Jane Seymour was "homeless and penniless" before she landed her role in 'Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman'.
Jane Seymour
The 69-year-old actress was ready to do "anything" to improve her financial situation, which was in dire straits due to poor investments from her third husband David Flynn, and she was given just 12 hours notice to start work on the medical drama, which ultimately ran for five years from 1993.
She told 'Entertainment Tonight': "The first thing I remember is that my ex-husband at that time had lost all our money, left me nine million in the red with lawsuits from every major bank.
"I was homeless, penniless and I called my agent and said I would do anything. He called the networks, and they said, how about a little movie of the week? But she has to sign for five years in case it becomes a series, she has to start tomorrow morning -- less than 12 hours from now -- and that was it."
And Jane - who has Katherine, 38, and Sean, 35, with David, as well as 24-year-old twins John and Kristopher with fourth husband James Keach - credits the show with "saving [her] life".
She said: "They saved my life. I got a roof over my head, I got some money so I could get back on my feet, and my kids could come out to the set and do their schoolwork in the trailer and they wrote the most beautiful material ever."
But the veteran actress admitted things became complicated when she had a fling with co-star Joe Lando at the beginning of filming.
Though they are friends again now, she laughed: "Never fall in love with your leading man in the pilot and then break up before they pick it up.
"We fell madly in love, ran off to Bora Bora, he realised that everyone recognized me even in the middle of nowhere and that wasn't going to work. So, that was it. And then they picked up our show. So, all that sexual tension you saw, it was real!
"I remember not even talking to him and then we'd be feeding one another berries and we'd be half-naked jumping off cliffs and kissing and everything."
And things got even more complicated when Jane married for the fourth time.
She said: "James Keach was one of the regular directors on [Dr. Quinn], and he had to direct Joe and I making out."
Creator Beth Sullivan has scripted a follow-up show to bring back the series and Jane would love to see it hit screens.
She said: "It would pick up 26 years later. It's turn of the century. [There was] a lot of women's rights and a lot of activism that was going on at that time, so a lot of issues that we're dealing with today."
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