Sharon Gless | |
|---|---|
 Gless in 1998 | |
| Born | Sharon Marguerite Gless (1943-05-31)May 31, 1943 (age 81) Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1970–present |
| Known for | |
| Spouse | |
| Website | sharongless |
Sharon Marguerite Gless (born May 31, 1943) is an American actress known for her television roles. She portrayed Maggie Philbin onSwitch (1975–78), Sgt. Christine Cagney in thepolice procedural drama seriesCagney & Lacey (1982–88), and played the title role inThe Trials of Rosie O'Neill (1990–92). She wasDebbie Novotny in theShowtimecable television seriesQueer as Folk (2000–2005) andMadeline Westen onBurn Notice (2007–2013).
A 10-timeEmmy Award nominee[1] and seven-timeGolden Globe Award nominee, she won aGolden Globe in 1986[2] andEmmys in 1986 and 1987 forCagney & Lacey,[1] and a second Golden Globe in 1991 forThe Trials of Rosie O'Neill.[2] She received a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame in 1995.[3]
A fifth-generation Californian, Gless was born inLos Angeles, the daughter of Marjorie (McCarthy) andsportswear manufacturing executive Dennis J. Gless. She grew upCatholic.[4] She has two brothers, Michael McCarthy Gless and Aric Dennis Gless. Her parents divorced when she was in her teens.[4]
Her maternal grandfather wasNeil McCarthy,[5] a prominent Los Angeles attorney forHoward Hughes who had a large clientele of major film-studio executives and actors. Wanting to become an actress, she asked her grandfather's opinion. He told her, "Stay out of it, it's a filthy business!"[5] A few years later, though, when she spoke to him again about acting, he encouraged her and gave her money for acting classes.[6][7]
Gless worked as a secretary for advertising agenciesGrey Advertising andYoung & Rubicam, and then for the independent movie production companies Sassafras Films and General Film Corporation.[citation needed]
While she worked as a production assistant, Gless studied drama with acting coachEstelle Harman.[8] In 1972, she signed a 7-year contract withUniversal Studios, and remained under contract until Universal ended all contracts in 1981.[9] Near the end of her contract, she was identified in the media as the last of thecontract players.[10] Universal was the last company to use the salaried, old Hollywood apprentice system.
ActressElizabeth Baur was Gless' cousin.[11]
At the beginning of her career, Gless appeared in numerous television series andTV movies, such asRevenge of the Stepford Wives,Faraday & Company withDan Dailey andJames Naughton in 1973 and 1974,Adam-12 season six, episode 24,Emergency! as a sculptor in 1975, andThe Rockford Files. She played small parts inMarcus Welby, M.D. (1969–1976), until being offered the role of Kathleen Faverty, which she played from 1974 to 1976. That was in addition to a variety of guest-starring roles on television, including the part of the classy young secretary, Maggie Philbin, alongsideEddie Albert andRobert Wagner on the CBSprivate detective/con artist seriesSwitch (1975–1978). Although she was a newcomer on the show, she got along very well with both Albert and Wagner, both on and off-screen. When the show was canceled after the third season, she thanked both Albert and Wagner for giving her career a jump start and remained close friends with them.
While under contract with Universal, she co-starred in a number of properties, including the 1979Steven Bochco television sitcom,Turnabout (based on theThorne Smith 1931 novel about a husband and wife who temporarily switch bodies), which failed to be a ratings blockbuster, and briefly in the sitcomHouse Calls (in which she replacedLynn Redgrave, who had left due to a contract dispute).
Beginning with the series' seventh episode / first full season, Gless replaced actressMeg Foster in the role ofNYPD police detectiveChristine Cagney onCagney & Lacey. (The role was originated in the pilot installment, byLoretta Swit. Swit, like Foster, was chosen as Cagney because although the character of Cagney had been created with Gless herself in mind, she was unavailable for the pilot or the first seven installments of the first season.) In 1991, she married the series' executive producer,Barney Rosenzweig, who speaks in his bookCagney & Lacey...and Me about wanting Sharon Gless from the beginning and Gless being unavailable due to her contract with Universal. Rosenzweig created the 1990–1992 CBS drama seriesThe Trials of Rosie O'Neill for Gless, and uncredited she played apsychiatrist, who was only partially seen. She has received six Emmy nominations–including two wins and aGolden Globe win for her role as Cagney–earned two additional Emmy nominations and a second Golden Globe win for the series.
In 1993 and 1995, Gless and her television partner,Tyne Daly, recreated their title roles in four critically acclaimed as well as popularCagney & Lacey television movies. Gless and Daly jokingly called these "The Menopause Years". In 1998, Gless narrated thedocumentaryAyn Rand: A Sense of Life, which received anAcademy Award nomination forBest Documentary Feature.
