Hershey followed "Hannah and Her Sisters" with back-to-back wins for Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for "Shy People" and for her appearance as anti-apartheid activist Diana Roth in "A World Apart" (1988). Her character in the latter film was based on Ruth First. Also in the 1980s, she portrayed Errol Flynn's first wife, actress Lili Damita, in the TV movie adaptation of "My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn" (1985), which was based on Flynn's autobiography. She also played the love interest to Gene Hackman's character in the basketball film "Hoosiers" (1986).