Cornelia Sharpe

Cornelia Sharpe is an American former actress and model. She emerged as a frequent star in television commercials during the late 1960s and early 1970s before transitioning to feature film and television roles. She is best known for her performances in films such as Serpico (1973), The Next Man (1976), Cover Girls (1977), and S*H*E (1980).

Sharpe was born in Selma, Alabama, to Warner Jack Sharpe Jr., a dental-supplier, and Evelyn Horne Sharpe, a dental hygienist and secretary. She grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, as part of a large, close-knit family with numerous relatives. As a child, she engaged in tomboyish behavior, which included mischievous antics such as putting soap suds in swimming pools and egging a former boyfriend's house. She graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville in 1961.

Initially aspiring to work as a dental hygienist like her mother, Sharpe became interested in the performing arts through a cousin who studied ballet. At age sixteen, she moved to New York to pursue ballet after being discovered by choreographer George Balanchine during a tour in Florida. A television commercial for Newport Cigarettes launched her modeling career. Known for her outgoing personality, she appeared in roughly 200 commercials over an eight-year span, an achievement highlighted in Time magazine.

In 1969, Sharpe entered acting after landing a role in the Broadway play The Penny Wars following an impromptu audition arranged by her agent. Despite having no formal training at the time, she performed alongside David Merrick and Barbara Harris. The experience prompted her to study acting seriously, leading to additional stage work, including Woody Allen's Play It Again, Sam later that year.

Sharpe began her screen career in the early 1970s, making her credited film debut as Tammy O'Brien in Kansas City Bomber (1972). In 1973, she starred as Leslie, the girlfriend of Al Pacino's character in Serpico, a role awarded to her at the insistence of producer Martin Bregman. She subsequently appeared in Open Season (1974) alongside Peter Fonda, John Phillip Law, and Richard Lynch. In 1976, she portrayed spy and assassin Nicole Scott opposite Sean Connery in The Next Man, drawing praise from film critic Roger Ebert, who described her as a "cool beauty."

Sharpe played model Linda Allen in the 1977 NBC television movie Cover Girls, followed by the lead role of secret agent Lavinia Kean in the 1980 spy film S*H*E. She then appeared alongside Sterling Hayden, Klaus Kinski, and Sarah Miles in the British horror thriller Venom (1981). Her later screen credits include a minor role in The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002). In 1981, Sharpe married producer Martin Bregman, with whom she had one daughter; Bregman passed away in 2018.