Sharon Gless
Snowy Haired Sharon Gless Rocks On Burn Notice
Sharon Gless (May 31, 1943) is the funny, wild, eccentric and completely lovable snowy haired Madeline Westen (mom to Michael and Nate) in the hit USA Network original series “Burn Notice,” which recently returned (June 4, 2009) for Season Three at 10/9c on USA.
Burn Notice is built around the life of Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) and the fact he got “burned”. Michael and his mom have a funny relationship not unlike lots of mom andson connections. Throw in screw up brother Nate (Seth Peterson) and you have a classic dysfunctional family unit.
I love the show from all aspects, but I perk up whenever the snow white tressed Sharon makes her appearance on the show. Isn’t she gorgeous? Yes indeed.
I also appreciate the fact Sharon wears her hair short, sassy and beautifully layered (kudos to her hairdresser).
Great Examples For Actresses In 50s, 60, 70s+
This woman can act and lights up the screen. She also showcases the fact actresses in their 50s, 60s and beyond can still get fascinating roles on TV and related entertainment mediums.
Show business is in Sharon’s blood. Her grandfather, Neil S. McCarthy, was the most respected entertainment lawyer of Hollywood’s Golden Age. His clients included Howard Hughes, Louis B. Mayer and Cecil B. DeMille.
Sharon Gless on Burn Notice
The famous McCarthy Chopped Salad at the legendary Polo Lounge was named after him. He also drew up the first contract between a studio and a player – a fact that is of special interest to Sharon, as she has the distinction of being the last contract player in the history of Hollywood. She was under exclusive contract to Universal Studios, where she learned and flourished for ten years, leaving “The Lot” in 1982.
Sharon was the previous recipient of The Theatre School at DePaul University’s prestigious Award for Excellence in the Arts. In 2007, she celebrated the Silver Anniversary of “Cagney & Lacey,” the first season of which was released on DVD in the spring. She continues to work non-stop in the business she dearly loves.
Sharon completed a popular multiple-episode arc in the hit FX series “Nip/Tuck” as Colleen Rose, an ambitious Hollywood agent with dark secrets. In 2006, she received rave reviews, both in the US and UK, for her starring role as US Secretary of Defense Lynne Warner in the BBC/BBC America miniseries, “The State Within.”
The multifaceted actress produced and starred in “A Round Heeled Woman,” a play which opened in 2008, based on the best-selling book by Jane Juska, about a 60+ year-old woman’s adventures in later-life sex and romance.
Special Gless Humor From Faraday & Company To Cagney & Lacey
Beginning with her starring role in “Faraday & Company” in 1973, Sharon has brought her own brand of humor, intelligence and dramatic flair to each of her roles. She is best known for her portrayal of New York Police Detective, Christine Cagney, on the hit series “Cagney & Lacey,” a role that garnered her two Emmys, a Golden Globe and six Emmy nominations.
Sharon Gless on Burn Notice
Following “Cagney & Lacey,” Gless re-teamed with the show’s executive producer, Barney Rosenzweig, on “The Trials of Rosie O’Neill,” for which she was awarded her second Golden Globe® and two more Emmy® nominations. Sharon Gless married Rosenzweig in 1991.
In 1994 and 1995, Sharon and her television partner, Tyne Daly, joined together to recreate their title roles in a quartet of critically acclaimed and popular “Cagney & Lacey” television movies which they fondly call “The Menopause Years.”
Other television series in which she starred include “Switch,” “House Calls,” and the short-lived but critically lauded Steven Bochco half-hour, “Turnabout.”
Gless has received much acclaim for her dramatic roles in such television movies as “Separated By Murder,” “Hard Hat and Legs,” “Honor Thy Mother,” “Hobson’s Choice” and “Letting Go,” among others, as well as the mini-series “The Immigrants,” “The Last Convertible,” “Centennial,” and Garson Kanin’s “Moviola: The Scarlett O’Hara Wars,” in which she played screen goddess Carole Lombard.
In 2000, Sharon created the role of the outrageous and beloved Debbie Novotny in the groundbreaking Showtime series “Queer as Folk,” and remained with the series throughout its five-season run. Wherever she goes, Sharon is regularly approached by fans wishing to express their appreciation for her honest portrayal of a loving parent of a gay child.
Sharon’s theatrical film credits include the suspenseful and provocative film, “The Star Chamber,” in which she played the wife of Michael Douglas.
Sharon Gless on Burn Notice
The actress has recorded several ‘Books on Tape’ and has starred in numerous radio plays, one of which, “‘Night, Mother,” for the BBC, earned Gless the International Sony Award. She continues to do radio plays for L.A. Theater Works and the BBC.
She has starred twice on stage in London’s famed West End, the first time in 1993 with Bill Paterson, when she created the role of Annie Wilkes in the stage version of Stephen King’s “Misery” at the Criterion Theater, and four years later, opposite Tom Conti, in Neil Simon’s “Chapter 2″ at the Gielgud Theater.
She starred at Chicago’s Tony Award-winning playhouse, The Victory Gardens Theater, in Claudia Allen’s “Cahoots,” and at Madison Square Garden with the National Company of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues.”
Sharon Gless made her stage debut in Lillian Hellman’s “Watch on the Rhine” at Stage West in Springfield, MA.
Sharon is an active participant in the ongoing struggle for a woman’s right to choose, and recently joined hundreds of thousands of women in Washington DC for the first-ever “March For Women’s Lives,” where she stood in solidarity with her entertainment industry colleagues.
In 2005, she was honored by Norman Lear’s PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY for her unwavering support of human rights. Sharon spends her time at home in three of her favorite cities: Los Angeles, Miami and Toronto.
