Cybill Shepherd on Fame, Chemistry with Bruce Willis, and Her Love for Comedy

Blonde beauty Cybill Shepherd turns 75 on Feb. 18, and she’s reflecting on nearly 60 years in the spotlight, which began when she won the Miss Teenage Memphis title in 1966.

Then it was on to modeling and magazine covers, one of which caught the eye of director Peter Bogdanovich, who cast her as Jacy in the 1971 hit “The Last Picture Show.” She followed that with “The The actress was honored at the Heartbreak Kid.” And she fell in love with acting.

“I like to make people laugh, and I like to touch them, to get a chance to touch their hearts,” explains the star.

In 1985, she starred with Bruce Willis in the screwball detective series “Moonlighting,” which became a fan favorite for five years. In the ’90s she starred in her own sitcom, “Cybill.” She was recently honored with the Palm Springs International Comedy Festival Hall of Fame Award.

“I can’t believe I’d actually won an award, because I was nominated four times for the “Cybill” show but never won.” says Shepherd, who says she was most inspired by Carol Burnett.

The actress says she thinks “Moonlighting” was so enduring with audiences because of her chemistry with Willis. “If I had to choose one highlight of my career, it would be ‘Moonlighting,'” says Cybill, who’s been married twice and has three grown kids, daughter Clementine Ford, 45, and twins Ariel and Cyrus Shepherd Oppenheim, 37.

“The minute I walked in the room with [Bruce], my temperature went up ten degrees,” she says. “I felt the chemistry. Number one, I knew not to act on it, though I came close to acting on it. He was the one that said, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t do this.” “And I said, ‘I think you’re right.'”