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If you’ve seen any of the Terminator films, then you know that Sarah Connor kicks butt. Who else can fight off killer robots and look cool doing it? Since her introduction in 1984’s The Terminator, Linda Hamilton has been an action hero icon.

Linda Hamilton recently appeared at Fan Expo Chicago, where she was asked about Sarah Connor’s status as the greatest and most influential cinematic female action hero of all time. “It feels good,” Hamilton said. 

“I have been handed that title a few times. You never know, because the first one was a slow burn too. I don’t think any of us looked at that and said, ‘This is going to be [makes whooshing motion with hands].’ You don’t know where a movie role is going to lead you seven years later, but I’ll take the mantle that people put on me and be very grateful for it.”

The question caused her to reminisce about the making of the 1991 film, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and how she had a hand in convincing James Cameron to give Sarah one of her most iconic looks.

“Jim [Cameron] wanted me to cut my hair when I’m getting out of the mental hospitals, when I’m going to do battle. It wasn’t even vanity particularly. Soldiers don’t have hair you can grab on, it’s a weakness. That’s why they do that in those movies. Women cut their hair. I just thought, why not throw it back in a ponytail. I think it was the fact that she remained feminine and was able to kick ass. One of the first women characters that doesn’t have to look like a guy to be strong.”

“I think it was that which gave her the global appeal,” Hamilton mused. “It’s an accident of timing too. The world is ready to see a strong woman. I don’t really take a lot of credit for it. I do my work, I do my job, but the world was ready. It wasn’t me.”

Personally, I think Hamilton is being modest. Sarah Connor is one of the greatest action heroes in cinema, and a lot of that is owed to her performance. Ponytail or no ponytail, Linda Hamilton simply kicks ass.

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