Elaine Shepard

{{Infobox person

| image = Elaine_Shepard.jpg

| caption = 1945 pin-up photo from Yank

| birth_name = Elaine Elizabeth Shepard

| name =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1913|4|2}}

| birth_place = Olney, Illinois, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1998|9|6|1913|4|2}}

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| occupation = Actor, journalist

| yearsactive = 1936-1951

| spouse = Terry Hunt (1937-1940)
George F. Hartman (1943-1958)

}}

Elaine Elizabeth Shepard (April 2, 1913 – September 6, 1998) was a Broadway and film actress in the 1930s and 1940s. She was also the author of The Doom Pussy, a semi-fictional account of aviation in the Vietnam War.

Film and stage

Shepard worked as a model on the West Coast before she became active in films.{{cite news |title=To Be A Model Be An Actress -- Elaine Shepard |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58673287/elaine-shepard/ |accessdate=September 5, 2020 |work=The Charlotte News |date=October 15, 1939 |location=North Carolina, Charlotte |page=31|via = Newspapers.com}} Her first film appearance was in the 1936 Republic serial Darkest Africa, in which she played Valerie Tremaine, the heroine of the film.{{Citation needed |date=August 2020}} This was followed with a series of leading roles in other minor films, such as You Can't Fool Your Wife, a 1940 comedy starring Lucille Ball.{{Citation needed |date=August 2020}} She then had several minor roles in major films, including playing a secretary in Topper and uncredited roles in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo and the 1946 Ziegfeld Follies.{{Citation needed |date=August 2020}} A more prominent role came in Seven Days Ashore, a musical in which she plays the principal love interest for the band of sailors on shore leave.{{cite web|url=http://www.classicfilmguide.com/index.php?s=pageA&item=167 |title=Seven Days Ashore |publisher=Classic Film Guide |accessdate=2009-12-16 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061028152607/http://www.classicfilmguide.com/index.php?s=pageA&item=167 |archivedate=October 28, 2006 |df=mdy }}

Shepard's Broadway credits included performing in the ensemble in Nina Rosa (1931) and portraying Mildred Hunter in Panama Hattie (1940) and a maid in The Land Is Bright (1942).{{cite web |title=Elaine Shepard |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/elaine-shepard-99992 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |accessdate=September 5, 2020 |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20200905235544/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/elaine-shepard-99992 |archivedate=September 5, 2020 |url-status=live }}

Freelance journalism

Shepard abandoned acting and turned to freelance journalism, reporting from international trouble spots including the Congo and Northern Ireland.{{cite news |last1=Carpenter |first1=Dan |title=Reporter won war; still fights 1 battle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58724327/elaine-shepard/ |accessdate=September 5, 2020 |work=The Indianapolis Star |date=February 12, 1987 |page=2|via = Newspapers.com}} She interviewed international leaders, and in 1959 she was the only female reporter accredited to travel with President Dwight Eisenhower when he toured the Middle East.{{cite news |last1=Page |first1=Eleanor |title=Behind the Scenes with a Woman Reporter |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58724907/elaine-shepard/ |accessdate=September 5, 2020 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=December 9, 1962 |page=284|via = Newspapers.com}} She is best known in this role for her Vietnam War coverage, which became the basis for her 1967 book The Doom Pussy, recounting her experiences with aviators in the early part of the war.See for example in {{cite book|title=Vietnam Voices: Perspectives on the War Years, 1941-1975|

first=John Clark |last = Pratt|publisher=University of Georgia Press|year= 2008|page=223}} This book includes use of the phrase "the whole nine yards", an old American colloquialism.{{cite web|url=http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/the-whole-nine-yards.html|title=The whole nine yards - meaning and origin|first=Gary|last=Martin|publisher=The Phrase Finder|accessdate=2009-12-16}}

Personal life

Shepard was married to George Hartmann.{{cite news |title=Dinner for Four Costs Fliers $6,700 in Chinese Money |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58674284/elaine-shepard/ |accessdate=September 5, 2020 |work=Fort Worth Star-Telegram |agency=International News Service |date=August 8, 1944 |page=22|via = Newspapers.com}}