Guest guest Posted June 18, 2006 Report Share Posted June 18, 2006 From Rick REED in San Francisco....... _____ Database: MasterFILE Premier Section: Cover story CYBILL SHEPHERD From Mythology and Euripides to Tinseltown and Lesbian Fantasies, Cybill Shares it all this exclusive interview with the LN Baby-faced, hard-ass Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone, played sublimely by Michael Moriority on the hit TV show Law and Order, stared at his pocket watch as the criminal he was bargaining with stated terms for his testimony. Dismissive, yet confrontational, dripping in cruel irony without spilling a drop, Stone in turn replied, " Well, sir, I would like a date with Cybill Shepherd in a hot tub, " a sentiment' shared by lesbians everywhere. And while it may seem too far-fetched to imagine that an actress who is as much a part of American pop culture as Newman, Redford, McDonald's and Coca Cola could ever fantasize about being with one of us, she does. She just hasn't found the right woman --yet. Cybill Shepherd is no pop-up blonde; She's a smart, lusty, freedom-loving feminist who swings her round hips to a comedic beat Monday nights on her hit CBS show Cybill. Playing forty-something, menopausal actress Cybill Sheridan teamed with rich, martini-loving divorcee Maryanne (played with sophisticated gusto by Christine Baranski), the intimate best friends finagle their way through life in precarious Hollywood and Beverly Hills. The TV duo has been compared to the British (and gay) cult faves of Absolutely Fabulous. But they are perhaps more reminiscent of Lucy and Ethel who industriously scheme to get what they want, right a wrong, or just strive to be happy by whatever zany means necessary. For, like a loosened Lucille Ball, Shepherd's designer duds and Reebok sneakers are but a cover for a hot tub woman who runs her own show and is as comfortable talking about mythology and Euripides as Tinseltown and lesbian fantasies. Unfortunately, because of the " beauty trap, " Shepherd says, few people take her seriously. Her " best interview " to date was with Sheila James Kuehl for the 1993 cover of The Advocate following her banner-carrying participation in that year's March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, & Bi Equal Rights. But given a chance, Shepherd is not shy about her opinions nor is she afraid to do the previously unthinkable for a female Hollywood star: grow old in public. Of course being both outspoken and silent has gotten her in trouble, most notably during the wild publicity surrounding Moonlighting and co-star Bruce Willis. It's a subject that follows her like a bonnet of fruit flies, as does her cover girl image and her " bad girl " role in longtime friend and once lover Peter Bogdonovich's classic, The Last Picture Show. " I didn't have anything to do with being beautiful, " says Shepherd in a one hour-plus phone interview with the Lesbian News recently. " My beauty fit in at the right time and the right place. But when someone is beautiful, that gives people an excuse to go out of their way to be mean as if someone who's beautiful isn't really deep, doesn't really hurt, and isn't really a human being. " Some of that pain, some of that longing to be really real, comes out in her most recent endeavor, Talk Memphis To Me, a collection of blues songs rendered in that Shepherd-esque mix of crooning cabaret and sweet Southern optimism. But her heart and soul was revealed in a recent Cybill scene as her character cradled her grandchild and sang the title lullaby with a gentle, aching love for a time gone by. Cybill Shepherd was born on February 18, 1950 in Memphis, Tennessee, a time in the segregated South when entrances were marked " whites " and " colored only. " " There was a tremendous amount of stored up hate, and though obviously I didn't take the brunt of it, it hurt me deeply, " she says. " My sense of oppression involved being a woman. We were told never to have sex before we were married, to avoid it if at all possible and certainly not to enjoy it. Touching and masturbation was accepted for boys. But we had to be 'pure.' It was a double standard. " But even then Shepherd defied the norms, becoming sexually active at age 15, though confined enough by convention to feel uncomfortable and unable to discuss sex with her non-sexual best friends a secret duality that resulted in " tremendous confusion. " In April of 1968, as with so many of her generation, 18-year-old Shepherd experienced a " political awakening " with the assassination of Martin Luther King. Though " very moved " by him, she knew nothing of the sanitation workers' strike that brought King to Memphis even though it was occurring three-and-a-half miles away from her high school. The local paper had effected a " white out, " making real news available only to readers of the New York Times. A school leader -she was president of her sorority she felt a responsibility for the hatred that led to the civil rights leader's death, a guilt planted so deeply it would become the seed from which her later commitment to truth and activism would sprout. Shepherd moved to New York City, went to college and pursued a modeling career, winning " Model of the Year " in 1968 and landing on the covers of