Spotlight on SHARON FARRELL

This month marked the first time that two actresses shared the classic movie goddess honor. My original choice was Betty Grable but I recently came across Sharon Farrell on Facebook and decided to include her this month, sharing time with Betty. I covered Betty for the first half and now it's Sharon's turn. Let me start about by saying that the first thing I ever saw Sharon in was the 1983 Chuck Norris film Lone Wolf McQuade. She played Chuck's ex-wife Molly. McQuade was one of my favorite movies growing up as a kid. You got to see Chuck Norris square off against Kung Fu's Carradine. And I remember Sharon's role, which is saying something because they kind of gave more attention to actress Barbara Carrera. Still Sharon represented well in this action flick. The following year came the sci-fi/zombie flick Night of the Comet, which was actually a pretty good B movie. Now Sharon had been acting since the 60's but I would not find that out until much later. After her turn in Comet,which I went to the theaters and saw with some friends. I was 14 and Comet was one of the first PG-13 rated films to come out. I would next see her in the 1987 teen comedy flick Can't Buy Me Love, with a pre-Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey. I must have watched that movie like 30 times on HBO and Cinemax.

After that many years passed and I still didn't know about Sharon's early TV and film work until about 2005 when I saw the underrated film Marlowe (1969) with the supreme James Garner. Sharon played the awesomely named Orfamay Quest, a young girl from Kansas who hires private eye Marlowe to find her missing brother. Sharon was quite good in this role and she left quite the impression on me. And then I would find out...hey she made tons of stuff during the 60's and 70's. Such films like The Reivers with Steve McQueen; 40 Pounds of Trouble with Tony Curtis and Suzanne Pleshette; and her very first film-1959's Kiss Her Goodbye.

Sharon also was quite prolific on TV with guest appearances on such series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, My Favorite Martian, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, The Fugitive, Ben Casey, I Dream Of Jeannie, The Beverly Hillbillies, Dr. Kildare, Rawhide, My Three Sons, The Man From UNCLE, The Wild, Wild West, Love American Style, and The Six Million Dollar Man. She would have starring roles in the little seen but highly praised series Saints and Sinners (1962), about life seen through the eyes of employees at a big New York City newspaper. Sharon played the role of Polly Holloran. And for 13 episodes on Hawaii Five-O during the show's final season. Sharon played Detective Lori Wilson.

After Hawaii Five-O wrapped, Sharon landed a role in the much praised 1980 film The Stunt Man with Peter O'Toole. After this more TV work came in the form of Matlock, The Young and the Restless, and her last known acting work, JAG. So for the remainder of this month, I will be posting pics, reviews, facts and anything I can think of about this wonderful actress. And maybe I can get her to stop my by blog to share some personal stories as well. That would be awesome.