Between 2000 and 2005, Gless appeared asHal Sparks' mother,Debbie Novotny, in her biggest and most critically acclaimed role sinceCagney & Lacey in the acclaimed Showtime cable television seriesQueer as Folk. In 2000, she appeared on an episode ofTouched by an Angel entitled "The Perfect Game". On May 26, 2005, she was one of the mourners at Eddie Albert's funeral, along with ex-Switch co-stars Robert Wagner andCharlie Callas.
In 2006, Gless starred in theBBC television seriesThe State Within. The next year she co-starred in theUSA Network cable television seriesBurn Notice, playingMichael Westen's (Jeffrey Donovan) mother,Madeline Westen.[12] In addition, Gless was a guest star on several episodes of theFX Network cable television seriesNip/Tuck as an unstable agent,Colleen Rose, a role that netted her anEmmy Award nomination. In 2009, Gless starred in her first leading role as a lesbian character in the independent filmHannah Free (Ripe Fruit Films), described as a film about a lifelong love affair between an independent spirit and the woman she calls home. The film is based on a screenplay by the Jeff Award-winning playwright Claudia Allen and directed by Wendy Jo Carlton.
In 2017, Gless was announced as appearing in one episode of the BBC'sCasualty, the world's longest-running medical drama, as surgeonZsa Zsa Harper-Jenkinson. She appears in the 13th episode of the serial's32nd series. Gless called Zsa Zsa a "wonderful character".[13] Gless was invited to appear in the show by one of the producers, and expressed interest in reprising the role. Gless' appearance marked the first time the show has flown an American to the UK to film a role.[14] She reprised the role[15] on the October 13, 2018 episode.
Gless served on the advisory board of theLos Angeles Student Film Institute.[16][17]
Gless made her stage debut inLillian Hellman'sWatch on the Rhine at Stage West inSpringfield, Massachusetts.[when?] Gless had two appearances in London'sWest End, first in 1993 withBill Paterson, when she created the role ofAnnie Wilkes in the stage version ofStephen King'sMisery at the Criterion Theatre, and then in 1996, where she appeared oppositeTom Conti inNeil Simon'sChapter Two, at theGielgud Theatre.
She starred at Chicago playhouse The Victory Gardens Theater inClaudia Allen'sCahoots, as well as several stints, including an evening atMadison Square Garden with the National Company ofEve Ensler'sThe Vagina Monologues.
Gless's most recent stage appearance was as Jane Juska inA Round-Heeled Woman,Jane Prowse's stage adaptation ofJane Juska's bookA Round-Heeled Woman: My Late-life Adventures in Sex and Romance. The first production ran in San Francisco in early 2010. She starred in a new production in Miami, December 2010 - February 2011, directed byJane Prowse. A production took place in London, transferring in November 2011 from Riverside Studios to the Aldwych Theatre, where the run closed on January 14, 2012.
In 1991, Gless marriedBarney Rosenzweig, the producer ofCagney & Lacey.[4]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | Bonnie's Kids | Sharon | |
| 1974 | Airport 1975 | Sharon | |
| 1983 | The Star Chamber | Emily Hardin | |
| 1997 | Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life | Narrator | |
| 2000 | Bring Him Home | Mary Daley | |
| 2009 | Hannah Free | Hannah | |
| 2010 | Once Fallen | Sue | |
| 2023 | Fast Charlie | Mavis |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Ironside | Jennifer | Episode: "House of Terror" |
| The Longest Night | Switchboard Operator | Television film | |
| The Sixth Sense | Kay | Episode: "Coffin, Coffin in the Sky" | |
| McCloud | Sgt. Maggie Clinger | Episode: "The New Mexican Connection" | |
| All My Darling Daughters | Jennifer | Television film | |
| Emergency! | Undercover Police officer | Episode: "Fuzz Lady" | |
| 1972–1976 | Marcus Welby, M.D. | Kathleen Faverty | 21 episodes |
| 1973 | My Darling Daughters' Anniversary | Jennifer | Television film |
| 1973–1974 | Faraday & Company | Holly Barrett | 4 episodes |
| 1974 | Adam-12 | Lynn Carmichael | Episode: "Clinic on 18th St." |
| The Bob Newhart Show | Rosalie Shaeffer | Episode: "The Modernization of Emily" | |
| The Rockford Files | Susan Jameson | Episode: "This Case Is Closed" | |
| 1975 | Lucas Tanner | Miss Reynolds | Episode: "Those Who Cannot, Teach" |
| Emergency! | Sculptor | Episode: "Election" | |
| 1975–1978 | Switch | Maggie Philbin | 71 episodes |
| 1976 | Baa Baa Black Sheep | Navy Nurse | Episode: "The Flying Misfits" |
| The Rockford Files | Lori Jenivan | Episode: "The Fourth Man" | |
| Kojak | Nancy Parks | Episode: "Law Dance" | |
| Richie Brockelman: The Missing 24 Hours | Darcy Davenport | Television film | |
| 1978 | Crash | Lesley Fuller | Television film |
| The Immigrants | Jean Seldon Lavetta | miniseries | |
| 1979 | Centennial | Sidney Endermann | 5 episodes |
| Turnabout | Penny Alston/Sam Alston | 7 episodes | |
| The Last Convertible | Kay Haddon | Television film | |
| 1980 | Hardhat and Legs | Patricia Botsford | Television film |
| The Kids Who Knew Too Much | Karen Goldner | Television film | |
| The Scarlett O'Hara War | Carole Lombard | Television film | |
