As the story goes, famed director Peter Bogdanovich was in line at a grocery story and saw Cybill Shepherd on the cover of Glamour magazine and knew right away that she was perfect for the part of Jacy in his film “The Last Picture Show.”
Had he not seen that cover, the then-model may not have gone on to have an acting career that has spanned nearly five decades.
Shepherd was one of the celebrities who was in town for last week’s Sedona International Film Festival. She was here for a screening of her film “Rose,” which co-starred James Brolin. It’s the story of a widowed, retired police officer diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. She then embarks on a multistart journey to reconnect with her son and along the way meets Brolin’s character. The two, along with other casts and crew, were on hand for questions and answers following the screening on Friday, March 2.
Earlier in the day she met with members of the media to discuss not only that film, but also some of her more famous roles in film and TV.
Shepherd said she was excited to return to Sedona because it’s such a spiritual area. In terms of her own personal spirituality, she said, “I like breaking the ultimate glass ceiling and thinking of God as a woman. I’ve got my spirituality from a lot of different places. I think [Sedona] is the most spiritual place of anywhere I’ve been in the world. There’s something about this place and something about the people. They seem at peace and happy. I’m glad to be back.”
Shepherd became a model in her teens and graced the cover of some of the top magazines of the day. She credits her looks to genetics and has never shied away from telling her age.
“I’ve been telling the truth about my age that it’s too late now to lie about it,” the 68-year-old said, laughing. “Peter Bogdanovich [with whom she had a relationship with for several years] told me, ‘You better start lying about your age now.’ My mother and her mother drilled into my head, ‘Pretty is, pretty does.’ That may sound shallow but it’s not. It made my attitude to where I treat everyone who works on a set the same. I don’t care what your job is, I’m going to give you respect.”
Shepherd was asked who some of her famous leading actors were. The first to come to mind was Michael Caine, followed by Robert DeNiro.
“When I first read ‘Taxi Driver’ [which starred DeNiro], I had no lines in the script,” she said. “I threw the script across the hotel room and tried to hit the garbage can. My agent told me the director called for a Cybill Shepherd type. And I said, ‘How about the real thing?’”
She then brought up Bruce Willis, with whom she starred in the role she’s most noted for on the successful TV series “Moonlighting.”
“Bruce Willis and I had a lot of chemistry to the point we both said, ‘Well… no, because we may be doing this [show] for a long time,’ so that was that,” she said.
Being a Memphis native, she was asked if she had any Elvis Presley stories. She smiled and said that the reporter must not have read her autobiography. In it, she discussed dating Presley for a short time.
“He was living at Graceland and that was pretty cool,” she said. “I got to see him perform in Las Vegas — the greatest performer ever. I’m still really sad we lost him. I wish I could have been a closer friend to help save him. He was truly a kind and gentle man who never truly recovered from the death of his mother.”
In terms of how she would critique her performances over the years, Shepherd said she takes each on a caseby-case basis.
“It’s a matter of putting yourself second and realizing that the work you’re doing is more important,” she said. “The people you work with are more important than you. With that humility you bring something special. People feel free to talk to you. It’s important to be humble and respect other people and treat them the way you’d want to be treated.”
Ron Eland can be reached at 282-7795 ext. 122, or email reland@larsonnewspapers.com
