SHARON GLESS
Republished with permission from Alive On South Beach by Stewart and Dena Stewart
Starting out late as an actress, Sharon Gless had the talent and looks to make it big. Coming out of a ten-year contract with Universal Studios, she walked into the part of Christine Cagney, playing a tough New York police detective in the first Television police show that starred women in such leading roles. Tyne Daly played her partner, Mary Beth Lacey in the long-running TV series and subsequent Cagney & Lacey TV movies.
Starting out late as an actress, Sharon Gless had the talent and looks to make it big. Coming out of a ten-year contract with Universal Studios, she walked into the part of Christine Cagney, playing a tough New York police detective in the first Television police show that starred women in such leading roles. Tyne Daly played her partner, Mary Beth Lacey in the long-running TV series and subsequent Cagney & Lacey TV movies.
Sharon went on to play the lovable Debbie Novotny, mother of a gay son in Queer as Folk; the troubled attorney in The Trials of Rosie O’Neill; and Madeline Weston, mother of a burned spy stuck in Miami, in Burn Notice. These are only a few of the recognizable roles played so well by the Emmy-Award winning actress.
Now, as a “woman of her age” having grown up in Hollywood, with many juicy tales to tell, Sharon decided it was time to write her memoir, “Apparently There Were Complaints” – a spicy page turner (published by Simon & Schuster).
When asked by Stewart Stewart during their CONVERSATION what she would like to do next, Sharon didn’t hesitate to say, “Another series – one where I can play a mess of a character! Maybe Nancy Drew as an old Detective down on her luck but who still loves to solve a good mystery. After all, I did have a crime-solving background …!!!”
