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Saturday 7 December 2013

Meet the 9 Wonder Women of Yore


Here's a look at the multimedia Wonder Women (Wonder Womans?) who've come before:
1. Ellie Wood Walker
The actress, who would go onto appear in the seminal "Easy Rider," was Wonder Woman in a 1967 presentation reel for a prospective TV series from William Dozier, the producer behind the Adam West "Batman," and her performance has fascinated comic completists. While it's clear what Dozier was thinking (he was thinking that what was good for Bruce Wayne — namely, camp — was good for Diana Prince), it's unclear if network execs passed because they were offended by the pitch's profound sexism. (Given that it was 1967, and the network execs were likely all men, then that's probably not why they passed, but it's nice to think otherwise.)
2. Cathy Lee Crosby

Cathy Lee Crosby as Wonder Woman
Cathy Lee Crosby as Wonder Woman (Credit: Everett Collection)

In 1974, the former tennis pro snagged her first starring role in a "Wonder Woman" TV-movie that doubled as a TV pilot. Like Dozier's before it, the Crosby pilot didn't sell. Unlike Dozier's Wonder Woman, Crosby's wasn't a joke. She wasn't clad in Wonder Woman's traditional star-spangled bikini, either. Rather, Crosby modeled a jumpsuit fit for a motorcycle. The costume was a nod to the heroine's onetime unitard look. Or to Evel Knievel. One or the other.
3. Shannon Farnon

Super Friends
'Super Friends' (Credit: Warner Bros.)

The actress, with loads of 1960s guest-shot TV credits on her resume, was the voice of the heroine in the 1970s cartoon series, "Super Friends," and its various iterations.
4. Keri Russell

Keri Russell as Wonder Woman
Keri Russell (inset) voiced the superhero in TV's

The former "Felicity" star didn't have to worry about her hair (or wardrobe) when she lent her voice to the 2009 straight-to-video animated movie, "Wonder Woman."
5. Lucy Lawless

Lucy Lawless, inset, voiced Wonder Woman in 'Justice League'
Lucy Lawless, inset, voiced Wonder Woman in 'Justice League' (Credit: Getty/ WB)

It's either appropriate or typecasting that the "Xena" warrior was tapped to voice Wonder Woman in the Silver Age-set animated video movie, "Justice League: The New Frontier," released in 2008.
6. Cobie Smulders

Cobie Smulders voices Wonder Woman in 'The LEGO Movie'
Cobie Smulders voices Wonder Woman in 'The LEGO Movie' (Credit: Getty/ WB)

The pre-"Avengers" Joss Whedon tried and failed to get a Wonder Woman movie with Smulders made. But no matter. Smulders will handle the character (and, in the process, cross over from the Marvel universe, where she's an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., to the DC one) in the upcoming CGI comedy "The Lego Movie," due out in February.
7. Adrianne Palicki
Adrianne Palicki as Wonder Woman
Adrianne Palicki as Wonder Woman (Credit: NBC/Warner Bros.)
The "Friday Night Lights" alum was supposed to be the star of the hot new series of the 2011 fall season. But then NBC unexpectedly passed on the David E. Kelley project, and the Internets took no prisoners with its critique of the pilot script. Oh, and the haters hated on Palicki's costume(s), too.
8. Jaqueline Lopez
The Wonder Woman enthusiast appeared in costume to argue the heroine's case in a 2012 episode of the online series "FanWars." Lopez lost — the "People's Court"-style show found that She Hulk, not the daughter of Hippolyta, was the stronger strongwoman — but she tried.
9. Lynda Carter
Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman
Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman (Credit: Everett)
Until and unless Gadot takes ownership of the red-white-and-blue getup, Carter is the Wonder Woman in our pop-culture imagination. She first assumed the role in the 1975 TV-movie, "The New Original Wonder Woman," and then went onto fight crime in World War II and the disco era in the 1976-79 series, "Wonder Woman." On Wednesday, as the Gadot casting made the news, the classy Carter took to Twitter, and offered the 28-year-old actress her congratulations.

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