How old was Cybill Shepherd in Baby Brokers? Over her career, Cybill Shepherd dated Elvisand became close friends with Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, Jean Renoir, and Franois Truffaut. Actress, author, and producer Sela Ann Ward had her breakthrough TV role as Teddy Reed in the drama series Sisters (1991-96), for which she received her first Prime time Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Connie Foster, Jodie's older sister, who was nineteen when the film was produced, was cast as her body double for those scenes. But at the time, none of the people involved had enough Hollywood clout for any studio to take a chance on such dark, unsettling material. The other two films are Fingers (1978) and Rising Sun (1993). The fact that he lies to his parents about his life also opens up the possibility of some issues there. De Niro's temporary hack number was: 265216. However, in the movie El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019), which serves as a kind of sequel to Breaking Bad (2008), it has been clearly stated that Walter White died at the end of the series finale. Cybill Shepherd was part of 57 movies. The film became a critical and box office hit, earning eight Academy Awards nominations and winning two. American actress and former model (born 1950), Polly Platt talks about the magazine cover discovery in the film documentary based on the, Shepherd was replaced on the talk show by, Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical TV Series, Martha, Inc.: The Story of Martha Stewart, How to Murder Your Husband: The Nancy Brophy Story, Best Actress in a TV series, Comedy/Musical, Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year Actress, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress Television Series Musical or Comedy, People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Performer in a Television Series, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, Satellite Award for Best Actress Television Series Musical or Comedy, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, "Cybill Shepherd Dedicates Trevor Project Award to Late Sister and LGBTQ Youth", "Cybill Disobedience: Cybill Shepherd returns to her Memphis hometown", "When Cybill Shepherd Was a Student at East High School", "Cybill Shepherd relaxes with her success", "Cybill Shepherd: 'There is a freakdom to beauty', Exclusive: Michael Biehn, Cybill Shepherd Cop, "No Ordinary Family Books Cybill Shepherd and Bruce! The film was shot on a tight schedule largely on-location in 1974 during a sweltering New York City summer. 73 years old Birth Place: Memphis, Tennessee. Cybill Shepherd took $35,000; the director made $65,000. He was posthumously nominated for an Oscar. He would insist that they'd meet for coffee and rehearse their scenes together at a local diner. It never went any further than the idea stage, but it was an eerie coincidence when De Niro found Paul Schrader and this film a few years later. Directed by Elaine May, it was another critical and box office hit. He has since regretted his decision. Cybil Shepherd was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the United States of America, on February 18, 1950, and she is 72 years old as of 2022. She was the first choice to play the part. While attending East High School,[4] Shepherd won the "Miss Teenage Memphis" title and represented the city at the 1966 Miss Teenage America pageant at age 16, where she won the congeniality award. Cybill Shepherd took thirty-five thousand dollars; and Scorsese made sixty-five thousand dollars. [26], She was present at the opening of the National Civil Rights Museum in her hometown of Memphis, to which she lent financial support.[27]. Before becoming a star, Robert De Niro thought about writing a screenplay himself. : Cybill Shepherd Guest-Starring on CBS Comedy", "First-rate second cast on Broadway in 'Gore Vidal's The Best Man', "REVIEW: Gore Vidal's 'The Best Man' looks better than ever", "Cybill Shepherd rekindles Christian faith, says she's 'talking to Jesus' again', October 20, 2014", "In Pictures: US Abortion March - Actresses Cybill Shepherd, Whoopi Goldberg and Ashley Judd were among those marching", "Cybill Shepherd works with her daughter on 'The L Word'. Easy Andy offers Travis a brand new Cadillac for $3000. After taking a break in her career to have her first child, Clementine Ford, she returned to Hollywood in 1983, to make her television series debut in an episode of Fantasy Island (1977). Victor Argo: As shopkeeper Melio who is held at gunpoint by a robber (Nat Grant), who is shot by Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), thereby saving Melio. How old was Cybill Shepherd in There Was a Little Boy? Similarly his "You talkin' to me?" When Travis calls Betsy from a payphone to apologize for having taken her to a porno movie (Language of Love (1969)), he makes that call from the