The Hollywood golden age actress died on January 17 at a hospital in Burbank, California from pneumonia, following respiratory failure.

Born Josephine Angela Sorbello in Quakertown, Pennsylvania in March 1928, the late performer appeared in films throughout her career including Paradise, Hawaiian Style in 1966, Attack of the Giant Leeches in 1959 and in TV shows including Death Valley Days, The Lone Ranger and Gunsmoke.

She worked with Presley on two features eight years apart – first in King Creole, in which she portrayed his sister Mimi, and then in Paradise, Hawaiian Style, where she played the role of Betty.

In the obituary that was published online in commemoration of Shepard, it says that King Creole was Presley’s ‘favourite’ movie that he worked on, and Shepard recalled how the late singer ‘wished’ to have had a sibling like her.

‘She later recalled in interviews that she got along well with the icon; they would go to lunch together, and he said he wished he had a sister like her,’ the obituary reads.

Following her death, her son Brandon Boyle told The Hollywood Reporter: ‘She was a good one and will be dearly missed.’

Her obituary includes an anecdote that she told Elvis Australia about what it was like to meet the Blue Suede Shoes singer for the first time, when they were inadvertently wearing matching colours.

‘I looked at him and he looked at me and we started to laugh. His jacket was the identical material and color of my slacks,’ she said.

‘He looked at me and he said, “Honey, I’m either going to have to give you my jacket or you’re going to have to give me your pants” [laughing]. That was my first meeting with Elvis.’

Shepard starred in several TV westerns in her career, her first being the anthology series Death Valley Days in 1954.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Shepard was given her part in King Crole thanks to her friend Dolores Hart, who played Presley’s love interest Nellie in the movie.

When Hart threw Shepard a surprise birthday party, Presley reportedly said: ‘I had to come, she’s my sister. I wouldn’t miss her birthday party.’

Shepard met her husband, actor Ray Boyle (also known as Dirk London) in 1951.

The couple were married in 1954 and their son Brandon was born in 1959.

Shepard and Boyle were married for 67 years until Boyle’s death in 2022. They’re survived by their son.