Shannon Farnon (born November 28, 1941) is a Canadian actress. She is best known as being the first actress to voice

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

in a Hanna-Barbera production, having voiced her in ''

Super Friends ''Super Friends'' is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes, which ran from 1973 to 1985 on ABC as part of its Saturday-morning cartoon lineup. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera and was based on the Justice League of ...

'' from 1973 to 1983.

Early life

Born into a show business family, she is the daughter of Brian Farnon, a musician and conductor, and Rita Oehmen, a singer and actress, and sister of Charmian Carr and

Darleen Carr Darleen Carr (born Darlene Farnon) is an American actress, singer, and voice-over artist. She is also known as Darlene Carr or Darleen Drake. She has two sisters, both actresses ( Shannon Farnon and Charmian Carr). Early years Carr was born i ...

. She was raised in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. Farnon majored in Theatre Arts in Los Angeles and a couple years later worked in many areas of the entertainment business.field.Shannon Farnon She graduated from

Los Angeles Valley College Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC) is a public community college in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the Los Angeles Community College District. The college is adjacent to Grant High School in the neighborhood of Valley Glen. Often call ...

in 1962.

Career

Farnon starred in film, television, commercials and cartoons, however her first role was in 1965 in an uncredited role on '' Burke's Law''. She went on to appear in multiple other television series, but was most active in commercials. In 1967, she appeared in an episode of '' I Dream of Jeannie'' as Major Nelson's date, selected by Jeannie with the use of a "computer machine" at a dating club, and in March, 1970, she was in an episode of Dragnet ("Night School"), where she played a fellow student attending a college course with Joe Friday (played by the show's, creator, producer and star, Jack Webb). While playing a mother in a live-action commercial in 1973 for Flintstone vitamins, she was approached by voice director

Wally Burr Walter Story Burr (June 2, 1924 – July 9, 2017), also credited as Wally Burr and Walter Burr, was an American voice actor and director. As the voice director for '' The Transformers'' and '' The Transformers: The Movie'', Burr was known for h ...

to audition for what was to be her most long-running famous role,

on ''

''. From 1973 to 1983, Farnon voiced the Amazonian superheroine on ''

'', ''

Challenge of the Super Friends ''Challenge of the Superfriends'' is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from September 9, 1978, to December 23, 1978, on ABC. The complete series (16 episodes) was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions an ...

'', '' The All-New Super Friends Hour'', ''

The World's Greatest Super Friends ''The World's Greatest SuperFriends'' is an American animated television series about a team of superheroes which ran from September 22, 1979, to September 27, 1980, on ABC. It was produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and is based on the Justic ...

'' and the revival of ''

''. Farnon did voice several incidental characters, such as

Lois Lane Lois Lane is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #1 (June 1938). Lois is an award-winning journalist for ...

and

Hawkgirl Hawkgirl is the name of several superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original Hawkgirl, Shiera Sanders Hall, was created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dennis Neville, and first appeared in ''Flash Comics' ...

on some of the series and also played Kim Butler in '' Valley of the Dinosaurs'' in 1974, but mainly she did the voice of Wonder Woman. She made a guest appearance in the television show ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American action-adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing the two short-lived situa ...

'' (1977 S6E21 “Limelight”) as Mrs. Robinson. However, in 1984, her prominent character was recast in '' Super Friends: The Legendary Super Powers Show'', when the role was given to Constance Cawlfield and later to B.J. Ward. This case has often been given as an example of injustice in the television and animation industry. Mary McDonald-Lewis voiced Wonder Woman in an episode of '' Superman''. She voiced Wonder Woman on many Cartoon Network promos and went on to appear in several films and television series, but since 2005, her acting appearances have been infrequent. She has voiced various commercials, including Betty Crocker, Nivea, Kodak, National World War II Memorial, Oil of Olay, Scotchgard and Cartoon Network spoofs of The Super Friends.

Personal life

She was married to William Wells from 1966 to 1975 (married twice after that) and had twins, Jeremy and Julie, born in 1971. Jeremy died from a skiing accident at the age 24. This info can be found in her sister Charmian's book, ''Forever Liesl''.

References

External links

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Toon Zone News Shannon Farnon the ''Super Friends'' Wonder Woman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farnon, Shannon 1941 births Living people Actresses from Toronto Canadian film actresses Canadian television actresses Canadian voice actresses Hanna-Barbera people 20th-century Canadian actresses 21st-century Canadian actresses