Jan Shepard, ‘King Creole’ and TV Western Star, Dies at 96

Jan Shepard, 96, who shared a screen with Elvis Presley in 1958’s King Creole and 1966’s Paradise, Hawaiian Style, died on Jan. 17, 2025, of pneumonia brought on by respiratory failure. Shepard also had an accomplished career on Western TV, appearing on Gunsmoke, Rawhide and dozens of other Western series. Her son, Brandon Boyle, told The Hollywood Reporter, “She was a good one and will be dearly missed.”

Born Josephine Sorbello in 1928, Shepard grew up in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, before moving to Los Angeles in 1949. In the time before she secured TV work, she studied acting at the Pasadena Playhouse, worked as a department store secretary and roomed with future Gunsmoke star Amanda Blake. Shepard made her TV debut in 1952 on the show Fireside Theater, and in 1954 made her first appearance on a Western, the TV genre she’d become known for, on Death Valley Days.

Everett Collection

In the years that followed, Shepard appeared on shows including The Lone Ranger, The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Rawhide, Wanted: Dead or Alive, The High Chaparral, Laramie, Lawman, and multi-episode arcs on Gunsmoke and The Virginian (five episodes).

But she got what was perhaps her most enduring role in 1957, through friend Dolores Hart, who played Elvis’ love interest in King Creole. Shepard played the King’s sister, and fondly remembered Presley as “just the cutest kid around, a big teddy bear, a lot of fun.”

Hart left acting to become a nun, but Shepard stuck with it, eventually re-teaming with Presley for 1966’s Paradise, Hawaiian Style, in which she played the wife of his business partner. She also guest-starred on Highway Patrol, Mannix and Land of the Giants, with a 1973 appearance in The Rookies as her final onscreen credit.

Shepard married her husband, Wyatt Earp actor Dirk London, in 1954; they remained together until his death in 2022, at the age of 98. She is survived by her son Brandon, who is a Hollywood prop master, as well as two grandchildren.