Sandahl Bergman

Sandahl Bergman
Born (1951-11-14) November 14, 1951
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Occupation Actress, dancer, stuntwoman
Years active 19802003

Sandahl Bergman (born November 14, 1951) is an American dancer, stuntwoman, and actress.

Early life and Broadway

Bergman was born in Kansas City, Missouri. She is six feet tall but used to say 5'12" because "no girl should have to be six feet tall." She graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village, Kansas.

In her 20s, she moved to New York City and appeared in a number of Broadway shows, catching the eye of choreographer Bob Fosse who cast her as a replacement dancer in Pippin. She had a secondary lead in the stage version of the film Gigi in 1973, and later appeared in Mack & Mabel, and as Judy in the renowned "new New York cast" of A Chorus Line (when many of the original actors left the show in 1977). She was cast again by Fosse in his critically acclaimed 1978 dance concert/musical Dancin', which featured many of the top dancers on Broadway at the time.[1]

Film career

Bergman's movie career began in 1978 with a small role in the TV film How to Pick Up Girls. She followed that in 1979 with a noted appearance as a dancer in the Fosse film All That Jazz, in which she was a featured performer in the "Air-otica" sequence.[2] In the 1980 movie Xanadu, she appears as one of the nine immortal Muses during the opening song "I'm Alive" by ELO as well as the final title number of Xanadu.

Bergman's participation in Xanadu also led indirectly to her eviction from her apartment in New York and subsequent relocation to California. She had been subletting her apartment in New York in defiance of a clause in her agreement with her landlord, and during her four months in California for filming, he became aware of the situation. Bergman has said she did not return to New York, instead having friends pack and ship her belongings to her. Her best-known role was playing "Valeria" opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian. She won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress for her role in the film. Because no stunt women could be found to match her size, she learned to do all her own stunt work. She commented on the experience, "It was tough. I nearly lost a finger. Arnold smashed his head against a rock. But that was nothing compared to what the stunt men went through."

In 1985, she played a different character, Queen Gedren, in another Conanesque film, Red Sonja. She was offered the title role, but asked to play the villainess instead. After that, she appeared in a series of low-budget films, such as 1987's Hell Comes to Frogtown. Her most recent work was in 2003, when at the age of 52, she appeared as a dancer in the film version of The Singing Detective. Other appearances include a lunar base officer in the movie Airplane II: The Sequel, the music video "Heavy Metal Love" by the band Helix and the Fred Olen Ray film Possessed by the Night, and guest appearances on television, such as Hart to Hart and Moonlighting. Bergman worked as an instructor for the FIRM series of exercise videos in the 1980s.[3]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1974 Mame Dancer Uncredited
1978 How to Pick Up Girls! Blonde jogger Television movie
1979 All That Jazz Principal Dancer
1982 Xanadu Muse 1
1982 She She
1982 Conan the Barbarian Valeria Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress
Saturn Award for Best Actress
1982 Airplane II: The Sequel Officer #1
1984 Getting Physical Nadine Cawley Television movie
1985 The Ferret Chandra Television movie
1985 Red Sonja Queen Gedren Nominated—Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress
1986 Stewardess School Wanda Polanski
1987 Programmed to Kill Samira
1987 Kandyland Harlow Divine
1988 Hell Comes to Frogtown Spangle
1991 Raw Nerve Gloria Freedman
1992 In the Arms of a Killer Nurse Henninger Television movie
1992 Loving Lulu Lulu
1992 Revenge on the Highway Python Television movie
1994 Lipstick Camera Lilly Miller
1994 TekWar: TekJustice Valkyrie Television movie
1994 Inner Sanctum II Sharon Reed
1994 Night of the Archer Marla Miles
1995 Ice Cream Man Marion Cassera
1996 The Assault Helen
1999 Sorceress II: The Temptress Virginia
2003 The Singing Detective Dancer

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1970–1973 The Dean Martin Comedy World Golddigger 50 episodes
1982 Hart to Hart Miranda Episode: "From the Depths of My Heart"
1986 Moonlighting Female Dancer Episode: "Big Man on Mulberry Street"
1988 Dirty Dancing Delia Episode: "Save the Last Dance for Me"
1989 Cheers Judy Marlowe Episode: "Send in the Crane"
1989 Hard Time on Planet Earth Danielle Spencer Episode: "Battle of the Sexes"
1990 Freddy's Nightmares Ginger 'Tracker' Morgan 2 episodes
1990 Designing Women Davida Daniels Episode: "Nowhere to Run To"
1991 Swamp Thing Sienna Episode: "Tremors of the Heart"
1992 Dark Justice Meredith Episode: "Lead Rain"
1993 Murder, She Wrote Sgt. Daisy Kenny Episode: "The Petrified Florist"
1994 Silk Stalkings Sgt. Steele Episode: "The Scarlet Shadow"
1994 Under Suspicion Petrella Gideon Episode: "Serial Killer - Part 1"
1999 Sliders Lead Female Dancer Episode: "The Java Jive"

References

  1. Profile, ibdb.com; accessed August 15, 2015.
  2. Video on YouTube
  3. Sandahl Bergman at the Internet Movie Database
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