Jane Seymour, OBE (born Joyce Penelope Wilhelmina Frankenberg; 15
February 1951), is a British-American actress, best known for her
performances in the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973); Somewhere
in Time (1980); East of Eden (1981); The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982
film); Onassis: The Richest Man in the World (1988); War and
Remembrance (1988); the French epic La Révolution française (1989)
as the ill-fated queen Marie Antoinette; Wedding Crashers (2005); and
the American television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
(1993â€"1998). She has earned an Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards
and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2000, she was appointed
an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.Joyce Penelope
Wilhelmina Frankenberg was born on 15 February 1951 in Uxbridge,
Middlesex (now part of Greater London), England, to Mieke (van Tricht;
1914â€"2007), a nurse, and Benjamin John Frankenberg FRCOG
(1914â€"1990), a distinguished gynaecologist and obstetrician. Her
father was Jewish; he was born in England, to a family from Nowe
Trzepowo, a village in Poland. Her mother was a Dutch Protestant (with
family from Deventer) who was a prisoner of war during World War II,
and had lived in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Seymour has
stated she learned Dutch from her mother and her fellow survivors from
the Japanese concentration camp, who frequently spent holidays
together in the Netherlands when she was a kid. Encouraged by her
parents (who sent her to live with family friends in Geneva in order
to practise her language skills), she also learned to speak fluent
French.Seymour's paternal grandfather had come to live in the East End
of London after escaping the Czarist pogroms when he was 14. He is
listed in the 1911 census as living in Bethnal Green working as a
hairdresser, and eventually went on to establish his own company.
Seymour's father Benjamin qualified at the UCL Medical School in 1938,
and joined the medical branch of the RAFVR after the outbreak of war,
serving in England, Belgium, Italy and South Africa and ending his
service as a squadron leader with a mention in despatches. After the
war, Frankenberg continued his career at various London hospitals,
including St Leonard's Hospital, Hackney, the East End Maternity
Hospital, the City of London Maternity Hospital and finally Hillingdon
Hospital, for which he designed the maternity unit. A close associate
of Patrick Steptoe, he assisted in pioneering discussions on in-vitro
fertilisation and also published papers on adolescent and teenage
sexual behaviours.
February 1951), is a British-American actress, best known for her
performances in the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973); Somewhere
in Time (1980); East of Eden (1981); The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982
film); Onassis: The Richest Man in the World (1988); War and
Remembrance (1988); the French epic La Révolution française (1989)
as the ill-fated queen Marie Antoinette; Wedding Crashers (2005); and
the American television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
(1993â€"1998). She has earned an Emmy Award, two Golden Globe Awards
and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2000, she was appointed
an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.Joyce Penelope
Wilhelmina Frankenberg was born on 15 February 1951 in Uxbridge,
Middlesex (now part of Greater London), England, to Mieke (van Tricht;
1914â€"2007), a nurse, and Benjamin John Frankenberg FRCOG
(1914â€"1990), a distinguished gynaecologist and obstetrician. Her
father was Jewish; he was born in England, to a family from Nowe
Trzepowo, a village in Poland. Her mother was a Dutch Protestant (with
family from Deventer) who was a prisoner of war during World War II,
and had lived in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Seymour has
stated she learned Dutch from her mother and her fellow survivors from
the Japanese concentration camp, who frequently spent holidays
together in the Netherlands when she was a kid. Encouraged by her
parents (who sent her to live with family friends in Geneva in order
to practise her language skills), she also learned to speak fluent
French.Seymour's paternal grandfather had come to live in the East End
of London after escaping the Czarist pogroms when he was 14. He is
listed in the 1911 census as living in Bethnal Green working as a
hairdresser, and eventually went on to establish his own company.
Seymour's father Benjamin qualified at the UCL Medical School in 1938,
and joined the medical branch of the RAFVR after the outbreak of war,
serving in England, Belgium, Italy and South Africa and ending his
service as a squadron leader with a mention in despatches. After the
war, Frankenberg continued his career at various London hospitals,
including St Leonard's Hospital, Hackney, the East End Maternity
Hospital, the City of London Maternity Hospital and finally Hillingdon
Hospital, for which he designed the maternity unit. A close associate
of Patrick Steptoe, he assisted in pioneering discussions on in-vitro
fertilisation and also published papers on adolescent and teenage
sexual behaviours.
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