Carolyn Seymour [Career History]

Career History - Carolyn Seymour

Carolyn's real name is Carolyn von Benckendorf. She grew up in England with an Irish mother and a Russian father. She loves animals and 'has always taken every animal she saw, home with her'. After many roles in British TV and films, Carolyn moved to Los Angeles in 1980. She was typecast as a murdereress for a time, due to her deep voice and English accent, taking numerous roles in this capacity in Murder She Wrote. She would continue to play evil characters in many American TV shows and has the following to say about this: "I played a lot of them, and a lot of it has to do with the depth of my voice. If you noticed, most people that are evil have deep voices, high cheekbones, and all of that I have. But I also enjoy playing them because evil characters are much more interesting. They're powerful characters. There's a reason why people are powerful, there's a reason why people are evil. Nobody's born bad. It's up to the actor to find what's going on, and to bring that up. I always try to find one thing that is like a habit or a fetish that they have to give them a bit more depth." She considers learning to strip as her most challenging acting experience [for her role in the Steptoe and Son film - see below] and counts a performance as Ophelia in Hamlet as her most memorable. Carolyn continues to act in the USA today, however, recently she has expressed an interest in returning to England to pursue theatre work. She regularly attends Star Trek conventions due to her appearances in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager. Of the programme, she has said: "Oh, I so loved doing them! I remembered they were such a great company to work with, and just great people. I always had such a good time working on Star Trek, even if it meant putting in long long long hours. Punishing hours." She has most recently lean't her voice talents to the computer game Gabriel Knight: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned and the LA Theatre Works audio productions of an Alan Ayckbourn's trilogy, tapes of which can be purchased here. She is also a regular actress for LucasArts projects. Carolyn has the following to say on voiceover work: "it's very difficult to do voiceovers. It's much more intense. Because you're not being seen, you have to convey everything in your voice. You can't do it with a twitch of an eyebrow or a movement. You have to be so precise with your voice. So it's much more specific, and it's very hard. It's not easy. People think it is." Acting Credits ER 2001 Babylon 5 - Endgame [Senator Crosby] 1997 Star Trek: Voyager [3 episodes as Mrs Templeton] 1995 Congo [Eleanor Romy] 1995 Quantum Leap [3 episodes as Zoey the Evil Leaper] 1989 Star Trek: The Next Generation [3 episodes] various Mr. Mom [Eve] 1983 Magnum PI [3 episodes] 1980 The Bitch [Polly Logan] 1979 Space 1999 - The Seance Spectre [Eva] 1978 Gumshoe [Alison Wyatt] 1972 The Ruling Class [Grace Shelly] 1971 Take Three Girls 1970 Steptoe and Son (film) 1970 (see two pictures below) and episodes of: Cagney and Lacey, Hart to Hart, Remington Steele, Blue Thunder, Murder She Wrote, L.A. Law, Chicago Hope and Family Ties. Images on this page 1. A 90s publicity photo of Carolyn / 2. At a sci-fi convention last year / 3. As Commander Toreth in Star Trek: the Next Generation / 4. and 6. In Steptoe and Son / 5. In the film The Ruling Class with Peter O'Toole in 1971 / 7. As Dr. Eleanor Romy in the film Congo in 1995.

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