Sharon Gless makes Christine Cagney distinct, fallible and worth spending time with. Her partnership with Tyne Daly is reason enough to recommend Cagney & Lacey, even when the weekly police work gives them little help.
Fi1m perspective
Watch the attention Sharon Gless gives Tyne Daly in Cagney & Lacey (1982). Their characters have police work to do, but the pleasure is in seeing two women treat each other as people worth hearing. Gless makes Christine Cagney distinct enough that working together never seems sufficient explanation for the friendship. We found their affection unexpectedly moving, because both actors make a colleague’s willingness to listen seem important. The warmth comes from their interest in each other, without either performance needing to make every exchange solemn.
Gless has often been cast as independent professional women, but Cagney is allowed to be vulnerable as well as capable. Maggie Philbin in the detective series Switch (1975–1978) was an earlier regular role; Cagney then gave her six seasons as a lead. The title role in the legal drama The Trials of Rosie O’Neill (1990–1992) kept professional women at the centre of her work. These parts suit an actor who can make competence interesting without requiring the character to be admirable at every moment. Cagney can be flawed without becoming someone we merely endure until the investigation is finished.
Later roles moved her from professional leads towards mothers in supporting parts. She played the supportive Debbie Novotny in Queer as Folk (2000–2005), then Madeline Westen in the action-spy series Burn Notice (2007–2013). That change makes the earlier work with Daly worth keeping in view: there, friendship between women is the reason to return, whatever the case happens to be.
Our reservations about Cagney & Lacey concern the programme around its actors: the cases can be routine and the presentation plain. We would not pretend that Gless and Daly make every investigation gripping. They do make another episode welcome, because their characters have reasons to be interested in each other beyond getting the job done. Start there for Gless, provided police procedure need not be the main attraction.
Biography
Sharon Gless, born Sharon Marguerite Gless on 31 May 1943 in Los Angeles, California, is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Sergeant Christine Cagney in the police procedural series Cagney & Lacey (1982–1988).
Gless began her career as a contract player with Universal Studios in the early 1970s, appearing in series such as Switch (1975–1978). She won two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards for her performances in Cagney & Lacey and The Trials of Rosie O'Neill (1990–1992). Later television roles include Debbie Novotny in Queer as Folk (2000–2005) and Madeline Westen in Burn Notice (2007–2013).
In 1991, Gless married Barney Rosenzweig, the executive producer of Cagney & Lacey.
