Jane Seymour Movies
The raven-haired daughter of a prosperous British gynecologist, Jane Seymour debuted onstage at 13 as a member of the London Festival Ballet, after training at the Arts Educational School. Five years later, she switched to acting, making her screen bow as part of a huge ensemble in Oh, What A Lovely War! (1968). She entered the fan-mag files with her portrayal of the enigmatic Solitaire in the 1973 James Bond epic Live and Let Die, following this with a ingenue turn in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1974). While her subesquent film appearances were well-received (as was her engagement in the 1980 Broadway production of Amadeus), Seymour's larger fame rested on her prolific TV work, notably on such miniseries as "East of Eden" and "War and Remembrance." In 1988, she won an Emmy for her portrayal of Maria Callas in the TV miniseries "Onassis." Four years later, she landed one of her most successful roles to date, that of the title heroine of the TV series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. In subsequent years, Seymour sustained her career with longform soapers - such as the 1998 A Marriage of Convenience and the 2002 Heart of a Stranger - before making a most welcome return to theatrical features in 2005. That year, she scored a neat comic turn as the wife of U.S. Treasury Secretary Christopher Walken (and the mother of some outrageously dysfunctional children) in the summer comedy smash Wedding Crashers. Two years later, ABC tapped Seymour to trip the light fantastic as one of the celebrity dancers on its blockbuster series Dancing with the Stars. On that program, Seymour danced opposite series vet Tony Ovolani. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1987
More so than many cultures, Japan is bound by tradition, yet its people create and embrace innovative technologies. Hosted by Emmy and Golden Globe winner Jane Seymour, this is the last volume in a four-part PBS documentary series that seeks to explain modern Japan and predict its future by referring to the nation's history and ancient culture. This fourth episode reviews theories about what led to the geographically small nation of Japan becoming so powerful and aggressive that it took on the world during the bloody years of World War II. Seymour also reviews the postwar changes decreed for Japan by the United States and how those changes stimulated a renewal of Japan's economic clout. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- 1987
More so than many cultures, Japan is bound by tradition, and yet its people also create and embrace innovative technologies. Hosted by Emmy and Golden Globe winner Jane Seymour, this is the second volume in a four-part PBS documentary series that seeks to explain modern Japan and predict its future by referring to the nation's history and ancient culture. This second episode shows how the paradoxes that Americans sometimes perceive in Japanese attitudes and behaviors are mirrored by the extremes of two ancient and signature Japanese institutions -- the tea ceremony and the samurai. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- 1987
More so than many cultures, Japan is bound by tradition, yet its people also create and embrace innovative technologies. Hosted by Emmy and Golden Globe winner Jane Seymour, this is the third volume in a four-part PBS documentary series that seeks to explain modern Japan and predict its future by referring to the Asian nation's history and ancient culture. In this third episode, Seymour provides viewers with a review of the startling changes and dynamic personalities of the 20th century that rapidly propelled Japan out of feudalism, but also led to a fierce nationalism that set the stage in the Pacific for World War II. The program also examines the education system and the structures of social class. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- 1987
More so than many cultures, Japan is bound by tradition, and yet its people also create and embrace innovative technologies. Hosted by Emmy and Golden Globe winner Jane Seymour, this is the first volume in a four-part PBS documentary series that seeks to explain modern Japan and predict its future by referring to the Asian nation's history and ancient culture. This episode provides a look at how traditional social structures have served Japanese culture well in the modern business era and at points of friction between the island society's ancient mores and high-tech ambitions. ~ Steve Blackburn, All Movie Guide
- 1986