| Revenge of the Stepford Wives | Kaye Foster | Television film | |
| 1981 | The Miracle of Kathy Miller | Barbara Miller | Television film |
| 1982 | House Calls | Jane Jeffries | 15 episodes |
| 1982–1988 | Cagney & Lacey | Det. Sgt. Christine Cagney | 119 episodes Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series(1986–87) Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series(1985–88) Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama(1985, 1987–89) Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series(1983–85, 1988) |
| 1983 | Tales of the Unexpected | Caroline Coates | Episode: "Youth from Vienna" |
| Hobson's Choice | Maggie Hobson | Television film | |
| 1984 | The Sky's No Limit | Joanna Douglas | Television film |
| 1985 | Letting Go | Kate | Television film |
| 1989 | The Outside Woman | Joyce Mattox | Television film |
| 1990–1992 | The Trials of Rosie O'Neill | Rosie O'Neill | 26 episodes Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series(1991–92) |
| 1992 | Honor Thy Mother | Bonnie Von Stein | Television film |
| 1994 | Separated by Murder | Various | Television film |
| Cagney & Lacey: The Return | Christine Cagney-Burton | Television film | |
| 1995 | Cagney & Lacey: Together Again | Christine Cagney-Burton | Television film |
| Cagney & Lacey: The View Through the Glass Ceiling | Christine Cagney | Television film | |
| 1996 | Cagney & Lacey: True Convictions | Christine Cagney | Television film |
| 1997 | Promised Land | Alex Tolan | 2 episodes |
| 1998 | The Girl Next Door | Dr. Gayle Bennett | Television film |
| 2000 | Touched by an Angel | Ziggy | Episode: "The Perfect Game" |
| 2000–2005 | Queer as Folk | Debbie Novotny | 79 episodes |
| 2003 | Judging Amy | Dr. Sally Godwin | Episode: "Maxine Interrupted" |
| 2006 | The State Within | Lynne Warner | 6 episodes |
| 2007–2013 | Burn Notice | Madeline Westen | 111 episodes Gracie Allen Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film |
| 2008–2009 | Nip/Tuck | Colleen Rose | 4 episodes Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series |
| 2016 | Rizzoli & Isles | Inmate | Episode: "2M7258-100" |
| The Exorcist | Chris MacNeil | 4 episodes | |
| 2017 | The Gifted | Ellen Strucker | 2 episodes |
| 2017–2020 | Casualty | Zsa Zsa Harper-Jenkinson | 4 episodes[13] |
| 2019 | Constance | Raylynn | Television film |
| 2023 | Station 19 | Dottie | Episode: "We Build Then We Break" |
| Year | Award | Category | Title | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Emmy Award | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Cagney & Lacey | Nominated |
| 1984 | Emmy Award | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | |
| 1985 | Emmy Award | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | |
| Golden Globe Award | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Nominated | ||
| Viewers for Quality Television Awards | Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series | Won | ||
| 1986 | Emmy Award | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Won | |
| Golden Globe Award | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Won | ||
| Viewers for Quality Television Awards | Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series | Won | ||
| 1987 | Emmy Award | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Won | |
| Viewers for Quality Television Awards | Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series | Won | ||
| Golden Globe Award | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Nominated | ||
| 1988 | Emmy Award | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | |
| Viewers for Quality Television Awards | Best Actress in a Quality Drama Series | Won | ||
| Golden Globe Award | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Nominated | ||
| 1989 | Golden Globe Award | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama | Nominated | |
| 1991 | Emmy Award | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | The Trials of Rosie O'Neill | Nominated |
| Golden Globe Award | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Won | ||
| 1992 | Emmy Award | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated | |
| Golden Globe Award | Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama | Nominated | ||
| 1995 | Hollywood Walk of Fame | Star on the Walk of Fame at 7065Hollywood Blvd | Won | |
| 2004 | TV Land Awards | Favorite Crimestopper Duo | Cagney & Lacey | Nominated |
| 2006 | TV Land Awards | Coolest Crime Fighting Team | Nominated | |
| 2007 | TV Land Awards | Favorite Lady Gumshoe | Nominated | |
| 2008 | Emmy Award | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series | Nip/Tuck | Nominated |
| 2009 | Madrid International Film Festival | Best Actress | Hannah Free | Won |
| Film Out San Diego Audience Award | Best Actress in a Feature Film | Won | ||
| 2010 | Gracie Award | Outstanding Female Actor in a Supporting Role in a Drama Series | Burn Notice | Won |
| Satellite Award | Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Nominated | ||
| Emmy Award | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Nominated |
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