Patty Shepard

Patty Shepard
Born Patty Moran Shepard
(1945-10-01)October 1, 1945
Greenville, South Carolina
Died January 3, 2013(2013-01-03) (aged 67)
Madrid, Spain
Occupation Actress
Years active 1966-1988
Spouse(s) Manuel de Blas (1967 - 3 January 2013) (her death)

Patty Moran Shepard (October 1, 1945 – January 3, 2013) was an American-born film actress. She moved to Europe and appeared in more than fifty Spanish, Italian and French films from the 1960s to the 1980s.[1] Horror film fans referred to her as the new Barbara Steele after she starred in several key Spanish horror films in the early 1970s. She died from a heart attack in 2013 at age 67.

Early life

Shepard was born in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1945.[1] Shepard first arrived in Spain with her father, an official with the U.S. Air Force, who was stationed at an air force base in Torrejón de Ardoz.[1] She moved to Madrid in 1963 to pursue studies in philosophy.[1] However, she soon began modeling and appearing in Spanish television commercials, including a campaign for a brand of brandy.[1] The roles would lead to more serious acting parts and she remained in Spain for the rest of her life.[1]

Her younger sister Judith Chapman was a television actress in the USA and had roles in Murder, She Wrote and The Young and the Restless.

Career

Her early television credits led to a small, debut film role in La ciudad no es para mí (The City is Not For Me) in 1966, which launched her film career.[1] She appeared in more than fifty films in Spain and Italy over the next twenty years, before retiring in 1988.[1]

She married Spanish actor Manuel de Blas in 1967; the couple had met while filming the 1967 movie, Cita en Navarra (A Date in Navarra).[1] They were still married 46 years later at the time of her death.

Shepard played the vampire countess in the iconic 1970 Paul Naschy film, Walpurgis Night (the film which is credited with kickstarting the entire Spanish horror film industry of the 1970s). She also played the lead role in Hannah, Queen of the Vampires, which led many horror film fans to view her as the new Barbara Steele. She returned briefly to the horror genre in 1987 with such films as Slugs and Edge of the Axe, then retired in 1988.

Death

Patty Shepard died from a heart attack at her home in Madrid, Spain, on January 3, 2013, at the age of 67.[1]

Selected filmography

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Moran, Lee (2013-01-09). "Patty Shepard, American star of Spanish silver screen, dies at 68". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2013-01-12.

External links

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