A six-hour adaptation of Danielle Steel's best-selling novel, the ABC miniseries Crossings began on board a transatlantic ocean liner in 1938. In the course of a truly eventful sea voyage, a torrid romance developed between powerful American steel magnate Nick Burnham (Lee Horsley) and Liane DeVilliers (Cheryl Ladd), the wife of French ambassador Armand DeVilliers (Christopher Plummer). This indiscretion would ultimately embroil both characters in the political intrigues leading up to WWII, with a rousing denouement in Nazi-occupied France just after America's entry into the war. To give the project a semblance of verisimilitude, several prominent historical figures flitted in and out of the action, notably Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and France's Marshal Petain. Even so, most of the audience's interest was focused on the antics of Nick Burnham's hot-to-trot wife Hilary, played by Jane Seymour. Billed near the bottom of the huge cast was future Cheers and Frasier star Kelsey Grammer as "Craig Lawson." Partially filmed on the old British liner Queen Mary (then dry-docked as a tourist attraction), Crossings originally aired from February 23 to 25, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cheryl Ladd, Lee Horsley, (more)
With a script that is too anemic for the red-blooded actors featured here, this anorexic comedy moves slowly up and down the corporate ladder with the fortunes and misfortunes of several company men. Jack Issel (Judge Reinhold) gets a VIP position at INC in the PR department (business-speak). Suddenly the corporation's shady activities come to the fore -- especially when a U.S. plant is set to close for a move south of the border where labor is almost free. Enmeshed in these tangles, Jack is hardly prepared to fall in love with the leading activist against the plant closing -- but he does. Meanwhile, a lot of other subplots quickly dispose of potentially budding villains like Stedman (Danny DeVito) the inside trader -- too bad. DeVito and Don King (appearing as himself) would have made a great team. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Judge Reinhold, Eddie Albert, (more)
- 1985
Jane Seymour makes a six-course meal of her starring role as a magazine editor in Obsessed With a Married Woman--indeed, her performance is the only tangible reason for sitting through this artistically bankrupt TV movie. The story contrives to have Seymour, happily married and the mother of a wise-lipped son, fall into the sack with her star reporter Tim Matheson. It seems that Jane has assigned Matheson to do a series of articles on mistresses. He does his homework so well that Jane takes him on as her own "male mistress." Obsessed with a Married Woman is not the title we'd choose for this time-waster; how about Annoyed with a Tiresome Premise? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
This television miniseries derives its plot from The Sun Also Rises, the 1926 novel by Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961). Set in France and Spain, the miniseries follows the lives of several expatriate Americans and their acquaintances in the decade after World War I. These expatriates -- part of the so-called lost generation of Americans bitter about the war and disillusioned by prevailing U.S. values -- drink, roam, ruminate, and chase women. The central character, journalist Jake Barnes (Hart Bochner), pals up with fellow countrymen Bill Gorton (Zeljko Ivanek), an amiable war veteran, and Robert Cohn (Robert Carradine), a novelist and college-trained boxer, to enjoy Paris night life. Barnes runs into beautiful and sophisticated Lady Brett Ashley (Jane Seymour), whom he romanced in England while she was a volunteer nurse and he was recuperating from a war wound that left him impotent. She is soon to divorce her husband to marry Mike Campbell (Ian Charleson), a hard-drinking Scot. Still smitten by her, Barnes follows her everywhere. So do Gorton and Cohn. Cohn falls hard for her. But Lady Brett says she wants to live happily ever after with many men, not just one, in spite of her betrothal to Campbell, a liaison with Cohn, and her affection for Barnes. Such is the scope of her appetite for men. For a new diversion, bullfighting, all of the principals -- including Campbell -- go to Pamplona, Spain. There, matador Pedro Romero (Andrea Occhipinti) whets Lady Brett's appetite all over again with his derring-do in the bullring. After Cohn discovers her in bed with Romero, he beats the bullfighter livid. It is all for naught. To Lady Brett, Cohn is an interesting toy, nothing more. The story reaches its conclusion when Romero -- purple with Cohn's bruises -- enters the arena to challenge a bull. Will Romero survive? Will Lady Brett choose him over Barnes? Will she marry Campbell? ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
- 1984
- R