Life, Vogue and Glamour, among others. It was a time when she and Cheryl Tiegs were the curvy answer to years of skinny Twiggy chic. Shepherd became even more aware of the body politic after she discovered feminism in 1970 through a trilogy of books: Kate Millet's Sexual Politics, The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer, and The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan. The books explained her innate sense of rebellion and urge to womanpower, while fashion designers treated her like an unwieldy coat hanger and " sleazy " photographers asked her to pose nude with a casualness so ruthless she felt humiliated. Shepherd's glamorous covers were spotted by 'director Bogdonovich who cast her as the sexy Jacy Farrow in the acclaimed 1971 The Last Picture Show. They started a seven-year romance so profound that their friendship lasts to this day, primarily, she says, because he treated her as an equal. But their relationship was not exclusive and her lauded debut also caught the eye of a Memphis boy named Elvis Presley. The " drop-dead gorgeous " singer rented a movie theater for their first date (they saw Goodbye, Columbus) which launched a month-long courtship. " He had an extremely beautiful voice, and there was a sweetness, a vulnerability -- he was sensual and very sexy. And there was a softness about his face -- it was kind of feminine with his full lips. I found his softness wonderfully attractive, " she says. But the drags and thugs at Graceland got in the way and she returned to Bogdonovich. Shepherd enjoyed a successful film career, starring in Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid, and Taxi Driver in which she spurned Robert de Niro. After her 1978 break up with Bogdonovich, she returned home, married an auto-parts dealer and gave birth to daughter Clementine. The marriage lasted four years, after which she returned to Hollywood. But roles were hard to find so she took to the road doing regional theater and developing her skills as a comedic performer -- Bogdonovich had introduced her to the work of Carole Lombard who could be both beautiful and funny. Meanwhile the politics of " body integrity " led Shepherd to get involved in the abortion rights movement in 1984 when Congress outlawed medicaid funding for poor women. Having read Gloria Steinem's Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, the actress called the feminist leader and asked what she could do which in turn led to her involvement in Voters for Choice and her first protest march (in 1989). In 1985 Shepherd got a break and landed the lead role of Maddie Hayes in ABC's detective series Moonlighting, playing opposite an unknown named Bruce Willis. But during the show's four-year popularity, her character was diminished in favor of boosting his. " In 'Moonlight,' the immature hireling of the elegantly confident Maddie Hayes now overshadowed his boss lady and cut her down to size, " Susan Faludi wrote in Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women. But Shepherd was blamed by the unrelenting tabloids for feuding on the set that eventually led to the series' demise, something for which Shepherd is still taking the rap despite time and Willis' subsequent " big career. " To help her heal, Shepherd turned to mythology and discovered " the feminist goddess in every woman. " She still delights in characters such as Demeter and Sheila-nagig, the latter a carved representation of the " dirty old woman " portrayed as a squatting naked woman displaying her vulva. Her recommended reading list includes: Joseph ( " follow your bliss " ) Campbell's The Power of Myth, Robert Graves' The White Goddess, Jean Shinoda Bolen's Goddesses in Everywoman, Clarissa Pinkola Estes' Women Who Run With the Wolves, and Barbara Walker's The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. In 1989 Shepherd got divorced from her second husband, with whom she'd had twins Zack and Ariel, became active in the Memphis-based National Civil Rights Museum which she helped with Rosa Paris and starred in The Last Picture Show sequel entitled Texasville. Though her character in both the book and screenplay was intimately involved with another woman, to the horror of the townsfolk, Bogdonovich refused to allow the women to consummate the relationship for fear of turning off male audience members, she says. Representing homosexuality didn't frightened Shepherd, however, who has gay and lesbian friends and family members, the revelation of which enabled her to deal with her own deep South-spawned homophobia. " Anyone who's homophobic is insecure about then' own heterosexuality. More than that, I think it's an envy of pleasure. " shepherd appalled that clitorectomies and male circumcision are not considered human rights issues. The April 1993 March on Washington was only Shepherd's second protest march, despite her personal convictions. " There was a lot of fear involved. Yes, I worried [about snipers]. But at a certain point I couldn't conceive of not doing it. It was so much the right thing to do. Some people feel you should entertain and not speak out. But for me, this comes from a deep down conscious place. It is fundamental. I had to speak out otherwise who would do it? So I opted to march, to walk my