lobby of The Ed Sullivan Theater (1697 Broadway). Facts about Cybill Shepherd. Robert De Niro repeated the famous "you talking to me" monologue (with some alterations) as Fearless Leader in The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000). Composer Bernard Herrmann died just a. Bernard Herrmann wasn't going to write the score for this film, but agreed to do it when he saw the scene where Bickle pours Schnapps on his bread. Cybill Shepherd Biography, Age, Height, Husband, Net Worth, Family Jodie Foster was twelve years old when the movie was filmed, so she could not do the more explicit scenes (her character was also twelve years old). The first being Hi, Mom! Today's movie is "Taxi Driver." "Taxi Driver" was a 1976 American film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. He was just a shadow of his former self, and it was remarkable that he could have written 'Taxi Driver' under the circumstances. Between the time Robert De Niro signed a $35,000 contract to appear in this film, and when it began filming, he won the Oscar for his role in The Godfather Part II (1974), and his profile soared. acting and on her screen debut in, During an appearance at the Emmy Awards, she wore orange Reebok Freestyle hi-top sneakers. Travis mentions at the start of the film that he served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Cybill Lynne Shepherd (born February 18, 1950) is an American actress and former model. Cybill Shepherd The Movie Database (TMDB) The total budget was around 1.8 million dollars, of which, less than two hundred thousand dollars went to talent salaries. Taxi Driver [Collector's Edition] [DVD] Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel Prior to the crime, Hinckley had been stalking Jodie Foster at Yale University, due to his obsession with her character Iris in this film. For many years afterward, this comment was often misquoted as "too much Good Friday, not enough Easter Sunday", and erroneously attributed to Marty's New York University teacher Haig Manoogian. Martin Scorsese felt that, combined with other events in the film, this would have stacked the deck too much towards racism, and suggested that those characters be changed to white men. She had an older sister, Terry, and has a younger brother, William. Jodie Foster was the third choice to play Iris. That movie just so happened to be the aforementioned The Last Picture Show(1971) -- which she almost turned down. Martin Scorsese has said he offered the role of Travis Bickle to Dustin Hoffman. How old was Cybill Shepherd in Daisy Miller? Squatting in his ex-girlfriend's apartment while she was away for a couple of months, Schrader literally didn't talk to anyone for many weeks, went to porno theaters, and developed an obsession with guns. Named after Almost all of the incidental sounds you hear in films are overdubbed by the sound effects department. Travis Bickle : Yeah. The final kill uses the mobster's own gun. Birthday 1950-02-18 (73 years old) Place of Birth Memphis, Tennessee, USA . That changed by the end of the year, when the Phillips-produced The Sting became a smash hit, on its way to becoming a Best Picture Oscar winner. Burt Reynolds, while promoting his memoirs in 2015, said he turned down the part of Travis Bickle. But he's being fleeced because it is not an empty room for rent; it belongs to Iris.. He was just a shadow of his former self, and it was remarkable that he could have written 'Taxi Driver' under the circumstances. When Paul Schrader was first writing the script, he believed that he was just writing about loneliness, but as the process went on, he realized he was writing about the pathology of loneliness. Top 30 Cybill Shepherd Upskirt GIFs | Find the best GIF on Gfycat Other missed opportunities for Travis's mental health and stability reveal themselves in scenes where he refuses to become involved in outlets like the arts. Cybill Shepherd - IMDb Mia Farrow reportedly wanted the role of Betsy, but Martin Scorsese turned her down. Harvey Keitel was originally offered the part of the campaign worker, eventually played by Albert Brooks. According to Robin Askwith's autobiography the main character was given the forename "Travis" after Martin Scorsese saw Malcolm McDowell play "Mick Travis" in If. (1968). Producer Julia Phillips claimed Martin Scorsese cast Cybill Shepherd as Betsy because of the size of her buttocks, which added to her sex-appeal. The final pistol Travis buys is a Astra Constable, which Andy incorrectly identifies as a .380 Walther. Despite his reputation for intense method acting techniques, Robert De Niro did not actually murder any pimps in preparing for this role. Fiction became fact in 2022. Liza Minnelli and Barbara Hershey were each offered the role of Betsy, but both turned it down. The Last Picture Show famously crossed from fiction to reality when, shooting on location, 31-year-old director Bogdanovich