Feature
Cybill Shepherd
“When people would say that I was a lady, I would look and say, ‘well who wants to be a lady, that sounds kind of boring.’”
In the words of Cybill Shepherd: “If I was in the jungle living in a tree house, I never wanted to be Jane. I always wanted to be Tarzan. I didn’t want to vacuum the tree house. I wanted to swing from the vines.” That is how I would size up the personality of Cybill Shepherd, a renaissance woman who has faced many challenges throughout her career, but like the energizer bunny, she keeps going and going and going.
SWING: What do you think about roles for mature women in Hollywood or lack of mature roles?
CYBILL: I go back to 1998 when roles for women 40 and over just disappeared. It was like the Bermuda Triangle for women 40 and over. There were five or six shows that went off the air including my show, Cybill. It was the highest-rated sitcom for women at the time, a high demographic. Other shows included Grace Under Fire, Roseanne, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. It seemed to be a dry spell for woman in their prime; the market started chasing after woman ages 17 – 47, because they wanted to appeal to teenagers. People in that age group don’t have the money. Women, 50 years old, we have the money to spend, and research has proven that women in their 50s change products as often as anyone younger.
Do people pursue you more now in 2008?
Since 1998, there are really some positive signs happening now, such as with Glenn Close. I love my work in this stage of my career. I have the biggest challenge that I have ever faced. [It] is thrilling, because women in their own prime don’t get great roles often. We are often relegated to playing mothers…nothing wrong with that, but I am starring in The L Word on Showtime. I play a woman who has had everything in her heterosexual life, a successful life. Then she realizes, after all, that she has been a lesbian the whole time. It’s a great story line — all women, all sexual beings. It has been a fabulous experience for me. My real daughter, Clementine, plays my character Phyllis’ daughter.
After all the challenges in your career, what keeps you going?
I will only allow myself to give up for two weeks.
If not an actress, what would you have become?
A teacher or a flight attendant. I wanted to get out of Memphis. I wanted to go to college, teach, and I always wanted to be a writer. I was a tomboy, and I competed in every sport. The school didn’t have a basketball team for girls. I ran, climbed trees, played football and didn’t want to wear anything but overalls. When young woman have a chance to compete in sports, and see how much their bodies can do, you find that the focus is not on how you look as opposed to what you can do. That makes you more confident. I can’t look at these models on runways, I just feel terrible for these young women. When people would say that I was a lady, I would look and say, ‘well, who wants to be a lady, that sounds kind of boring.’ ”
Was Elvis a good lover?
The first couple of times.
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