Victoria Principal Although this accomplished actress has appeared in many Hollywood movies, along side some of the best actors she will probably always be known as the long suffering sister in law to J R Ewing, a role played by Larry Hagman and wife of Bobby Ewing played by Patrick Duffy. Victoria Principal was born on January 3rd 1946 in Japan to an Air Force parents, Victor and Bertha Principale. The eldest of two daughters, she spent her childhood traveling from Japan to London to Florida and to Puerto Rico and eventually back to America and in all attending seventeen schools. Victoria’s career began when she was just five years old when she acted in a commercial and then went to modeling while still in high school. Her ambition was to pursue a career in chiropractic medicine and to continue modeling but after winning the Miss Miami title at the age of twenty three, Victoria was involved in a serious car accident and had to change her direction and refocused her energy on acting. In an attempt to achieve the best training as an actress she moved to London and studied at RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) and then on to Los Angeles in 1971. Not long after her move to L.A. Victoria scored her first big role alongside one of Hollywood’s greats, Paul Newman, in the movie ‘The Life and Time of Judge Roy Bean’ in which she played a Mexican mistress. This gave her the first Golden Globe nomination of her career as the Most Promising Newcomer.
Later, in 1973, Victoria signed a contract to appear in ‘The Naked Ape' with Johnny Crawford but admitted years later on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson that she did not read the small print in the contract and was unaware that a topless scene was involved and stated it was the worse move of her life. However, in that same year it did lead to a pictorial in Hugh Hefner’s Playboy magazine. Victoria’s biggest break came in 1974 when she was cast in the disaster movie Earthquake starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, Lorne Greene, George Kennedy and Walter Matthau. However, after her career seemed to have peaked in the 1970’s Victoria became disillusioned with her movie offers and became a studio executive and an agent for a few years. The Aaron Spelling approached Victoria and offered her a role in Fantasy Island starring with Ricardo Montalban and his sidekick Hervé Villechaize. This later led to her role in Spelling’s 1978 long running television series, ‘Dallas’ where starred with Howard Keel, Barbara Bel Geddes, Charlene Tilton, Ted Shackelford, Linda Gray and Ken Kercheval. With this role came her 1983 Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress in a Television Series.
After nine years on the series Victoria left and married in June 1985. Her husband, plastic surgeon Harry Glassman gave her an interest in natural beauty and she began her own skin care line and has written three books relating to the subject. Before marrying her first husband, Christopher Skinner, on the set of ‘Dallas’, Victoria was romantically linked to many actors including Andy Gibb, Frank Sinatra and Steven Spielberg. Her marriage to Skinner only lasted for two years before she married Harry Glassman in 1985. Although their marriage lasted for twenty one years, the couple never had children and after Harry was arrested for domestic violence the couple divorced in 2007. Since then Victoria has appeared on several infomercials advertising her beauty products and is currently in training for Richard Branson’s first commercial space flight venture which is schedule in 2008 when she will be the first female civilian to become an astronaut. Victoria now lives in Malibu and has homes in Switzerland and Utah after losing her Beverly Hills home to her former husband, Glassman in a settlement which also saw him gaining a payment of $25 million dollars and gaining the title of Dr McGreedy. ABB |
