Linda Hamilton never dreamed of being an actress, although as a child she had to play in school plays. But it was more of an entertainment, in which she took part in the company of her twin sister.
The girls were born into a simple American family. They lost their father early, and between them from childhood formed a rivalry, which by the age of 16 grew into a serious teenage crisis. Linda grew up a troubled child, even in childhood she was diagnosed with manic-depressive syndrome.
In order not to be like her sister, she cut her hair, dyed it a different color, dressed in boyish clothes, and spent a lot of time reading books. And then suddenly went to New York, where she enrolled in acting classes of the famous movie director Lee Strasberg.
After completing the course, Linda moved to California, began working on television and starring in low-budget series. She was noticed by director James Cameron and invited to play a role in the movie “Terminator”, which later changed her life.
When Linda Hamilton read the script of the movie, she did not even assume that later it will make a real sensation, will become a cult film and a classic of the genre, she took it as an ordinary job in the movie. At the time, Linda worked on several small roles, so she told the director that she was not sure whether to take on another job, especially she is not close to the genre of science fiction.
But Cameron insisted on auditions, the image of 28-year-old Linda Hamilton seemed to him ideal for the role. In the plot of the movie Sarah Connor – a selfless strong-willed woman who enters into a struggle with a cyborg killer who came from the post-apocalyptic future to kill her, as her unborn son in the future must win the war of mankind against the domination of machines.
In the movie Linda Hamilton had to play with the legendary Arnold Schwarzenegger, who at that time was not yet a popular actor. He also at first did not like the role of the Terminator, he did not imagine how it is possible to play a machine. But as it turned out, he and Linda Hamilton perfectly coped with their roles.
Once Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted that Linda Hamilton is his best shooting partner and close friend. He told how she was preparing for the shooting to enter the role – took lessons from instructors special forces, learning to handle weapons, working out hard, whole days spent in the gym. He admired her athletic figure and steel muscles, absolutely not depriving her of femininity and charm.
Many years have passed since the release of the movie “Terminator”, thanks to which the actors who played the main roles, received world fame.
But if Schwarzenegger’s acting career was successful and during this time he starred in many films, for Linda Hamilton the role of a cold-blooded woman warrior was fatal. And although she starred quite a lot, but always felt how directors and viewers associated her exclusively with the image of Sarah Connor.
And now, luck smiled on the actress once again – James Cameron invited her to shoot the second part of “Terminator: Judgment Day”. By that time Linda made up with her sister, who also played several episodes in this movie.
When Linda was already 63, she had to return to this role again in the sixth part of the movie. The actress was worried about how the audience will perceive the already significantly aged Sarah Connor. But she managed to create an equally interesting image and again experience the admiration and love of the audience.
The diagnosis made to Linda Hamilton as a child, against the background of a relationship with her sister, made itself felt already in adulthood. Linda’s first marriage to actor Bruce Abbott was unsuccessful. Suspecting a spouse in cheating, the woman pounced on him with hysterics and accusations, which was the cause of miscarriage in early pregnancy. A year later, the couple had a son Dalton, but the marriage was no longer saved.
Separated from her husband, Linda began to abuse alcohol, which coincided with nervous and physical overload during the daily filming in “Terminator”, classes at the gym. As Linda later recalled, during this period she slept 3-4 hours a day, and it seemed that she did not need sleep at all.
During filming, she became close to director James Cameron, who became her second husband. Soon they had a daughter Josephine, but against the background of postpartum depression, everything happened again. She developed obsessions about her husband’s cheating, panic attacks began, she threw tantrums, threw his things out the window. Finally, Cameron did find another woman, left home, and never returned to Linda.
After that, Linda realized that she needed professional help from doctors. The diagnosis made in childhood was confirmed, and further aggravated by bipolar disorder, which the actress had to treat for the rest of her life. This did not prevent her from living and working, but she did not marry again.
After divorcing the director Linda received a large amount of payoffs, which allowed her to lead a quiet and trouble-free life. Now she rarely appears in movies, travels a lot, and likes to spend time alone, and still remains an ideal of beauty, which opened the era of women in the classic male action movie genre .