became intimate with his 20-year-old star Cybill Shepherd. Cybill Shepherd took $35,000; the director made $65,000. Nominated for Most Promising Newcomer, Shepherd continued to build her film career with influential roles in The Heartbreak Kid (1972) and Taxi Driver (1976). From 2007 until it ended, Shepherd appeared on The L Word as Phyllis Kroll for the show's final three seasons. Cybill Shepherd not afraid of aging on 'spiritual journey' As badly as Travis wants to connect with the people around him--including Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), a lovely blonde campaign worker, and Iris (Jodie Foster), a prepubescent . Cybill Shepherd on Neil Simon, writer of The Heartbreak Kid. He has a strong inner life but lacks the education and cultural background to give voice to it, and instead uses whatever phrases around him to suit his purpose, often coming across as a "square" (as Iris notes) or as a mix of a "prophet" and "pusher" (as Betsy notes). Paul Schrader guessed that the thought of isolated anti-hero being a taxi driver may have been instilled by the Harry Chapin song "Taxi," which was a big hit at the time. Tatum O'Neal was offered the part of Iris, but she turned it down, telling the producers, "It's too small! Robert De Niro's actions in this film provoked John Hinckley Jr., who was obsessed with Foster, to try to get her attention by shooting President Ronald Reagan. In an early scene, another taxi driver shows Travis Bickle a piece of Errol Flynn's bathtub that he owns. In a letter wrote to Foster, he told her that he was going to assassinate the President, so he could impress her. [14] The following year, Shepherd went back to Los Angeles and was cast as Colleen Champion in the night-time drama The Yellow Rose (1983), opposite Sam Elliott. The only film that year nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and not Best Motion Picture Drama at the Golden Globes. The screenplay details just said, "Travis looks in the mirror." He was fired from the AFI, basically friendless, in the midst of a divorce, and was rejected by a girlfriend. The writer David Sherwin briefly lived in Los Angeles during the spring of 1975 working on an unmade Robin Hood picture with Jon Voight. Cybill Shepherd made a rare sighting in Los Angeles on Tuesday as she took her two small dogs for a walk. Cybill Shepherd: Your Young 'Taxi Driver' Crush, Then And Now When Taxi Driver was released, Cybill Shepherd was 25 years old. The cab Travis drove was a 1975 Checker. He shoots twice with the 6 shot .44, four times with the 6 shot .38 and four from the 6 shot .25. The part of Easy Andy is played by Steven Prince, a personal friend of Scorsese's, whose real-life personality is not unlike his role in the film. [17] In 2010 Shepherd appeared in an episode of No Ordinary Family[18] and in November of the same year she guest-starred in an episode of $*! Later that day, on the last day they recorded, he died. Jazz was not Herrmann's forte, so he asked his friend Christopher Palmer to arrange something from his existing material. From her early career on the covers of Seventeen and Glamour to films including The Last Picture Show and Taxi Driver to TV work on Moonlighting and Cybill, she's earned accolades while constantly challenging herself to do even better. Today Cybill Shepherd is 72 years old. Co-starred with Bruce Willis on the television series Moonlighting and played memorable roles in the classic films Taxi Driver, The Heartbreak Kid and The Last Picture Show. Groovy Photos You Probably Haven't Seen Before The olive-drab Army coat Travis is wearing, is a pre-mid 70s M65 jacket. # cybill shepherd# fave films# fgm# filmedit# g# jodie foster# martin scorsese# robert de niro# taxi driver#this took way longer than i expected # Addison # Bruce # Cybill # David # Entertainment # Hayes # Maddie # Moonlighting # Shepherd # Willis # o0Moonlighting0o Oliver Stone believes he was one of the models for Travis Bickle, pointing out that he was being taught by Martin Scorsese at New York University film school at the time, and like Travis, he was a Vietnam veteran turned New York City cabdriver, and wore his olive drab Army coat while on-duty. According to Shepherd's autobiography, a 1970 Glamour magazine cover caught the eye of film director Peter Bogdanovich. Taxi Driver(1976) - The Date With Betsy - YouTube Paul Schrader was inspired to write the script after reading the published diary of Arthur Bremer, the man who was convicted of shooting Presidential hopeful George Wallace. He encouraged her to get experience on stage in front of an audience, anywhere but Los Angeles or New York City,[11] away from the harsh big-city critics[12] and so she moved back to her home town of Memphis to work in regional theatre. How old was Diahnne Abbott in Taxi Driver? The prickly Herrmann responded, "Oh Yeah? The film cast includes three Oscar