Jane Seymour’s storied career began with an unforgettable encounter at 30,000 feet.
On Jan. 10, 2026, the 74-year-old actress attended the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards alongside George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Kathy Bates and Jacob Elordi. While speaking with News Of Los Angeles, she recalled the moment Hollywood legend John Wayne invited her to dine on a trans-Atlantic flight before she had even booked her first major role.
The Surprise Invitation
Fresh off a plane from Britain and still navigating the novelty of Los Angeles, the then-unknown Seymour found herself in first class when a stewardess approached.
“Mr. Wayne would like you to dine with him,” the crew member said.
Seymour, stunned, accepted. Minutes later she was seated beside John Wayne-already an icon of Western cinema thanks to films like Rio Bravo-in the aircraft’s dining area.
“Who comes to Hollywood as a young actress and actually sits down … next to John Wayne?” she mused to News Of Los Angeles, still incredulous decades later.
Memories for a Memoir
That chance meal is just one of countless memories Seymour is sifting through as she writes her autobiography.
“I’ve just started writing my autobiography, and I’ve got so many stories … I keep thinking, ‘How did that actually happen to me?'” she tells News Of Los Angeles exclusively.
The project has forced her to confront a happy problem: a life too full for one book. She is “trying to figure out what to do with all the material I can’t put in” and is “thinking out of the box” to ensure the remaining anecdotes still reach readers in some form.
Encounters With Silver-Screen Royalty
Beyond Wayne, Seymour’s early days included brushes with other legends:
- Mae West and Gloria Swanson both took notice of the ingénue; Swanson once asked Seymour to portray her should a biopic ever be made.
- Laurence Olivier shared school-day stories during their first meeting, then demonstrated his craft on set the next day-an experience Seymour calls “amazing.”
A History of Storytelling
Seymour’s new book will mark her latest foray onto the page. Previous titles include:
- Jane Seymour’s Guide to Romantic Living (self-help)
- Two at a Time: Having Twins (parenting, co-authored with Pamela Patrick Novotny)
- Several children’s books co-written with ex-husband James Keach after the birth of their twin sons in 1995
From Bond Girl to Frontier Doctor
Audiences first embraced Seymour in 1973 as Solitaire in Live and Let Die. She later cemented her fame through Somewhere in Time and six seasons as Dr. Michaela Quinn on CBS’s Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
Even with those credits, the memory of a mid-air dinner with John Wayne remains among her most pinch-me moments-proof that sometimes the most extraordinary Hollywood stories happen before the cameras ever roll.
