
TV and movie actress Jan Shepard, 96, died on Jan. 17. She was twice an Elvis Girl (King Creole and Paradise, Hawaiian Style), and also appeared in such films as Attack of the Giant Leeches, Sabre Jet, and Burden of Truth. But most of Shepard’s career was spent on TV: she costarred in the astronaut soap opera The Clear Horizon (1960-62), and popped up on such shows as The Lone Ranger, Private Secretary, Circus Boy, Perry Mason, Longstreet, Bat Masterson, Mannix, and the groundbreaking TV-movie That Certain Summer. Shepard recalled meeting producer Cheryl Crawford early in her career: “You think to yourself once they see you that you would be in Broadway by the weekend. You just think that they are waiting for you. But she said, ‘go back home and do summer stock. Do as much as you can of that.’ It was one of those things that you are so eager and you had no clue as of how to become an actor.” As for her first meeting with Elvis, “I had on a white shirt and these slacks that were wine-colored. In walks Elvis with two of his buddies. I looked at him and he looked at me and we started to laugh. His jacket was the identical material and color of my slacks. He looked at me and he said, 'Honey, I'm either going to have to give you my jacket or you're going to have to give me your pants.’” Shepard was married from 1954 till his 2022 death to actor Dirk London.
