Jan Shepard, the actress best known for starring as Betty Howard in the 1960s soap “The Clear Horizon,” died earlier this month. She was 96 years old.
According to Shepard’s son, Hollywood prop master Brandon Boyle, via The Hollywood Reporter, the actress died on Jan. 17 in Burbank from pneumonia brought on by respiratory failure.
“She was a good one and will be dearly missed,” he told the outlet.
Shepard appeared in various episodes of several TV series from 1952 to 1973, including “The Virginian” and “Gunsmoke.” The actress also notched a handful of movie roles in her career, including two films where she appeared opposite Elvis Presley (though, apparently, she was not initially a fan of the singer).
In Michael Curtiz’s “King Creole,” Shepard played Presley’s on-screen sister Mimi. Then, in 1966, Shepard was part of “Paradise, Hawaiian Style,” where she played the wife of Danny Kohana (James Shigeta), the business partner of Presley’s Rick Richards.
In 1951, Shepard met “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp” star Ray Boyle, whom she married three years later. They stayed together until Boyle’s death in 2022.
Shepard’s final acting role came in 1973, when she appeared in an episode of “The Rookies” as Claire Amazeen, just after appearing in the TV movie “That Certain Summer.”
The post Jan Shepard, Star of ‘The Clear Horizon’, Dies at 96 appeared first on TheWrap.