winners: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, and Martin Scorsese; and two Oscar nominees: Albert Brooks and Harvey Keitel. [citation needed], In June 2012, Shepherd became engaged to psychologist Andrei Nikolajevic. How old was Harvey Keitel in Taxi Driver? Columbia Pictures wanted the entirety of the climactic shoot-out cut from the film, due to its graphic violence. I'll kill ya ' " This coincidence is odd, & darkly funny, given that some critics view shootout to be almost humorous. Martha Stewart This detail was suggested by Victor Magnotta, a friend of Martin Scorsese's who had a small role as a Secret Service Agent, and who had served in Vietnam. [5] She competed at the 1968 "Model of the Year" contest at age 18, making her a fashion star of the 1960s and resulting in fashion model assignments through high school and afterward.[6]. Even though then twelve-year-old Jodie Foster played a very adult role in the movie, she would have been ineligible to attend the premiere unaccompanied by a parent or adult guardian, due to the R-rating. How old was Cybill Shepherd in A Guide for the Married Woman? Harvey Keitel, who plays Sport, served in the U.S. Marine Corps before becoming an actor. . How old was cybill shepherd in taxi driver - petparadise.wiki He said, "It was a terrible idea" and "in Marty's mind, it never was something that should be done.". Director Martin Scorsese plays two different roles in the film: a man standing outside the campaign office (for which he goes uncredited), and the disturbing taxi passenger (for which he is credited). The film is included on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list. The money guy yells and tries to hold onto Travis' legs as he climbs the stairs: 'I'll kill ya. An article in the March 1977 edition of the Ladies Home Journal stated this film "did for cab-riding what Jaws (1975) did for swimming. Paul Schrader confirms this in his commentary on the 30th Anniversary DVD, stating that Travis "is not cured by the movie's end," and that "he's not going to be a hero next time." Robin Williams later starred in One Hour Photo (2002) which is a similar film to Taxi Driver. A few hours after the sessions wrapped, on the morning of December 24, Herrmann died in his sleep at the Sheraton Universal Hotel. How old was Cybill Shepherd in Journey of the Heart? After the screening, the Catholic priest commented, "I'm glad you ended it on Easter Sunday, and not on Good Friday." After taking a break in her career to have her first child, Clementine Ford, she returned to Hollywood in 1983, . The weapons that Travis uses are: a Smith & Wesson Model 29 with an eight-inch barrel, a nickel Smith & Wesson Model 36 with a square butt, mother-of-pearl grips with a flared flat cylinder release hatch, a Smith & Wesson Escort, Astra Constable .32 LR. In a recent cast reunion interview Martin Scorsese said the famous Spanish artist Salvador Dal was staying at the hotel where the rest of the cast and crew was situated. Coincidentally, the assassination attempt caused the 53rd Academy Awards ceremonies to be postponed for one day, until Tuesday, March 31, 1981, when De Niro won his Best Actor Oscar for Raging Bull (1980). 4 how old was cybill shepherd in taxi driver; 5 Search - Taxi Driver on DVD; 6 13 Surprising Facts About Taxi Driver; 7 Cybill Shepherd - Rotten Tomatoes; 8 Cybill Shepherd - Age, Family, Bio - Famous Birthdays; 9 Why Paul Schrader had to change Harvey Keitels character in Taxi Driver; 10 Taxi Driver (1976) - Trivia - IMDb; 11 . In an interview with Roger Ebert upon the films release, Scorsese called Taxi Driver my feminist film because it takes macho to its logical conclusion. Today Cybill Shepherd is 73 years old. Cybill Lynne Shepherd is an American actress, singer and former model. was voted as the number ten movie quote by the American Film Institute, and as as the number eight of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007. The second movie in which Robert De Niro's character is a Vietnam veteran. Bridges was also under production of King Kong (1976). 73 Year Old Actress #14. How old was Cybill Shepherd in The Lady Vanishes? It's been stated by psychologists that Travis likely suffers from Schizotypal personality disorder. This suggests that she goes to bed around 5:00 or 6:00am, which basically means that her workday ends at sunrise. When Travis meets pretty campaign worker Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), he becomes obsessed with the idea of saving the world, first plotting to assassinate a presidential candidate, then directing his attentions toward rescuing 12-year-old prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster). In the late 60s, you couldnt pick up a fashion magazine without seeing Cybills smiling face. when their twins were one year old, according to United . In 2005, it was announced that this film was going to be made into a video game and was