Sal

In the early 1990s, Jane Seymour was roughly $9 million in debt, raising two young children, and facing the prospect of having no home. Most people already knew her face. In 1973 she had played Solitaire, the tarot-reading Bond girl in Live and Let Die. Through the 1980s she was one of the more sought-after actresses on television. What was less visible was what was happening off-screen. In 1981 she married David Flynn. He was not only her husband; he also managed the money. They had two children, Katherine and Sean. Jane kept working and kept trusting him with the earnings. By the early 1990s the money was gone. Investments tied to the housing market had collapsed. The marriage ended in 1992. Jane Seymour, a recognizable face on screens around the world, was left with about $9 million in debt and lawsuits from major banks. She later described herself in those days as homeless and penniless, with two small children and nowhere left to fall. She called her agent and said she would do anything. The offer that came back was a risk. CBS had a project about a woman doctor on the 1860s Colorado frontier. By the conventional wisdom of the time, the concept looked unpromising: Westerns were out of fashion, shows with children and animals were considered difficult, and family-oriented drama was not seen as a path to success. If it became a series she would have to commit for five years, and she had until the next morning to decide. She signed. Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman premiered on January 1, 1993. The show many expected to fail ran for six seasons and 150 episodes. Seymour won a Golden Globe and received two Emmy nominations. For a stretch she was among the highest-paid women on television. More importantly, she rebuilt her life, one episode at a time. The real turning point was not the awards or the ratings. It was the night she had every reason to give up and picked up the phone instead. Rock bottom is not always the end of the story. Sometimes it is the place where you find out what you are made of. 🌹