American actress, a Beauty Queen at 16 as Miss Teenage Memphis. She was already a well-known model and cover girl by 1970 when she was “discovered” by Peter Bogdanovich. The following year she was cast in “The Last Picture Show,” sponsored by her lover and mentor, Bogdanovich, who left his wife and two kids when besotted.
By the mid-70s her career had diminished; she was only doing bit-work and she separated from Bogdanovich in 1978. She married David Ford, a Memphis auto-parts dealer for four years, 1978-1982, with a daughter in 1979.
In 1983 she had a short-lived TV series, “Yellow Rose.” Two years later her biggest hit , the series “Moonlighting,” made a debut on TV. Playing off costar Bruce Willis, the actress delighted audiences with the earthy humor she had previously shared only with family and friends. She made $35,000 a week while working on the show, investing part of that pay every week in real estate.
In the early ’90s, Shepherd was spokes person and model for a hair-coloring company. By 1995, she had successfully moved on to her own TV series, “Cybill.” In the show she dealt with such delicate topics as ex-husbands, new romances and menopause. The show was a first-class hit up to its closing in May 1998. Her co-star, Christine Baransky, was born on 2 May 1952.
Along with her hit show, Shepherd is a spoke person for Mercedes Benz automobiles, appearing in numerous TV commercials. Bossy, bitchy, beautiful and madcap, she is noted as an outspoken person for women’s rights and the pro-choice movement.
Shepherd had two marriages with three children. Her daughter Clementine was born in 1979 and a second marriage, to Dr. Bruce Oppenheim, produced her twins, born 6 October 1987. They later separated and she began going with pianist Robert Martin (born June 1948) whom she met when putting together a night-club act in 1994. Martin moved out of Shepherd’s 8,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style Encino, CA home the end of October 1998. It was sudden, and Shepherd was devastated.
As outspoken as always, she published her memoir, “Cybill Disobedience,” Spring 1999, in which she mixed irreverence with self-reflection.
In 2000, she entered the competitive TV arena of talk-shows with her “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus,” which lasted but a brief time in the ratings wars.
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