talk. Being a parent has made me a better person. Kids know when you're lying -- you have to live what you say. So when [March stage producer] Robin Tyler called, I thought this is my chance. I'm sorry for the people who didn't do it. " Shepherd sparked a bit of controversy herself, however, when organizers told her she could march behind the banner but not put her hand on it because she wasn't a dues-paying lesbian. " I insisted on carrying the banner. I wasn't there for the publicity. I was there to make a statement, and that was a big commitment and investment for me. I had to stand up for myself. " Shepherd says she prayed as she walked. " Ultimately it takes courage for any of us to do this. So even if you're afraid, you do it anyway. I had a spiritual experience, the experience of having angry people waving signs at me and calling me those names as we walked. It takes a leap of imagination to understand how another human being can learn to do that, but I remember that the whites who marched with Martin Luther King were called 'nigger lovers.' So this march had to be one of the greatest things I've ever done. Anger [at injustice] can fuel you to do good things. " During her speech that day, televised live on C-SPAN, Shepherd talked about how her father feared that by marching with gays and lesbians, some people might think she was a lesbian. " Yeah, you're fight. Fine, " she told him, noting that " Jesus accepted everyone. " Shepherd is now an American Comedy Award and four-time Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominee who is having a ball playing a road racer and safety-conscious morn in Mercedes-Benz commercials and, since 1994, exec-producing and starting in Cybill which draws loosely from her own life, including guilt she still feels for perpetuating The Beauty Myth. " My image on those covers was re-touched. They made me more perfect than I was. I feel bad about that now. The point was to have people buy the products and buy the magazines. I do feel responsible. In fact we did an episode about that on the show. My character Cybill Sheridan spots a billboard where they'd skinnied me down. I said, 'Where's my butt? Where're my legs?' So Maryanne and I go up on the ledge and draw on curves. The show said what I really wanted to say. When I was model, I never looked that good and I don't want to keep the lie going. It was a funny insider's view of being part of that oppression. " " I am a revolutionary at heart, " says Shepherd, using her comedy to cause trouble and raise awareness. Last Valentine's Day, for instance, she consciously related the ancient valentine to the vulva and described private parts as often as possible. " How can kids learn about themselves if they don't know what things are called? " she asks. " The network censor said we couldn't say 'vagina' but they didn't know what a labia was so that got through -- in front of a live audience -- and it got the biggest laugh. It was the proudest moment of my career. It was revolutionary. But we're still fighting. It's okay to say 'penis' but not 'pussy.' Why? " Shepherd expects the network censors to loop a more acceptable term over " labia " when that show is prepared for rebroadcast. " This is a radical feminist show in it's fourth year. But we're fighting to stay alive. This happens to all middle-aged women, not just me. Part of the problem is that I play my sexuality, though I do it humorously. But there has to be room for us all women of all shapes and sizes. " And sexualities. Shepherd " loves " what Ellen DeGeneres is doing on her show and recognizes it's importance in possibly preventing teenage suicide through self-esteem. She also loves the power of Xena: Warrior Princess, and the erotica of Bound, Desert Hearts, and The Wedding Banquet. The actress once tried to develop a film project based on the " fabulous " lesbian detective story Everything You Have Is Mine by Sondra Scopatone, which she thought she coud make " cheap " for two million dollars. But after many discussions, " nobody would touch it. You'd think now... We tried to get a lesbian character on our show B we were nixed. They said the part wasn't big enough. " She chuckles. " That's bullshit. But we're fighting it. It's so stupid 'the major networks are losing viewers by the millions and I think they're trying to play it safe. But there's no going back. But the truth is we always have to be on alert. There's always a chance for things to get horrible. Who would have ever thought we'd have fundamentalists taking over school boards, controlling our literature. Even trying to control [kid's] exposure to the theory of evolution. " Though Shepherd acknowledges there " might be a possibility " of producing the lesbian detective story now, she laughs that she may be too old for the part now. " I'd really love to do it, but it's really hard for me to do practically anything else right now. I am a working more of three kids. " And she's involved in almost every aspect of her show, including trying to bring on a lesbian character. " Or it could be Maryanne and I there's a possibility. " One episode features Cybill and Maryanne ascending the stairs to the bedroom, hand in hand. Shepherd says she finds most magazines " stupid and boring, " but she enjoys reading