Up for auction an EARLY! "Cagney & Lacey" Sharon Gless Signed B&W 8X10 Photo. This item is
certified authentic by Todd Mueller and comes with their Certificate of
Authenticity.
Sharon
Marguerite Gless (born
May 31, 1943) is an American actress, who is known for her television roles as
Maggie Philbin on Switch (1975–78), Sgt. Christine
Cagney in the police procedural drama series Cagney &
Lacey (1982–88), the title role in The Trials of Rosie O'Neill (1990–92), Debbie
Novotny in the Showtime cable
television series Queer as Folk (2000–2005),
and Madeline Westen on Burn Notice (2007–2013).
A 10-time Emmy Award nominee and
seven-time Golden Globe Award nominee, she won
a Golden Globe in
1986
and Emmys in
1986 and 1987 for Cagney & Lacey, and a second Golden Globe in
1991 for The Trials of Rosie O'Neill. Gless received a star on
the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1995. A
fifth-generation Californian, Sharon Gless was born in Los Angeles,
the daughter of Marjorie (McCarthy) and sportswear manufacturing executive
Dennis J. Gless. She was raised Catholic. She
has two brothers, Michael and Aric; and her parents divorced when she was in
her teens. Her maternal grandfather was Neil McCarthy,
a prominent Los Angeles attorney for Howard Hughes,
who also had a large clientele of major film studio executives and actors.
Wanting to become an actress, she sought her grandfather's advice and he told
her, "Stay out of it, it's a filthy business!" A few years
later, though, when she spoke to him again about acting, he encouraged her, and
gave her money for acting classes. She worked as a secretary for the
advertising agencies Grey
Advertising and Young &
Rubicam, and then for the independent movie production
companies Sassafras Films and General Film Corporation. While she worked as a
production assistant, Gless studied drama with acting coach Estelle
Harman. In 1972 she signed a 7-year contract with Universal
Studios, and remained under contract until Universal ended all
contracts in 1981. Near the end of her contract, she was identified in the
media as the last of the contract
players, a salaried, old Hollywood apprentice system which
Universal was the last to employ. Actress Elizabeth
Baur was Gless's first cousin.ES-5265