Cybill Shepherd Recalls Working With ‘Very Funny’ Bruce Willis

Legendary actress Cybill Shepherd has nothing but positive things to say about the A-list costars in her past — including Bruce Willis and Christine Baranski.

“He had more hair when we started,” Shepherd, 74, told Us Weekly exclusively about working with Willis, 69, while discussing her upcoming appearance at the Palm Springs International Comedy Festival Awards.

Shepherd worked alongside Willis on the show Moonlighting, a comedy about two detectives in love, which aired on ABC from 1985 to 1989. One of her most cherished memories with the actor is when they would “wait to get the pages” from the show’s writers. (Shepherd played Maddie Hayes opposite Willis’ David Addison.)

“They would write a scene anywhere from seven to eight pages long of us — Bruce Willis and I — in the car while we’re driving,” Shepherd recalled. “We’d have to tape up those pages along the front part of the car, because they were given to us at the last minute. We had to improvise using a script, say, seven to eight pages long.”

She added: “They couldn’t show the front of the car because we had the pages stuck up there with Scotch tape.”

Shepherd said that Willis “was always very funny” on set when they worked together.

Similarly, Shepherd said that she recalled Baranski, 72, being “very very funny” when they worked together on the eponymous sitcom Cybill, which aired on CBS from 1995 to 1998. (Shepherd played the titular character while Baranski joined her as pal Maryann Thorpe.)

“[Her character] was always drinking,” Shepherd told Us of Baranski’s Maryann. “She was always pretending to be drunk, a little drunk in the television show. That worked so well for us together.”

Because of her collaboration with Baranski, the actress said filming Cybill brought her “huge joy.”

While reflecting on her acting roles, Shepherd also told Us what it means that she’ll be honored at the Palm Springs International Comedy Festival Awards — celebrates comedy in all its forms, featuring performances by renowned comedians and honoring industry icons — on Saturday, September 21, at the Hotel Zoso in Palm Springs. This year’s festival is designed to celebrate the best in comedy and will also honor several other industry icons including Tom Arnold, Jeff Garlin, Tommy Chong, Will Sasso, Mo Collins, and the cast of MAD TV.

“Comedy is everything to me,” the actress explained, noting that she has “established a way of doing improv” throughout her career — which has been used in her various projects.

“It’s great to be getting a Comedy Award. I’ve been nominated for Emmys four times, and never won,” Shepherd added. “I had a boyfriend that had two Emmys for producing a show, and I got mad at him. I said, ‘You got two Emmys for producing a show, and I’ve been nominated four times and never won one,’ and he gave me one of his.”

What does the award say exactly? “Cybill Shepherd, Life Achievement,” she told Us.

Reporting by Sarah Jones