Jane Seymour turns 70: who would have known about "Dr. Quinn"?

Jane Seymour turns 70
Who would have known about "Dr. Quinn"?

Jane Seymour is an eye-catcher on every red carpet even in old age.

© Silvia Elizabeth Pangaro / Shutterstock.com

On February 15th, "Dr. Quinn" actress Jane Seymour will celebrate her 70th birthday. Very few people know these seven facts of their lives.

In 1973 Jane Seymour (70) became known worldwide as Bond-Girl Solitaire in "Live and Let Die" alongside Roger Moore (1927-2017). Later she played herself in the hearts of TV viewers as "Dr. Quinn – a passionate doctor" (1993-1998) and even received a Golden Globe for her performance in 1996. At least as interesting as the roles of the British-American actress, who will turn 70 on February 15, are these seven facts of her life.

1. Jane Seymour is not her real name

Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg – that is the real name of Jane Seymour. After her birth on February 15, 1951 in Uxbridge, England, she received this long name from her parents Mieke (1914-2007) and John Frankenberg (1914-1990). At the beginning of her acting career, she decided to adopt a stage name and was inspired by British history: Jane Seymour was the name of the third wife of King Henry VIII (1491-1547).

2. She has green and brown eyes

A closer look at Jane Seymour's face should cause astonishment, because her eyes are two different colors – green on the left, brown on the right. The reason for this is a so-called iris heterochromia with which Seymour was born. The pigmentation disorder changed the color in one eye.

3. Survivors of a prisoner of war camp taught her Dutch

The daughter of a Polish father born in England and a native Dutch woman, Jane Seymour grew up bilingual. In addition to her mother, her acquaintances from a prisoner of war also taught her the Dutch language. During the Second World War they were incarcerated in a Japanese camp in what was then the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). As Seymour revealed to the Guardian in 2013, her mother Mieke van Tricht lived in the camp for a total of three and a half years – also because she did not want to leave her pregnant best friend alone.

4. Her twin sons have the names of three stars

When she gave birth to twin sons in November 1995, Seymour and her fourth husband, actor and director James Keach (73, "Walk the Line"), took inspiration from three celebrity colleagues when naming them. John Stacy (25) was named after music legend Johnny Cash (1932-2003), a friend of the family, and Keach's brother Stacy Keach (79, "Prison Break"). Kristopher Steven Keachs (25) is named after "Superman" actor Christopher Reeve (1952-2004). Seymour had become friends with him in 1980 while filming "A Deadly Dream".

Overall, Jane Seymour, who has been divorced since 2015, is a mother of four. Her two eldest children, Katherine (39) and Sean Flynn (35), came from her third marriage to David Flynn, which lasted from 1981 to 1992. In her first marriage, the "Beyond Eden" actress was married to theater director Michael Attenborough (70), the son of the famous filmmaker Richard Attenborough (1923-2014, "Jurassic Park"). However, the connection lasted only two years (1971-1973). Four years later she married Geoffrey Planer, a friend of her first husband. She divorced him in 1978.

5. In 1985 she became Freddie Mercury's fake wife

When the famine in Ethiopia shocked the world in the mid-1980s, musician Bob Geldof (69, "I Don't Like Mondays") organized his famous donation concert Live Aid. But he didn't stop there. Also part of his effort was a fashion show at the Royal Albert Hall called Fashion Aid which, like Live Aid, was held in 1985. During the grand finale, Jane Seymour also walked the catwalk for a good cause. In a wedding dress made of white lace, she tied the knot with none other than Queen frontman Freddie Mercury (1946-1991, "Bohemian Rhapsody") in a fake ceremony.

6. She is the oldest woman who ever graced "Playboy"

In 1973 and 1987 Jane Seymour posed for "Playboy". In 2018 he knocked on her again – and she said yes again. At the age of 67, the actress is still the oldest woman who has ever stood in front of the camera for the men's magazine. She doesn't have a problem with her advancing age, on the contrary. "I feel so much sexier than when I was younger," she told Playboy when the issue appeared with her three years ago. An Instagram post in which she shared the first photo of her shoot with her followers also proved that she is proud of her looks.

7. Your beauty secret is not one

Jane Seymour still attracts everyone's attention on the red carpets today. How she looks twenty years younger at the age of 70 is a mystery to many admirers. The ex-Bond girl herself, who is now a multiple grandmother, makes no secret of her beauty recipe. In addition to a diet based on fish, nuts and fruits, she makes a point of washing her face "very, very well" before going to bed, she revealed to "Entertainment Tonight" in March 2020. It is important to maintain balance and to keep everything in moderation. In short: "Eat as sensibly as you can."

However, even a natural beauty like Jane Seymour could not do without outside help. On the British TV show "Loose Women" in 2018, she revealed that she had her breasts operated on in the early 1990s. The reason was the pressure she felt because of her stumbling third marriage to David Flynn. "I thought maybe that's what I should be doing. I had filled the empty space." For the sake of her career, Seymour holds back when it comes to interventions on the face: "I have to be able to move my face. If it doesn't move, I can't play the characters."

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