Jane dropped Penny to solve tongue-twister
SHE’S one of the biggest names in showbusiness – Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg.
Not ringing a bell? It’s actually the real name of brilliant British actress, Jane Seymour.
Jane starred in the classic The Onedin Line before appearing as one of my favourite Bond girls – Solitaire – in Live And Let Die.
She went on to win rave reviews as Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman, and now she lives out here in California.
I caught up with Jane for a chat over a cup of tea at her Malibu home.
So that name – it trips off the tongue. Just why did you change it?
“My parents got a little carried away, I think!” Jane laughed. “I was named after Joyce, a doctor who influenced my father.
“Penelope is pronounced penny-lope in Dutch – which is much worse!
“Frankenberg was too much like Frankenstein ... I can’t think why I changed my name!”
It’s hard to believe gorgeous Jane is a granny, but she’s got six beautiful grandkids in her life.
It’s now 46 years since she was offered the part of Solitaire in Live And Let Die.
“I was very young, I was 13 mentally!” she laughed.
“I was so happy about getting the part that I backed into James Bond producer Harry Saltzman’s Rolls Royce in front of him.
“I had never watched Bond! The way I saw my career was I would do The Onedin Line, then I’d do lots of theatre.
“It never occurred to me to be a Bond girl. They did lots of press about me – they said I loved running naked through long grass.
“My father picked up the phone and said to me: ‘That’s too dangerous!’
“I said I’d never done it before. He was glad because he said I’d cut myself!”
In her latest project, Jane worked with Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and Uma Thurman in new comedy The War With Grandpa.
It’s about a wee boy who plays some outrageous pranks on his grandad in order to get him to move out of the family home.
“It’s hilarious, I’m playing the love interest of Robert De Niro and they’re already talking about doing another one in London.
“I started doing my nice American accent but they asked if I minded being British.
“Working with Robert De Niro though? It’s just divine!”