Female Actress's/Charactors in Highlander

[Victoria]

Hi Everyone,

Over at HLWW they have just had another of there Virtual Gathering weekends. There were many different episodes watched.

It got me thinking about all the women in Highlander. We had such a great variety of actress's through out the six years that Highlander ran. Most where very good but we also had a couple of shockers in there that l could very easily forget and tend to fast forward there scenes when watching those episodes.

Lets see now. In season one we had Tessa(Alexandra Vandernoot) who was just fantastic, Joan Jett who's episode l must say is one of my least favourites, Julia Stemberger from "Saving Grace" was lovely. And who can forget the introduction of "Amanda" played by the beautiful Elizabeth Gracen

Season two - One of my all time favourite episodes is "Studies in Light" the scene with Duncan and Linda(Sheila Moore) in the hospital as she dies is one of the most beautiful of the series. Then there was Sheena Easton, Michelle Thrush, Angelina Ball and Nia Peeples among others.

And the list just goes on.....

Do you have a favourite and least favourite female actress/character/episode from the series. Was it their acting that you did or did not like or was there something else that helped make the decision for you?

I look forward to having some great discussions about some of these wonderful and l must say less wonderful female characters portrayed in Highlander. :)

[StephyC]

My favourites have to be Tessa and Amanda but I can never decide which I like best. I change my mind about that with every different episode they were in.
Many of the female guests were very good with, for me at least, two notable exceptions.
The first is Joan Jet as Felicia Martins in Freefall. The woman couldn't act her way out of a paper bag. LOL The other thing about her that drives me crazy is that they expected us to believe that short, broad Joan could borrow and wear tall, slender Tessa's clothes. Not only borrow but they fitted her perfectly!!!! Oh come on....
The second is Ann Turkell as Kristin in Chivalry. The lady may have been a great model in her youth but act???? errr I don't think so... She looked way too old for the part to. A very beautiful lady at 20- 30, but by 1995 she looked every moment of her 49 years.

There is one other that I have a kind of love hate relationship with and that's Tracy Scoggins as Cassandra. Love because I really like the 3 episdodes she was in, particularly Prophecy. Hate because I have never rated Tracy's acting in anything I have seen her in. I've always felt those 3 episodes would be in my all time top ten if another actress had played Cassandra.
JMHO

[EROM]

StephyC, thank you. You expressed my own ideas exactly. So now I don't have to rewrite all of it. :D :D :D

[MagicPrincess]

I think my favorite female is Amanda :) Mainly because of how Elizabeth and Adrian played off of each other. And I just loved to see Duncan get so exasperated when dealing with her. Was one of my favorite parts of the whole series. I also really enjoyed Tessa. I think she was great in the first season, and loved that she continued to play a large part in Duncan's life throughout the series, just like in real life when someone passes away memories continue to surface in every day life.

My least favorite, I have 2, are Anne and that annoying reporter from whatever season that was :rolleyes: As far as Anne, I don't know if it was the character that was created that I didn't like or their choice of actress to play her. I'm not saying anything bad about the actress (can't think of her name right now), but I'm not sure she was right for the part. Ugh...and the reporter...I just found myself completely annoyed by that character. Once again, nothing against the actress, but the character just did nothing for me :)

So there's my honest opinion :p

[renate]

mine is Tessa AND Amanda.
Tessa meant so much to him and Amanda-well-let's just say that she gave Highlander the spark we needed and :D:D

RENATE

[cbas]

For me, I loved Tessa and she was always number one with me...Alexandra Vandernoot was amazing. I grew to love Amanda as well...Elizabeth Gracen was great in the part, and wonderful at other parts she's had over the years. I must admit, at Amanda's introduction, I felt strongly that Tessa should have just found the nearest chainsaw and dispatched her quickly:eek:

I think it was Magic Princess who touched on my least favorite character of all time-Dr. Anne Lindsey! I HATED the character and found her annoying and completely stupid!!!! My DVD collection is missing Season 3 just because I couldn't bear that silly cow!!!!:mad:

The actress was Lisa Howard, and I liked her, and even liked work she did later, but wow....Dr Anne...too bad she wasn't friendly with Dr. Foreman from House's team-he's a good enough neurosurgeon he could have given her a MUCH needed lobotomy! Before she knew what Duncan was, she was just pushy and clingy enough to know there was something up, but then she'd never really explore the question. And then after she knew about immortals? WOW, what a brainless idiot!

I'm going to bow out of this discussion for now....my inner fangirl needs a time out for her tantrum:o

Carla

[Sharon D.H.]

My favorite was Tessa. Second - Amanda. My third favorite was the woman who played Little Deer. My favorite female guest on the series was the woman who played Little Deer and then again showed up in the episode where she and DeSalvo and MacCleod were in the mountains with the baby.
Next was the part played by Nia Peeples as Nefertiti.

[cbas]

Two great choices, Sharon, I loved Nia Peeples in Pharoah's Daughter as well-I have a particular affection for that episode because when it comes to watching the series regularly, I think of that episode as the one where "I came in". Up until then, I had to catch the series when I could tear my ex-husband away from Star Trek: The Next Generation; after Pharoah's Daughter, and from then on, I put my foot down: I WILL get Highlander!!:D

The actress who played Little Deer, and guest starred in the 2nd season episode with Duncan and Charlie in the woods was very good as well.

