{{Short description|American actress (1928–2025)}} {{Infobox person | name = Jan Shepard | image = Jan Shepard GE True Gertie the Great 1963.JPG | alt = | caption = Jan Shepard in 1963 | birth_name = Josephine Angela Sorbello | birth_date = {{Birth date|1928|03|19}} | birth_place = Quakertown, Pennsylvania, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|01|17|1928|03|19}} | death_place = Burbank, California, U.S. | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1954–2017 | children = 1 | spouse = {{marriage|Ray Boyle|1954|2022|end=died.}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/latimes/name/raymond-boyle-obituary?id=36218797|title=Raymond Boyle Obituary (1923-2022)|work=Los Angeles Times|date=August 14, 2022|access-date=September 27, 2022}}</ref> }} '''Josephine Angela Sorbello''' (March 19, 1928 – January 17, 2025), known professionally as '''Jan Shepard''', was an American actress.
==Early years== Josephine Angela Sorbello<ref name="jn">{{cite news |last1=Witbeck |first1=Charles |title=Actress Aims At Movie Life |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/35833988/jan_shepard/ |accessdate=September 11, 2019 |work=The Journal News |date=July 21, 1966 |location=New York, White Plains |page=36|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> was born in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, on March 19, 1928,<ref name=ww/><ref name="THR">{{cite news |last1=Barnes |first1=Mike |title=Jan Shepard, Actress in 'King Creole' and a Wagonful of TV Westerns, Dies at 96 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jan-shepard-king-creole-tv-westerns-1236118906/ |access-date=27 January 2025 |publisher=The Hollywood Reporter |date=27 January 2025}}</ref> to parents of Sicilian descent, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Sorbello.<ref name="nh">{{cite news |title=Quakertown Girl Makes Good In TV, Movie Roles; Wins Part In New Series |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/35833804/jan_shepard/ |accessdate=September 11, 2019 |work=News Herald |date=September 27, 1956 |location=Pennsylvania, Perkasie |page=11|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref name=ww/> She was valedictorian of her class at Quakertown High School,<ref name="nh" /> and acted in plays produced locally.<ref name="jn" />
==Career== Shepard honed her acting skills at the Pasadena Playhouse.<ref name="nh" /> She appeared in the films ''Sabre Jet'', as well as ''King Creole'' (1958) and ''Paradise, Hawaiian Style'' (1966) with Elvis Presley, thus before and after his Army induction and his mother's death.<ref>"Interview with Jan Shepard, Elvis' co-star in 'King Creole' and 'Paradise, Hawaiian Style'". Retrieved June 20, 2018. https://www.elvis.com.au/presley/interview-with-jan-shepard.shtml</ref> She played Nurse Betty in the syndicated television series ''Dr. Christian''<ref name="etvs">{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7|page=268|edition=2nd}}</ref> and appeared in the television series ''Waterfront'', ''Bat Masterson'', ''The Man Behind the Badge'', ''Tales of the Texas Rangers'', ''Private Secretary'', ''Dr. Christian'', ''Rawhide'', ''Laramie'', ''Perry Mason'', ''Highway Patrol'', ''Gunsmoke'', ''Tombstone Territory'', ''The High Chaparral '' and ''The Virginian'', among others.<ref name="ww">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2YvBhX8CZ0C&q=jan%20shepard%20actress&pg=PA188 |title=Westerns Women: Interviews with 50 Leading Ladies of Movie and Television ... - Boyd Magers, Michael G. Fitzgerald |date= July 2004|isbn=9780786420285 |accessdate=2017-06-24|last1=Magers |first1=Boyd |last2=Fitzgerald |first2=Michael G. |publisher=McFarland }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vs1ECjGcuVEC&q=jan%20shepard%20actress&pg=PA18 |title=Ladies of the Western: Interviews with Fifty-One More Actresses from the ... - Michael G. Fitzgerald, Boyd Magers |date= February 2, 2006|isbn=9780786426560 |accessdate=2017-06-24|last1=Fitzgerald |first1=Michael G. |last2=Magers |first2=Boyd |publisher=McFarland }}</ref>
==Personal life and death== In 1951, Shepard met actor Ray Boyle. They married in 1954, and remained together until Boyle's death in 2022. Shepard died from pneumonia at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center, in Burbank, California, on January 17, 2025. She was 96.<ref name="THR"/>
==Filmography== {{Main|Jan Shepard filmography}}
===Television=== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" |- !scope="col"|Year !scope="col"|Title !scope="col"|Role !scope="col" class="unsortable" | Notes |- | 1959 | ''Wanted Dead or Alive'' | Lilith Preston | Season 2 Episode 17 "Mental Lapse" |- | 1964 | ''Gunsmoke'' | Marge | Season 9 Episode 17 "Friend" |- | 1965 | ''Bonanza'' | Sally | Season 7 Episode 21 "The Code" |-
|}1962 ' ' [Perry Mason (1957 TV series)|Perry Mason TV series)]] Joanne Proctor Season 6 Episode 2 "The Case of the Capricious Corpse" 1964 ‘ ‘ [Perry Mason (1957 TV series)|Perry Mason TV series)]] Margaret Foster Season 8 Episode 2 “The Case of the Paper Bullets”
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{IMDb name|0791629}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepard, Jan}} Category:1928 births Category:2025 deaths Category:American people of Italian descent Category:20th-century American actresses Category:21st-century American actresses Category:American television actresses Category:American film actresses Category:Western (genre) film actresses Category:Western (genre) television actors Category:Actresses from Bucks County, Pennsylvania Category:People from Quakertown, Pennsylvania