Sharon Gless a Golden Globe in 1986 and Emmys in 1986 and 1987 for "Cagney & Lacey", and a second Golden Globe in 1991 for "The Trials of Rosie O'Neill". Gless received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1995. A fifth-generation Californian, Sharon Gless was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of Marjorie (McCarthy) and sportswear manufacturing executive Dennis J. Gless. She was raised Roman Catholic. She has two brothers, Michael and Aric; and her parents divorced when she was in her teens. Her maternal grandfather was Neil McCarthy, a prominent Los Angeles attorney for Howard Hughes, who also
Sharon Gless and in 1974 she signed a 10-year contract with Universal Studios. Near the end of her contract, she was identified in the media as the last of the contract players — a salaried, old Hollywood apprentice system which Universal was the last to employ. Actress Elizabeth Baur is Gless's first cousin. At the beginning of her career, Gless appeared in numerous television series and TV movies, such as "Revenge of the Stepford Wives", "Faraday & Company" with Dan Dailey and James Naughton in 1973 and 1974, "Emergency!", and "The Rockford Files". She played small parts in "Marcus Welby, M.D." (1969–1976),