This feature-length story about the heist of $10 million in Nazi diamonds primarily rides on star Tom Selleck's popularity as TV's Magnum, P.I., (a 1980s show), since the plot turnarounds, slighted character development, and stock situations are not that engaging on their own. The setting is 1934 and Nick Lassiter (Selleck) has been strong-armed by the Yank and Brit governments into stealing the diamonds from a German agent (Lauren Hutton) -- if he can track the gems to their hiding place. Along the way, he travels through London of the 1930s -- marketplaces, warehouses, and watering holes that lend an atmosphere to his search. His lady love Sara (Jane Seymour) more or less stands around to lend support while the suavely suited-up Lassiter battles a crooked cop (Bob Hoskins), his real arch enemy. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Selleck, Jane Seymour, (more)
- 1984
The original 1946 Dark Mirror starred Olivia de Havilland as twin sisters, one of whom has committed a murder. Since each twin can provide an alibi for the other, a rumpled detective (Thomas Mitchell) and a handsome shrink (Lew Ayres) are compelled to get to the truth through patience and not a little sneakiness. Dark Mirror was remade as a TV movie in 1984, this time with Jane Seymour in the "leads" and Vincent Gardenia as the detective. Seymour has a field day alternating between the good and bad twin; would that the audience was having as much fun. There really isn't any point to this dour remake, except perhaps to honor a contractual commitment to Jane Seymour, whose playing is so ripe that we secretly hope both twins will get the chair. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
This 1983 TV adaptation of Gaston Leroux's 1908 novel Phantom of the Opera was the fourth film version of the vintage chiller--and the one with perhaps the highest rate of digression from the original novel. This version is set in Budapest (where it was filmed) rather than Paris, obliging scripter Sherman Yellen to change all the character names. Protagonist Maximillian Schell is an orchestra leader whose singer wife Jane Seymour commits suicide after receiving a devastatingly bad review. Assaulting the critic, Schell is burned with acid, and scurries away to the catacombs beneath the Budapest opera house. Years later, he has become the never-seen Phantom of the Opera, and from his shadowy "home" he is coaching an aspiring young singer--who is the living image of his late wife (Jane Seymour essays both roles). Not so much a remake as a revision, this 1983 Phantom of the Opera is perhaps the most obscure of all the versions, overshadowed by the 1990 two-part TV adaptation starring Michael Caine, as well as the smash Broadway musical. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Maximilian Schell, Jane Seymour, (more)
- 1983
This made-for-TV remake of the Alfred Hitchcock adventure stars Patrick McGoohan as the head of a crew of smugglers; Jane Seymour plays his niece, who discovers the secret history of the title inn. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1983
Jane Seymour stars in The Haunting Passion as Julia Evans, a woman forced to make a decision between two lovers. The gimmick here is that one of her suitors is an invisible--but very sexy--ghost. The other man in Julia's life is her neglectful husband Dan (Gerald McRaney), a former athlete who is trying to launch a sportscasting career. On the verge of surrending to her spectral romeo, Julia toys with the idea of committing suicide so that she'll be with him forever. . .while her grumpy ex-jock husband waits for her to come to her senses. Made for television, The Haunting Passion debuted October 24, 1983. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Swordplay, secret messages, and the rustle of ballroom finery make this 1982 adaptation of The Scarlet Pimpernel a gala bash. Anthony Andrews heads the cast as English nobleman Sir Percy Blakeney, a conceited but amusing fop in the drawing rooms of British high society. But beneath his veneer of lacy impertinence is a man of bravado and derring-do. In disguise, he becomes the Pimpernel -- ta-da! -- and steals into France to rescue aristocrats condemned to the guillotine during the French Revolution. After each rescue, he leaves behind a scarlet pimpernel, a flower whose petals close at the approach of stormy weather. He also uses a signet ring engraved with a scarlet pimpernel to identify himself on the sealing wax of letters to compatriots. It is all jolly-good intrigue. Because he cloaks his schemes in great secrecy, not even his new wife Marguerite (Jane Seymour) realizes he is anything more than an innocuous dandy. Frustrated, the French send the ruthless Chauvelin (Ian McKellen) to England to serve as ambassador and ferret out the elusive Pimpernel. In a plot that ensnares Marguerite and closes the Pimpernel's petals, Chauvelin finally confronts his clever adversary, and it's en garde -- parry and thrust! ~ Mike Cummings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jane Seymour, Anthony Andrews, (more)