[renate]

I guess that there were more choices-ohh well:D:)

Renate

[cbas]

There was also the actress (Stacey Travis) who played Special Agent Delaney in the Season 2 episode Unholy Alliance Part I and II. Dippy, cutesy, but...she knew her job and wasn't a comlete twit. She also turned up in Season 4 (in the states-the epi was in season 5 in the UK I think).

[hlndr]

My least favorite character was (and always shall be) Tessa. I don't know if it was just the Vandernoot's portrayal of her or the character herself but I felt like I was going to get diabetes from watching her. I mean no woman...no matter how great....is that sweet, understanding and generally perfect. She just seemed to be too boring for Duncan. I also couldn't stand the character/actress Felice Martins (never liked Joan Jett), Tracy Scoggins, the characters Michelle Webster, Carolyn Lamb (Beast Below), Jennifer Hill (Haunted) or Rebecca Lord (Vanity – Revenge is Sweet).


My favorite characters were Amanda, Grace Chandel, Angie Burke (Road Not Taken & Revenge is Sweet), Reagan Cole, Alex Raven & Katherine. I loved actresses Claudia Christian (Katherine), Ana Hagen (Mary MacLeod), Sheena Easton (Annie Devlin) & Nadia Cameron (Rebecca Horne).

[renate]

yep-lots of choices of great actresses ehh gang??:):)

Renate

[AdrianLi]

Tessa was the best!! I never liked Amanda. She was always sooooo obssessed with herself, it kind of ended up annoying! She always had such a high opinion of herself and because I always dislike such people, I never liked her. Plus, she was unbelievably ugly and completely talentless!

I wish she died early on. Why do they always kill off the best very early? I know Tessa wasn't an immortal and Alexandra wished to be released from her contract, but it's not fair!

[cbas]

Adrian Li, I'm with you! Tessa was the best! With all due respect, Hlndr, Tessa was not quite so saint-ish. She had moments of doubt, frustration, anger, etc.

Amanda; definitely too self-absorbed, thoughtless, and reckless. I can only explain Duncan's attachment to her as the affection we as humans sometimes retain for people in our lives who just are'nt very good for us. I have to admit, Amanda grew on me after awhile as a comic foil, but I never understood how she lived 900+ years-she could be really stupid. I felt she should have died early on: even at Duncan's hand when he was under the influence of the Dark Quickening.

[ljachetta]

Hello everyone,
Tessa was my favorite female character and Amanda is in second place . I'LL have to agree with cbas that the dr Dr. Anne Lindsey character was very annoying and also she is not Duncan Macleod's type.:eek::D

[hlndr]

And Anne had the unmitigated gall to dump Duncan after getting him all psyched about becoming a father. What a bitch! How could any woman in her right mind dump Duncan MacLeod? I have a very active and vivid imagination but I can't imagine ever doing that to him.

[cbas]

And Anne had the unmitigated gall to dump Duncan after getting him all psyched about becoming a father. What a bitch! How could any woman in her right mind dump Duncan MacLeod? I have a very active and vivid imagination but I can't imagine ever doing that to him.

My point EXACTLY!! By then, she had plenty of time to know what being the partner of an immortal meant, and had already committed. She couldn't even hang through her first battle...what did she think immortals did when they fought-buy each other flowers, for goodness sakes? I cant' imagine how a woman so stupid and with so little vision got through medical school.

[StephyC]

I was never fond of the character of Doctor Anne mainly because the on screen chemistry with Duncan was lacking.
I can however see why she would have huge problems reconciling her love for Duncan with her life as a doctor.
No matter how much she loved him it would be a huge moral dilemma to spend her working life striving to preserve life, while living with a man (even a good man) who was forced to take life on a regular basis in order to survive.
Add a baby and a mother's natural instinct to protect it at all costs into the equation and the poor woman really was in an untenable position.

[Sam]

I totally see where you're coming from. But here's my take on Dr. Anne.
Doctors deal with life and death everyday. They see the worst of the worst so the thing with Duncan in the grand scheme of things wouldn't have been the worst she had encountered. At least as far as killing goes. Given that during their relationship Duncan was taking heads in self defense. Something most mortals would do. And she did dangle the prospect of being a father in front of Duncan after knowing he who he was and how that would devastate him. And who better to protect a child and give that child everything it needs to become an intelligent,caring child with all the love it deserved. It would have seen just as much danger being raised in the society of normal humans as it would with an immortal. I just thought she was by far the most selfish and uncaring and unlikable character Duncan encountered and the chemistry was definitely lacking.

[renate]

:D:D ohh well-to each his/her own huhh??

Renate

[MissyMacLeod]

Amanda was my favorite hands down. She was all mischief and surprises. I loved that about her. Duncan couldn't stay mad at her no matter how he tried.

Tessa would be my second fav tho. If she had lived, I could see Duncan and her in a scene like the one with Heather and Connor where she is an old woman and Connor STILL loves her! *sigh*

[TinaMarie]

I loved Amanda! She was never boring..And it was cute how she was always flirting with Adrian..:p I liked Tessa but she was too perfect. ? But i didn't want her to die! :eek:

[renate]

got good points there.:)

[cbas]

Wish I knew more about Anna from the Source (of our collective agony). She might have turned out to be my favorite of all. Brave, committed and yet human from what I could see. I realize she left Duncan over the childlessness issue even after marrying him with what must have been a full disclosure, but at least she was smart enough to figure out after how ever long they were apart that her place was at his side.