set for release in 2006. Paul Schrader originally set the film in Los Angeles, but it was moved to New York City because taxicabs were much more prevalent there than in Los Angeles. Right: Shepherd on 'Moonlighting.' The line "You talking to me?" Cybill Shepherd stars as: "Betsy" Find it on Amazon.com Description: A mentally unstable Vietnam war veteran works as nighttime taxi driver in a city whose perceived decadence and sleaze feeds his urge to violently lash out, attempting to save a teenage prostitute in the process. Her first film was The Last Picture Show, also starring Jeff Bridges and Timothy Bottoms. There are many variations on this legend, one saying that Scorsese was planning to take his own life; another says that he brought the gun to Columbia Pictures and threatened the executive until the executive relented. His daughter Dorothy recalled, "I knew he was dying. In 2014, Paul Schrader said that it was not being made. A key example is the lunch between Travis and Betsy where Travis says, "I gotta get Organi-sized" which Betsy sees as a sappy office joke but Travis takes it as serious wisdom, and in a Brick Joke, eventually puts that poster in his apartment. He retired to his hotel and died sometime during the night, officially Christmas Eve morning, at the age of 64. Likewise, the opening sequence of Travis driving with his eyes reflected in the rear-view mirror is a shout out to Nicholas Ray's In a Lonely Place (1950). Since Cole didn't like to . Well, at the end of the night I sent Marty [Scorsese] a note saying, Iris is in my room. Herrmann wrote the Taxi Driver score and conducted the recording sessions himself, finishing in Los Angeles on the evening of December 23, 1975. In 1988, two young girls were killed when out playing on the front stoop of the apartment building at 226 East 13th Street, which features prominently in the ending of the movie following the shoot-out. Cybill Shepherd turned down the chance to appear in Nickelodeon (1976) in order to accept the role of Betsy. This would be approximately 1/4 of the MSRP at that time. Robert De Niro's on-and-off girlfriend in the 1970s, Diahnne Abbott, appears as the concession girl in the porno theater near the beginning of the film who seems to be aloof to Travis Bickle. Shepherd went home to Memphis, where she met and began dating David M. Ford, a local auto parts dealer and nightclub entertainer. This lead to her In an interview with Roger Ebert upon the film's release, Martin Scorsese called it "my feminist film because it takes macho to its logical conclusion. Robert De Niro stayed in character throughout production. Scorsese said that Jodie had the ability to play a twelve-year-old prostitute. Betsy : Are you gonna be my friend? Hermann only accepted after reading the script, and then wrote a highly original score using dissonant brass to punctuate the inner emotions of Travis. Cybill Shepherd - Actress - TV Insider At a 25th-anniversary screening of Raging Bull, De Niro talked about the story of an older Travis Bickle being in development. Later, when Travis is writing his diary, we can see the poster in his room that reads "One day I will get organiz-ized" with a picture of man sleeping in his chair and the letters "ized" seem to be falling down as if the man in the picture slept while he was completing the sentence. When the studio refused, O'Neal wasn't interested, stating "Honestly that part's too small. . Not only did it fit the lurid tone he was going for, it soothed the nerves of the ratings board. In 1997, she won her third Golden Globe award[15] for Cybill (19951998), a television sitcom in which the title character, Cybill Sheridan, an actress struggling with hammy roles in B movies and bad soap operas, was loosely modeled on herself (including portrayals of her two ex-husbands). This (movie) shows that kind of thinking, shows the kinds of problems some men have, bouncing back and forth between (their perception of women as) goddesses and whores.". Cybill Shepherd age, height, weight, net worth 2023, boyfriend, husband Jodie Foster beat Mariel Hemingway, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Heather Locklear, and Kristy McNichol. In late January 2005, a sequel was announced by De Niro and Scorsese. But it was especially dirty in the summer of 1975, when the film was being shot, because of a sanitation workers strike that left piles and piles of garbage on the sidewalks and streets. Northup plays Mr. Bimmel in the latter. They befriended each other in 1971, years before this film came out, and he was one of her little acolytes, nicknamed the "PAULETTES." Available on Prime Video, iTunes, HBO Max. [22], Throughout her career, Shepherd has been an outspoken activist for issues such as gay rights[23] and abortion rights. [20], Shepherd appeared as a mother grieving the death of her daughter in Do You Believe? One of the biggest rumors is that, when facing