Cybill Shepherd BiographyCybill Lynne Shepherd (born 18 February 1950) is a
Golden Globe Award-winning American actress, singer, and former fashion model.Her best known roles include starring as Jacy in The Last Picture Show, Maddie Hayes in Moonlighting, as Cybill Sheridan in Cybill, as Betsy in Taxi Driver and as Phyllis Kroll in The L Word.
Shepherd was born in Memphis, Tennessee to William Jennings Shepherd and Patty Shobe. Named after her grandfather Cy and her father Bill, Shepherd won the 1966 "Miss Memphis" contest at age 16, resulting in fashion modeling work through high school and after.
She quickly made a name for herself as a curvy 'real woman', which was a departure from the trend at the time of Twiggy-type waifs. This led to regular work as amagazine cover girl, and it was a 1970 Glamour magazine cover that caught the eye of film director Peter Bogdanovich. Upon seeing the cover in a supermarket check-out line, Bogdanovich was reported to have said "That's Jacy", referring to the role he was casting - and ultimately offered to Shepherd - inThe Last Picture Show (1971). Her role as the sexual ingenue would prove to be one of the most explosive and promising debuts of any film actress.
During the filming, the then 21-year-old was required to film a nude scene in a pool. Still photos obtained from that nude scene appeared in Playboy magazine without Shepherd's consent. She sued and ultimately she and Playboy reached an out-of-court settlement, setting a precedent regarding public figures.
After a series of less successful roles, including The Lady Vanishes, the remake of Hitchcock's 1938 movie of the same name, she dropped out of show business from 1978 to 1982.
Back from Memphis, Shepherd won the role of Colleen Champion in the night-time drama The Yellow Rose (1983), opposite Sam Elliott. Although critically acclaimed, the series lasted only one season.
A year later, Shepherd was cast as Maddie Hayes in ABC's Moonlighting (1985-1989), which became the role that would define her career. The producers knew that her role depended on having chemistry with her co-star, and she was involved in the selection of Bruce Willis. They quickly became one of the most celebrated television duos. A lighthearted combination of mystery and comedy, the series won Shepherd twoGolden Globe awards.
In 1997, she won her third Golden Globe award, for CBS' Cybill (1995-1998), a television sitcom, in which the title character - Cybill Sheridan, an actress struggling with hammy parts in B movies and bad soaps - was loosely modeled on herself (including portrayals of her two ex-husbands). As she had on Moonlighting, she was involved in casting another unknown co-star (Christine Baranski) who proved to be an asset to the show's popularity.
In 2000,
Cybill Shepherd's bestselling autobiography was published, titled Cybill Disobedience: How I Survived Beauty Pageants, Elvis, Sex, Bruce Willis, Lies, Marriage, Motherhood, Hollywood, and the Irrepressible Urge to Say What I Think, written in collaboration with Aimee Lee Ball.
From 2006, Shepherd has been appearing on the Showtime drama, The L Word as the character Phyllis Kroll. She helped get her real-life daughter Clementine Ford the role of her on screen daughter.
Although
Shepherd has not admitted to bisexuality, she has revealed her sexual curiosity and desire in various interviews about having a physical relationship with a woman.
In 2006, in an interview about The L Word she said more than once that she was "turned on" by the woman-woman sex scenes :
Cybill Shepherd has described her beliefs regarding Religion thus:“I guess you could describe me as a goddess-worshipping Christian Pagan Buddhist.”
She agreed to a date with actor Jack Nicholson to make Peter Bogdanovich jealous. Later, she canceled the date and Nicholson would not speak to her again, except to say "hi" at a party many years later.
She did not like working with Charles Grodin on The Heartbreak Kid (1972), and that it took her several years to like him enough to have a one night stand with him.
Robert De Niro asked her out during the filming of Taxi Driver (1976). She turned him down, and he did not speak to her, except in character, for the rest of the filming.
She had a sexual encounter with her co-star Don Johnson that lasted several intense minutes during the making of the television miniseries The Long Hot Summer (1985).
The jazz musician Stan Getz came on to her during a recording session for her album, but she declined and he did not speak to her.
In her autobiography, Shepherd addressed rumors that she was jealous of her co-stars Bruce Willis and Christine Baranski for winning Emmy awards while she has not: "The grain of truth is this: Who doesn't want to win an Emmy ?"
Unsuccessful nominations were :
- 1997 - Best Actress in a TV series, Comedy/Musical - Cybill
- 1988 - Best Actress in a TV series, Comedy/Musical - Moonlighting
- 1972 - Most Promising Newcomer (Female) - The Last Picture Show
For the official website, see the Infobox.Wikimedia Commons has media related to:Cybill Shepherd
- Cybill Shepherd UK tribute site
- Cybill Shepherd at the Internet Movie Database
- Time Out New York: Interview with Cybill Shepherd, January 4-10, 2007
