The Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actress will be at The Woodlands Mall this weekend to promote her watercolors, oil paintings, bronze sculptures and accessories, and she'll also autograph her latest book, Open Hearts.
Not to worry. Folks who would rather talk to her about her fabulous acting career, or movie stars she has known and admired, will have the chance to do that, too.
The Chronicle caught up with Seymour, 58, just before her visit here.
Q: How did you get your start?
A: I wanted to be a dancer, but when I was young I was kicked out of class because I had flat feet and a speech impediment. I couldn't pronounce my r's.
So I was put in a special remedial dance class and in voice training.
Later on in my career, I specialized in languages, and I was always doing accents. The funny part is, the two things I was not so good at turned out to be blessings. That's the story of my life.
Q: Would you name three career highlights?
A: Somewhere in Time with Christopher Reeve was a very special movie; East of Eden was pretty good; War and Remembrance, a 12-part TV miniseries was good; I enjoyed the TV series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, obviously; and I think the movie The Wedding Crashers was pretty special.
Q: What was it like to make The Wedding Crashers?
A: A lot of fun. I played a pretty wild character in such a funny movie. At the time nobody thought of me as a comedian. Now I do nothing but.
Q: Is it hard for women to find good roles as they mature?
A: Obviously. If you watch TV or movies, there are very few women over 25 or 30. Still, I've never been busier in my life. I have four independent movies coming out soon, and I'm working on 14 one-woman art shows. I do them all over the country.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about your family life?
A: I grew up in England. My father was a doctor, and my mother was from Holland. She survived a concentration camp in Indonesia. A lot of my ideas about life — when things seem insurmountable, open your heart and help other people — come from her.
Q: You've been married four or five times. What advice do you have about marriage?
A: Four times. In those days, you didn't live with people before marriage. Today it's a bit different. I'd say live with someone and make sure you're compatible. And fortunately, I found James Keach, and we've been happy for 18 years.
Q: How many kids do you have?
A: Between us, we have six. And together we have twin boys who are almost 13. Johnny is a rock musician. Chris plays football and baseball. Definitely they keep us busy.
Q: You talk about a near-death experience that changed your life. What was it?
A: I was playing Maria Callas in a movie about Aristotle Onassis. I had bronchitis while we were filming in Spain. A doctor there prescribed an antibiotic, but the injection I got was five times the right dose and it hit a vein. I went into anaphylactic shock. I was dying. I felt like I left my body, and I could hear people screaming and yelling. I saw a white light, but I lived to tell the tale.
It changed me totally. The only things that matter are the love you've shared and the difference you've made in people's lives.
Q: Your artwork is filled with open hearts. What do they mean?
A: When I'm painting hearts, I don't close them at the bottom.
My mom always used to tell me, when I had a crisis or was in pain, live with an open heart and love will find a way in.
Q: Did your mom live that way herself?
A: Absolutely. She had fears, but she moved forward. She opened her heart.
When she was in the concentration camp and people were dying, she gave her food away to others. She was always trying to help someone who was worse off than she was.
Q: When did you start to paint?
A: Nineteen years ago. I was going through a terrible divorce; I lost everything financially and emotionally. That's when I took my mother's advice. I gave the last money I had to an agency protecting children from abuse. And I started painting. I never imagined anyone would ever see my paintings.
They're on display in Center Court at The Woodlands Mall 5-8 p.m. Fridayand 1-5 p.m. Saturday.