Jane Seymour on Snuggling Up with Judd Hirsch on FOREVER

Tonight’s episode of Forever features a case involving a dominatrix (Hilarie Burton, clearly having a blast) that’s sure to titillate, and may lead to a new love interest for Henry, but Abe is the one getting some action. After skirting around Abe’s love life for several weeks, tonight we meet the love of his life: his two-time ex-wife Maureen Delacroix, played by the eternally beautiful Jane Seymour.

I had the opportunity to chat with Ms. Seymour about her guest turn on the series, one of the more delightful phone calls I’ve had in my life. Her voice is enthralling, rich and plummy, coupled with a mischievous sense of humor.

She hadn’t seen the full episode when we spoke, although she gave a throaty chuckle about the “interesting” A-plot that sees Ioan Gruffudd’s Henry Morgan getting mighty close to Burton’s Iona Payne under the guise of catching a murderer. In the Abe-Maureen storyline, it’s temptation of a slightly different sort that’s keeping Abe up at night. Recently widowed, Maureen is now a wealthy woman and has high hopes for whisking Abe away to live out their “twilight years” together, enjoying the world at large.

“Maureen is a force of nature,” Ms. Seymour said with a chuckle. “Basically I think [Maureen and Abe’s] backstory is of the animal nature. I think they can’t leave one another alone for some reason, but they know that they are toxic for each other.”

She clearly left everyone wanting more, including me. Although no concrete plans have been made yet, last week ABC ordered 9 additional episodes of Forever to finish out its first season, so there’s certainly a chance we will see Ms Seymour on the show again.

“There’s a wonderful chemistry between Judd and I, and they must have liked it because they talked to me about the possibility of having the character come back one day. Halfway through the day, Judd said, ‘She’s not leaving!’ and the producers were asking when I could come back,” Ms. Seymour laughed.

To keep Henry’s secret, despite being married to his adopted son twice, Maureen has yet to meet the good doctor when we are introduced to her tonight. Assuming she will be back on the show, we discussed the possibility that Maureen had met Henry in a previous decade, without either of them realizing the other’s connection to Abe, an idea we agreed was genius and needed to be written forthwith.

“I would love to do some scenes with Henry,” she said. “I have no idea how that would go down, but that’s the beauty of this show, anything is possible.”

In addition to acting the very busy Ms. Seymour also co-produced the documentary “Glen Campbell, I’ll Be Me” with ex-husband James Keach, who also directed. The film follows singer Glenn Campbell’s struggle with Alzheimer’s while undertaking his farewell tour, striking a balance between the gravity of the disease and finding humor in what cannot be changed.

“It’s very moving and uplifting and also hysterically funny, if you can believe that,” said Ms. Seymour. “Imagine, a funny documentary.”

Ms. Seymour also paints and exhibits her watercolors and oils at art shows around the world; designs jewelry for Kay Jewelers; recently collaborated on a furniture with Michael Amini; and has written nearly a dozen books.

“I love the creative process,” she said. “That’s what excites me, and I’m so fortunate that I get to do it in so many different areas.”

Creativity runs in the family: daughter Katherine Flynn acts (she’ll appear opposite her mother in Hallmark’s original holiday movie A Royal Christmas), son Sean M. Flynn is a photographer and filmmaker, and younger son Johnny Keach is a member the band Strange Native.

Family is the most important part of Ms. Seymour’s life, influencing many of her choices over the years, and leading her to co-found the Open Hearts Foundation, an organization dedicated to inspiring and empowering people to turn their personal adversity into an opportunity to help others, based on her mother’s example.

“I always remembered my mother’s advice, ‘When life is tough and something seems insurmountable, if I could accept what had happened, open my heart and reach out to help someone else, I would find purpose in my life and then love and a solution would come into my life.'”

Forever airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on ABC, and you can find out more about all of Ms. Seymour’s creative endeavors on her website – JaneSeymour.com.