Elizabeth Shepherd

Elizabeth Shepherd is an English actress born on 12 August 1936 in London, England, whose career has spanned stage, film, and television since the late 1950s. Her surname appears in various sources under alternate spellings, including "Shephard" and "Sheppard."

Shepherd began her professional acting career in television in 1959, and by 1960 had appeared in a screen adaptation of A. J. Cronin's novel The Citadel. That same decade, she was the original casting choice for the role of Emma Peel in the television series The Avengers. After completing work on nearly two episodes, she departed the production and was ultimately replaced by Diana Rigg. Her television credits from this period also include the cult series The Corridor People in 1966. Later small-screen work includes the 1978 miniseries The Bastard and The Cleopatras, a BBC historical drama.

Shepherd made her Broadway debut in 1970 in Barry England's Conduct Unbecoming, a drama set within the British Army during the era of Kipling's India, in which she played Mrs. Hasseltine. Her performance earned notice in Time magazine, where she was also pictured alongside co-stars Jeremy Clyde and Paul Jones, pop singers who had originated their roles as British subalterns during the production's London run in 1969. Shepherd continued to work on Broadway through 2011, with credits that include an appearance in George is Dead.

Her film work includes a dual role as both Lady Rowena and Ligeia in Roger Corman's The Tomb of Ligeia in 1964. She subsequently appeared in Damien: Omen II as reporter Joan Hart, as well as in The Kidnapping of the President, Deadly Companion, and Amelia, in which she played Frances Putnam.

Beyond performing, Shepherd has taught drama at the Stella Adler school. In 2006 she appeared in December Fools at the Abingdon Theater in New York, and in 2014 she starred in a Canadian production of Driving Miss Daisy. In 2019, she released an audiobook featuring Edgar Allan Poe's Ligeia alongside other Poe tales.