the Lesbian News. And though she hasn't actually slept with a woman yet, she fantasizes about it " absolutely, all the time. It's one of my most common fantasies, " she says. " I think it's one of the most beautiful things, two women that are lovers. I guess I just haven't found the fight woman at the fight time yet. " I've stood up all my life saying that women don't have to be in love to have sex. That's not just a male prerogative. But as I've gotten older, what's gotten more important to me is not the sex so much as the loving intimacy and my wanting to be able to have the capacity to be close to someone. So I think, as far as just to do it with somebody--I won't say I won't. Never say never. Right now I'm in a loving relationship with a man [her musical director Robert Martin], but he's certainly the most open to all his own sexual sides and is the most in touch with himself sexually. He's very willing to try different things, to explore within our sexual relationship. I don't want to get real personal about it, but yeah, fantasies are part of it. Sex toys are part of it. Vibrators are part of it. Erotic movies, erotic literature. And we have a lot of fun. " I actually read a book that changed my sexuality a lot. Gina Ogden is a sex therapist. She wrote a book called Every Woman's Guide to Safer Sex in the '90s. It covered everything. There's this wonderful Sexual Bill of Rights. I was 40 years old when I read it and it blew my mind. There's a wonderful chapter on masturbation called 'Flying Solo.' It kind of gave me a different perspective and I started experimenting just by myself. I'll be 48 in February and I'm having more fun, by myself. I'm being more experimental -- by myself with everything that's available, but also with my parmer. I like to fantasize. I think the movie Bound was really erotic. Where are more movies with things like that? I found that to be one of the most erotic things I've ever seen. It is the hottest movie. I can't think of a sex scene that was as sexy and wonderful. Now, I couldn't handle the vi61ence in the movie. I fast forwarded through that on video. But the love scene could we have more of that please. " Once upon a time Cybill Shepherd surrendered to the critics, giving up on ever singing again in public, after cruel reviews. But with Talk Memphis to Me she has returned home to her heart. " More than anything, I'm learning to love myself as I age, " she says. " I understand that sometimes we may feel strong, and other times what we are doing is really hard. And sometimes I've given up. But then something comes along to encourage me. " Something in the way B.B. King sings the blues. Something in the air on Beale Street. Something that connects her to Memphis, " and then I can't help remembering who I was, the joy of having my feet on the ground, " where contributions are supported, not diminished. What would Cybill Shepherd tell her lesbian and gay fans? She quotes Goethe, as if recapping her own story: " Whatever you believe you can do, begin it; boldness has genius, power and magic in it. " For more information on Cybill Shepherd, visit her website at www.cybill, com ~~~~~~~~ By Karen Ocamb Karen Ocamb is a Los Angeles-based national freelance writer. _____ Copyright of Lesbian News is the property of Lesbian News Publishing, Inc.. The copyright in an individual article may be maintained by the author in certain cases. Content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. Source: Lesbian News, Jan98, Vol. 23 Issue 6, p20, 3p Item: 152504 _____ The link information above provides a persistent link to the article you've requested. Persistent link to this record: Following the link above will bring you to the start of the article or citation. Cut and Paste: To place article links in an external web document, simply copy and paste the HTML above, starting with " If you have any problems or questions, contact Technical Support at http://support.epnet.com/CustSupport/Customer/OpenCase.aspx or call 800-758-5995. This e-mail was generated by a user of EBSCOhost who gained access via the SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY account. Neither EBSCO nor SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY is responsible for the content of this e-mail. http://soundclick.com/rxr http://soundclick.com/mrroboto http://master-of-trope.bebo.com http://presidentoftheunitedstuds.piczo.com http://cybillshepherdfreaksanonymous.piczo.com stonertimes-rxr myrtle_beach_4_rick_reed_rxr (PURE PORNO) Rick Reed's Home: http://murphylakes.com Next-gen email? Have it all with the all-new Mail Beta. http://soundclick.com/rxr http://soundclick.com/mrroboto stonertimes-rxr RxR Home Away From Home http://murphylakes.com RxR Vacation Home: myrtle_beach_4_rick_reed_rxr Next-gen email? Have it all with the all-new Mail Beta. Everytime a butterfly flutters its wings in one part of the Univese, Cybill SHEPHERD gets laid in another and My Mothr FARTS ! http://soundclick.com/mrroboto http://soundclick.com/rxr stonertimes-rxr Rick Reed Home Away From Home: http://murphylakes.com Why keep checking for Mail? The all-new Mail Beta shows you when there are new messages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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