Actress Jan Shephard, who starred alongside Elvis Presley in two films including King Creole, has died age 96

Jan Shepard, who also appeared as a guest star in dozens of other television series, died on Friday January 17. Her cause of death was pneumonia brought on by respiratory failure. She died at at Providence St. Joseph Medical Centre in Burbank, California, United States.

Shephard, whose full name was Josephine Angela Sorbello, was born on March 19 1928 in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. In 1949, when she was 21, she moved to Los Angeles and joined a theatre group called the Ben Bard Players. She trained at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Her first television role came in 1952 in the anthology series Fireside Theatre. After that, she began making regular appearances in TV series, both comedy and drama, in shows such as I Married Joan, The Loretta Young Show, I Married Margie, The Lone Ranger, Private Secretary, and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp.

In 1958, Shepard first appeared opposite Elvis Presley in the musical drama King Creole as Mimi, the sister of Presley’s character Danny Fisher. Eight years later, in 1966, the two stars appeared together again in the musical comedy Paradise, Hawaiian Style. This time, Shepard played the wife of Danny Kohana (James Shigeta), who partners with Presley’s character Rick Richards in a helicopter business.

In between the two films with Presley, Shepard co-starred as Betty Howard in the two-season daytime drama The Clear Horizon. Her final on-air appearance was in an episode of Aaron Spelling crime drama The Rookies in 1973.

In 1951, Shepard met fellow actor Ray Boyle. They married in 1954, and remained together for 67 years until Boyle died in 2022 at age 98. They had a son, Brandon, who was born in April 1959.

Shepard is survived by son Brandon, who also works in the television industry doing prop work, along with her daughter-in-law Jenn, grandchildren Riley and Hayley, nephew Andrew, his wife, Danielle, and their daughter, Olivia.