Cybill Shepherd Joins The L Word

From: AfterEllen.com - Jun 6, 2006

by Sarah Warn, June 6, 2006

56-year-old actress Cybill Shepherd is joining the cast of Showtime's popular lesbian drama The L Word in its fourth season, it was revealed today. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Shepherd will play a married mother--and president of the college where Bette Porter (Jennifer Beals) attends graduate school--who suddenly begins to question her sexuality.

This is the first major series commitment for Shepherd since starring in the 1995-98 CBS comedy Cybill, for which she won her third Golden Globe. The actress from Memphis got her start in the classic 1971 film The Last Picture Show, made another big splash in 1976 drama Taxi Driver, and earned her first two Golden Globes in the mid-80's with the TV hit Moonlighting, co-starring Bruce Willis.

She was most recently seen playing fallen business mogul Martha Stewart in the TV movies Martha Inc. and Martha Behind Bars, and she next appears in the indie film Open Window, which premiered at January's Sundance Film Festival.

This will be Shepherd's first gay role on-screen, although she has been an ardent support of gay rights and women's rights in her personal life. Married and divorced twice with three children, the outspoken actress and accomplished singer has produced 10 albums, and a 2000 autobiography titled Cybill Disobedience: How I Survived Beauty Pageants, Elvis, Sex, Bruce Willis, Lies, Marriage, Motherhood, Hollywood, and the Irrepressible Urge to Say What I Think.

Joining Shepherd on the fourth season of The L Word is Oscar winner Marlee Matlin, who has signed on to an 11-episode arc playing a deaf lesbian romantically interested in Bette. The series attracted an eclectic group of guest stars and supporting cast members in its first three seasons, including Camryn Manheim, Kelly Lynch, Rosanna Arquette, Holland Taylor, Gloria Steinem, and the late Ossie Davis, among others.

The fourth season of The L Word begins filming shortly, and will air in early 2007.

Copyright © 2006 AfterEllen.com