Hollywood golden age actress Jan Shepard, who appeared opposite Elvis Presley in multiple films, has died at the age of 96.
Shepard died January 17 at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California as result of pneumonia linked to respiratory failure, an obituary on Legacy.com read.
Shepard worked opposite Presley, who died in 1977, in movies including 1958’s King Creole and 1966’s Paradise, Hawaiian Style.
Shepard played the role of Mimi Fisher, the sister of Elvis Presley’s character Danny Fisher, in the rock musical King Creole. The film also starred the late Carolyn Jones, Walter Matthau, Dean Jagger, Liliane Montevecchi and Vic Morrow.
She also played the role of Betty Kohana, the wife of the business partner of Presley’s Rick Richards in 1966’s Paradise, Hawaiian Style. The musical comedy also featured the late Suzanna Leigh, James Shigeta and Donna Butterworth.
Shepard spoke with the fan club Elvis last June about her interactions with the late music icon.
Hollywood golden age actress Jan Shepard, who appeared opposite Elvis Presley in multiple films, has died at the age of 96. Pictured in 1963
Elvis Presley with (clockwise from L): Dolores Hart, Jan Shepard, Liliane Montevecchi and Carolyn Jones in King Creole
In the June interview, she said she was not initially an Elvis fan, and initially skeptical of his chances to make it big in show business.
‘It was so funny,’ Shepard said. ‘I was doing a two-hour film. We were sitting on the set. I had the reporter in front of me and it said “ELVIS PRESLEY.”‘
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Shepard continued, ‘”What kind of a name is that?” He said, “I don’t know.” I said there’s some kid in the south called Elvis Presley. I said, “He’s never going to make it!”‘
She added, ‘That was the first time that I had ever heard of him. So I didn’t know who he was. I happened to like his voice. I liked his voice but I am not the kind of person who is adoring movie stars.
‘There was maybe one or two that I adored or would like to work with, but I was never like those type of people. But once I met him, I just adored him.’
Shepard said she and Presley got along wonderfully and had strong personal and professional chemistry.
‘He said if he had a sister, he wished it would be me,’ Shepard said. ‘We got along so great because we worked alone the two of us the whole first week of the show. I would come to work and I would find on the set a pair of earrings he put there for me that cost about ten cents that he had liberated from the set.
‘I handed him this jewelry and I said I can’t take these from you, Elvis, you know it’s too much. You’re the last of the big spenders … but he would do little things like that.
Shepard pictured with Bill Fletcher on an episode of The High Chaparral in the late 1960s
Shepard died January 17 at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California as result of pneumonia linked to respiratory failure. Pictured in LA in 2012
She added that Presley ‘would play music on his guitar’ and even take song requests from her, adding that he loved the song Danny Boy.
In addition to her efforts in films – which also included 1959’s Attack of the Giant Leeches, 1962’s Third of a Man and 1966’s The Doomsday Flight – Shepard had made appearances on more than 30 TV Western programs.
Among the TV shows she appeared on included extended runs on Gunsmoke, Perry Mason and The Virginian. She also made appearances on Bonanza, The Lone Ranger, Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Gunslinger, Lawman, Laramie, The F.B.I. and Ironside, among other shows.
She had appeared on 256 episodes of the CBS soap opera The Clear Horizon in the role of Betty Howard from 1960-1962. Her last role came on the ABC police series The Rookies in 1973.
Shepard was born on March 19, 1928 in Quakertown, Pennsylvania with the name Josephine Angela Sorbello.
After an active high school career in which she was valedictorian, actress, cheerleader and band member, she relocated to Los Angeles in 1950. She sharpened her stage skills with the Ben Bard Players theater group and in productions at the at the Pasadena Playhouse, Deadline reported.
Her husband of more than 65 years, actor Ray Boyle (Wyatt Earp), died in 2022 at 98. Shepard is survived by son Brandon Boyle.