Early roles Right after meeting Zanuck, Harrison signed Fox's standard seven-year contract in November and was placed in the studio's Talent Training School. Although Harrison told interviewers that Zanuck had created the school so "he could keep an eye on me", On March 8, 1966, immediately after her brief appearance on
Batman, Harrison was filmed in ape makeup for a proposed film version of
Pierre Boulle's satirical novel,
Monkey Planet, later released as
Planet of the Apes. Zanuck had financed the test in order to show Fox's money men that, despite all doubts to the contrary, the
Planet of the Apes project was feasible. The test, written by
Rod Serling and directed by
Franklin J. Schaffner, starred Harrison's idol,
Charlton Heston, and
Edward G. Robinson as Heston's nemesis, Dr. Zaius. Harrison appeared as Zira, the role ultimately played by
Kim Hunter, while Harrison's Talent School classmate fellow contract actor,
James Brolin, took on
Roddy McDowall's role of
Cornelius. Though the ape make-up test was considered successful, the studio rejected the project again. a bedroom comedy about marital infidelity directed by
Gene Kelly and starring
Walter Matthau,
Robert Morse and
Inger Stevens. Harrison described her vignette with
Carl Reiner as "fun" because it took her "all over the world. I was in limousines and on a donkey and on a camel." In addition to speaking one line of dialogue, she wore several costumes for her five-minute globe-trotting adventure, including an elaborate sequinned bikini, a diaphanous negligee, and a fiery red sarong.
Planet of the Apes Producer
Arthur P. Jacobs had first thought of former Bond girl
Ursula Andress for Nova, and extensive auditions were held for the role, with one of the women tested being
Angelique Pettyjohn, who had played a warrior in the
Star Trek episode "
The Gamesters of Triskelion". Filming was to commence in May 1967, but as late as April 17
Charlton Heston noted in his diary, "The casting problem's really Nova: who will do it, and how naked can she be. The tests I saw were not good." Zanuck eventually asked Jacobs and
Mort Abrahams if they would test Harrison. "[Dick] did it very nicely," Abrahams said. In the 1998 AMC documentary
Behind the Planet of the Apes, Harrison said of her role as Nova, "I thought about animal instincts, the way [Nova] would move and the way she would react would be more the way an animal would react, more from fear. It seemed to be what the director wanted." After her test, Harrison was hired to play the role for which she would later be known. Harrison, Mort Abrahams said, was
Planet of the Apes commenced filming on May 21, 1967 and ended August 10, 1967. The first scenes were shot on locations near
Page, Arizona.
Horseshoe Bend on the
Colorado River stood in for the Forbidden Zone, through which
Taylor,
Zira,
Cornelius, and Harrison's
Nova fled after escaping from Ape City. Harrison, who had the company of her oldest sister Kay on location with her, Harrison noted that as Heston knew it was her "first big picture", he took it upon himself to coach her. Harrison was admittedly still "camera-shy", Their off-screen relationship, Harrison said, tended to reflect their on-screen relationship. As the "rookie" on the set, Harrison credited the help she received from the veteran actors: "Everybody that was involved in it, they all realized I was a neophyte, I was like 21 years old so they kind of took me under their wing, since I hadn't done acting that much." It was also decided that Nova's pregnancy would detract from the film's ending. In any case, all Harrison's scenes with Heston and Hunter in the sequence of Nova's pregnancy were cut. "There's probably a great deal of footage of it somewhere." In later years, Harrison said she was conscious of the film's socio-political undertones:
Planet of the Apes premiered in February 1968. The film was a hit upon its release, as well as a critical and commercial success. In the opening credits, Harrison was billed under the tag "introducing Linda Harrison"; although she had appeared in three previous films. Zanuck wanted to draw attention to Harrison because he felt the role would catapult her to stardom. The success of
Planet of the Apes spawned four sequels, an animated cartoon series, a live-action TV series, a remake by Tim Burton, and a reboot that spawned four films. Heston and Harrison appeared in the first sequel,
Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Three decades later, Harrison had a brief cameo in the
2001 reboot, which also featured Heston. On August 27, 1998, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented a 30th anniversary screening of
Planet of the Apes. Harrison attended, along with Heston,
Kim Hunter,
Roddy McDowall and
John Chambers.
Beneath the Planet of the Apes Linda Harrison's second outing in her most famous role was in the first sequel to
Planet of the Apes. She admitted "it wasn't as good as the first", "Ted Post was a wonderful television director," Director
Ted Post said, "It moved basically as an entertainment piece, nothing more." Post wanted the script rewritten. "I was very unhappy with the script, and I thought the script was far from what it should have been. The reason given was that her presence might prove "embarrassing" to the studio. Harrison, who was by then pregnant with her first son, later sued for wrongful termination, breach of contract, alleged defamation, and infliction of emotional distress. Harrison was named in the $22 million lawsuit her husband filed November 1, 1971, against Darryl, Fox, the studio chairman and CEO
Dennis C. Stanfill, and Fox Executive Committee chairman William T. Gossett. In his suit Zanuck contended that he, Harrison, and former Fox executive
David Brown had been wrongly terminated and subjected to humiliation and embarrassment. The suit was settled out of court. The terms and amounts of Harrison's settlements were never disclosed.
Films and television: 1974–1988 In 1974, after a sabbatical of several years, Harrison attempted to return to her career. She desperately wanted the role of
Roy Scheider's wife in
Jaws, and urged her husband to give it to her. Zanuck asked director
Steven Spielberg if he would consider Harrison, but Spielberg preferred actress
Lorraine Gary, whom he had seen in a TV movie,
The Marcus Nelson Murders, and cast her instead of Harrison "because she was right for the part." Harrison was upset over Spielberg's preference for Gary, feeling that her husband should have gotten her the part. "I really wanted Dick to go to bat for me this one time." As a consolation,
Universal chief
Sid Sheinberg, Lorraine Gary's husband, got Harrison a part in
Airport 1975 as
Gloria Swanson's personal assistant, Winnie. Though the movie starred Harrison's long-time idol,
Charlton Heston, Harrison had no scenes with him, and "would have much rather had
Jaws on my resume." Years later, in an April 2012 interview, Harrison offered a reason she had lost the role because "They said Roy Scheider couldn't get a girl as beautiful as me."
Airport 1975 was the first time Harrison appeared under the name "Augusta Summerland", which her guru had chosen for her. After
Airport 1975, Harrison guest-starred on several TV shows. As "Augusta Summerland", she appeared on
Barnaby Jones in episode #67 "The Alpha-Bravo War" (air date: October 24, 1975); on
Switch in episode #24 "Death Squad" (air date: April 6, 1976); and again on
Barnaby Jones in episode #114 "The Damocles Gun" (air date: October 20, 1977). In the 1980s, Harrison resumed studying acting and enrolled in an acting school. When the school held a showcase presentation of its students' work, Harrison invited her by-then ex-husband and his third wife, Lili Fini Zanuck. The Zanucks needed a middle-aged actress to play
Barrett Oliver's mother in their upcoming production of
Cocoon; after viewing Harrison's scenes, they told her there might be a part for her. "So I had an interview with
Ron Howard and he said 'You got the part.'" Most of the footage Harrison shot was omitted from the final, so "if you blink you miss me. They showed my shots all over the place, but it got cut out." The film's final release date was December 15, 2023. ==Awards==