an X-rating from the MPAA and having to edit the film, Scorsese stayed up all night drinking with a loaded gun in his hand, preparing to shoot the executive at Columbia Pictures the next day. Tom is shown arguing over the phone because the new 5000 campaign buttons had 'we' underlined instead of 'are' in their slogan 'We are the people'. According to Amy Taubin's book, the character of Iris was partially inspired by Paul Schrader's memory of 1950s Coppertone ads. He later went on to play two other Vietnam War veterans in The Deer Hunter (1978) and Jacknife (1989). In 2011, Empire Magazine described this movie as "a vivid fever dream we still haven't woke up from.". Included among the American Film Institute's 2001 list of the Top 100 Most Heart-Pounding American Movies. Thus, Bickle chooses to drive his taxi anywhere in the city as a way to feed his hatred. In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #52 Greatest Movie of All Time. He was convinced to wait to direct a film more suitable for his sensibilities. The actors second collaboration with director Martin Scorseseboosted both of their careers and, more importantly, produced an unsettling masterpiece of 1970s cinema. How old was Martin Scorsese in Taxi Driver? How old was Robinson Frank Adu in Taxi Driver? Much less delightful was that De Niro was committed to making Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900 (1976), and when he left for Italy, Scorsese committed to Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974). Betsy, Tom and Wizard are interviewed about the police about Travis and Charles Palatine isn't elected President and doesn't clean up the streets of NYC. He writes constantly in his journal, but never bothers to attempt a novel, or even a short story. He also purchases a Smith & Wesson Model 36 and a Smith & Wesson Escort .22, which Easy Andy incorrectly refers to as a Colt .25. [24] In 2009, she was honored by the Human Rights Campaign in Atlanta with one of two National Ally for Equality awards. Taxi Driver | Tourism London He re-wrote her character after inadvertently picking up an underage prostitute. There is a Hopper Avenue in Fair Lawn, but there is no 154 Hopper Avenue. Steven Prince improvised the list of additional illegal things Easy Andy had for sale after Travis buys the guns. Goldie Hawn auditioned for the role of Betsy. Kristy McNichol auditioned six times for the role of Iris. Betsy : You know what you remind me of? homemaker, and William Shepherd, a small business owner. This lead to her acting and on her screen debut in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971). The producers knew that her role depended on having chemistry with her co-star, and she was involved in the selection of Bruce Willis. At 72 years old, Cybill Shepherd height is 5 8 . Paul Schrader decided to make Bickle a Vietnam veteran because the national trauma of the war seemed to blend perfectly with Bickle's paranoid psychosis, making his experiences after the war more intense and threatening. . And if you want to call it a friend, you can call it a friend. In that film, Williams stars as lonely mentally disturbed photo developer Seymour Parrish who stalks the Yorkin family whose photos he develops and keeps copies for himself. Before becoming a star, De Niro thought about writing a screenplay himself. However, he was amused by the changes ordered by the MPAA, because they made the final scene even more shocking than had originally been intended. Unfortunately, after The Heartbreak Kid, the yellow brick road got a little rocky for her. Cybil Shepherd's character, Betsy, was named after screen writer Paul Schrader' 9th grade girlfriend. When Shepherd's agent passed along that message, she responded: How about the real thing? Appearing in one of the iconic movies of all time alongside Robert De Niro, Shepherd got her luster back. Following this, the actress was a part of several movies, such as The Heartbreak Kid and Taxi Driver. The shot of Travis putting a tablet into a glass of water and the overhead angle watching it slowly dissolve is an allusion to a famous scene in Jean-Luc Godard's 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967). When asked on the website Reddit about the film's ending, Schrader said that it was not to be taken as a dream sequence, but that he envisioned it as returning to the beginning of the film, as if the last frame "could be spliced to the first frame, and the movie started all over again.". Though shes better known today as a television actress, Shepherd took the Taxi Driver part for less than her usual asking price. This misguided male focus, portrayed so often in film, for instance "Marty" (1955), or just about any teen exploitation film from the 80s onward, could have been prevented with a simple readjustment of his self image; with realistic expectations, and would have saved him a lot of grief, and bloodletting.