The 1955 film version of John Steinbeck's East of Eden will always be popular because of the presence in the cast of James Dean. Even so, the film covered only a small portion of the original novel. For those Steinbeck completists who prefer a more thorough treatment, we submit for your approval the TV miniseries adaptation of East of Eden, which first aired February 8, 9 and 11, 1981. This eight-hour dramatization begins in the years following the Civil War. Braggadocio union officer Cyrus Trask (Warren Oates) is the father of gentle, loyal Adam (Timothy Bottoms) and hellraiser Charles (Bruce Boxleitner). Enter the bewitching, mean-spirited Cathy Ames (Jane Seymour), who leads both brothers on and causes an irreparable rift between them. Eventually, Adam marries Cathy, taking her and their twin sons to a 900-acre farm in California's Salinas Valley. Cathy rebels against this cloistered existence and runs off to work in a house of ill repute. In Part Three, we finally meet the "James Dean" character: Cal Trask (played by Timothy Bottoms' brother Sam), who can never hope to come up to the standards of his "good" twin brother Aron (Hart Bochner) in the eyes of his father. Cal's "bad" reputation obscures his good intentions, but by film's end he is compelled to reveal to brother Aron that their mother had not died as father Adam has claimed, but in fact has become a hard-bitten bordello "madam". Adapted for television by Richard Shapiro, East of Eden was part of ABC's informal "Novels for Television" series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Timothy Bottoms, Jane Seymour, (more)
Christopher Reeve got away from Superman and related costume roles in this dramatic fantasy film, adapted from Richard Matheson's 1960s vintage novel Bid Time Return. A young playwright, Richard Collier (Reeve), is approached by an elderly woman on the occasion of his first triumph in 1972 -- all she says to him is "Come back to me" and leaves him with a watch that contains a picture of a ravishing young woman. Eight years later, he visits the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island and comes upon a photograph of the same woman, whom he discovers was an actress who made an appearance at the hotel in 1912. He becomes obsessed with the image and what the woman -- who died the night she approached him in 1972 -- meant by what she said. In a manner somewhat reminiscent of the film Laura, he falls in love with her and her image as he learns more about her life and career. Then he comes upon the suggestion of a professor at his former college that time travel may, in fact, be possible, using an extreme form of self-hypnosis to free the person from the place they occupy in the time-stream. Collier's feelings for the woman are so strong that he succeeds, bringing himself back to the hotel in 1912 on the eve of her triumph. He meets the actress, Elise McKenna (Jane Seymour), and the two fall in love despite the machinations of her obsessive, autocratic manager (Christopher Plummer), who feels threatened by Collier's presence. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, (more)
Any comedy should be suspect when the lead character, in this case Benjamin Browning, is played both by an actor (Chevy Chase) and a lovable dog (Benji). Private eye Browning is in London tracking down a sexual scandal in British political circles when he is murdered. His karma is canine in form and gets him rebirth as a dog. Fortunately for him, the dog's owner is Jackie Howard (Jane Seymour), a magazine reporter who does not realize that there is a rather lustful man inside her innocent pooch. Benji supplies the few moments of humor in this uneven film. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chevy Chase, Benji, (more)
- 1979
This exploitation film offers the "inside story" about those ever-popular star spangled gyrating, jiggling gals as a magazine reporter goes undercover and joins the team. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This feature-length movie is a re-edited version of the first few episodes of the TV series. The story line concerns a spaceship full of survivors of a doomed planet who are headed to the Earth. Led by Commander Adama (Lorne Greene), they encounter villainous robots, threatening their journey to find Earth. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch, (more)
- 1978
