which she provided vocal work for female nords and orcs.
“You do get to help create the character,” says Carter, on the phone from a hotel lobby in Nashville. “But the writing itself is just really good. And because it’s a role-playing game, they don’t write it like a movie. The player can make it go the way they want to go.”
Since her days as Wonder Woman, which ran for three seasons on ABC and CBS and for which she became iconic, Carter has had a long career as a singer and recording artist. In fact, she started as a singer. “I’ve been earning a living singing since I was 14,” says the stunning 63-year-old. “I didn’t make the jump from acting to singing. I made the jump from singing to acting.” And she’s continued singing, even though she could have retired from the grind of rehearsal and touring years ago.
“The truth is, my kids are grown, my husband works — what am I going to do all day?” she laughs. For the past several years, Carter has brought to the Kennedy Center a one-night-only performance of her own songs and standards, a smorgasbord of blues, rock, country and pop. This year’s show, entitled “Long-Legged Woman,” features a song by the same name written by Carter. “It’s a pretty cool, amusing song,” she says, adding that she’ll also be performing a Texas swing number and a Sam Smith cover, among others in the 90-minute set.
Carter is well-known for her outspoken remarks about LGBT equality. “It’s just a matter of civil rights,” she says. “And women have been dealing with it for a long time, you know? We still don’t have an equal rights amendment. And you get that blowback with them saying ‘Well, women have all the equal protection. Why do they need an amendment?’ Well, obviously we do because we don’t get paid the same.”
Lynda Carter performs “Long-Legged Woman” on Saturday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m. at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theatre. Tickets are $25 to $75. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.
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