In the concluding episode of a two-part story, the disease-weakened convoy, led by Galactica's commander Adama (Lorne Greene), have found an ancient planet that may well be the gateway to the long-lost 13th colony of Mankind (once known as planet earth). With Galactica's male personnel afflicted by illness, it is up to the vessel's courageous woman warriors to hold down the fort. Meanwhile, the treacherous Baltar (John Colicos) is hurriedly mounting a Cylon attack against Galactica--an attack that will have particularly tragic consequences for Adama's son Apollo (Richard Hatch). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dirk Benedict, Lorne Greene, (more)
- 1978
In Part Three of Battlestar Galactica's pilot episode, the survivors of the war between the Cylons and Mankind have been lured into a trap on the planet Carillon. Thanks to some quick thinking on the part of Galactica's Cmdr. Adama (Lorne Greene), Adama's son Apollo (Richard Hatch), and Apollo's best friend Starbuck (Dirk Benedict), an escape from Carillon is successfully carried out--and in the bargain, Apollo has found happiness with his new bride Serena (Jane Seymour). But the Cylons, headed by traitorous human Baltar (John Colicos), are still determined to prevent Galactica from reaching its destination of the lost 13th colony (known centuries ago as Planet Earth). Originally telecast as a three-hour special, "Saga of a Star World" has since been divided into three separate episodes for syndication, and an edited 125-minute version has been released theatrically as Battlestar Galactica. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, (more)
- 1978
In the first episode of a two-part story, the surviving Mankind convoy is weakened by an unknown but highly contagious disease. Soon all the male fighter pilots of Galactica have fallen ill, leaving the vessel--and its thousands passengers--in the hands of the the courageous but untested female crewpersons. To protect Galactica during this crisis, Cmdr. Adama (Lorne Greene) orders the conveoy into a magnetic void, which may or may not lead to the "safe harbor" of planet Kobol. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, (more)
- 1978
In part one of Battlestar Galactica's pilot episode, the 12 colonies of humankind are poised to sign a peace treaty with the Cylons, a race of mechanical men with whom the colonies have waged war for the past millennium. In truth, however, the peace conference is a trap, arranged by traitorous human Baltar (John Colicos) for the purpose of wiping out humankind for good. Of all the colonies' battlestars, only the Galactica, helmed by Commander Adama (Lorne Greene) -- who, wisely, never completely trusted Baltar in the first place -- manages to escape the Cylon fleet. Led by Adama, his Viper-pilot son, Captain Apollo (Dirk Benedict), and Apollo's best friend, Lieutenant Starbuck (Dirk Benedict), the survivors of the Cylon ambush board Galactica and head for the long-lost 13th colony, which once bore the name of Earth. Originally telecast as a three-hour special, "Saga of a Star World" has since been divided into three separate episodes for syndication, and an edited 125-minute version has also been released theatrically. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, (more)
- 1978
In Part Two of Battlestar Galactica's pilot episode, Galactica's Commander Adama (Lorne Greene) has managed to escape the death trap arranged by the scurrilous, metallic cylons and human traitor Baltar (John Colicos). With the other survivors of the apocalyptic battle between the Cylons and the 12 colonies of Mankind, Adama heads to the supposed safety of the long-lost 13th colony--otherwise known as Earth. Along the way, Galactica makes a refueling stop at the pleasure planet Carillon. Alas, yet another trap awaits the remnants of Mankind--one that may even destroy Adama's son Apollo (Richard Hatch) and Apollo's best friend Starbuck (Dirk Benedict). Originally telecast as a three-hour special, "Saga of a Star World" has since been divided into three separate episodes for syndication, and an edited 125-minute version has been released theatrically as Battlestar Galactica. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, (more)
- 1978
Love's Dark Ride, based on a true story, was produced for TV by Jack Webb's Mark VII company. Cliff Potts stars as a commercial artist who is blinded by a gun accident. After a long spell of self-pity, Potts learns to enjoy life again when he falls in love with nightclub entertainer Jane Seymour. Carrie Snodgress also appears in this lightly lachrymose drama. Love's Dark Ride might have been more memorable had it not been first telecast on April 2, 1978--directly opposite the premiere episode of Dallas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
