Bobby Sherman, the teen idol and actor who captivated audiences in the late 1960s and early 1970s with hits like “Little Woman” and his role on “Here Come the Brides,” died Tuesday, June 24, at age 81. His wife, Brigitte Poublon, announced his death on social media through a friend, John Stamos.
Poublon revealed in March that Sherman had been diagnosed with Stage 4 kidney cancer. She described how her husband passed away peacefully, stating that “Bobby left this world holding my hand—just as he held up our life with love, courage, and unwavering grace through all 29 beautiful years of marriage.”
Born Robert Cabot Sherman Jr. on July 22, 1943, in Santa Monica, California, Sherman grew up in Van Nuys, where he graduated from Birmingham High School. The younger child and only son of Robert Cabot Sherman, a milkman, and Juanita Freeman Sherman, he learned to play trumpet at age 11 and eventually mastered 16 musical instruments.
Sherman’s entertainment career began serendipitously at age 19 when he met actor Sal Mineo, who helped him record songs. At a Hollywood party celebrating the premiere of “The Greatest Story Ever Told” in 1965, Sherman sang with a band that included high school friends. Among the impressed guests were Natalie Wood, Jane Fonda, and Sal Mineo, whose praise led to Sherman securing an agent and landing a role on the TV variety show “Shindig!”
Between 1964 and 1966, Sherman made 42 appearances on “Shindig!” before transitioning to his breakthrough role on “Here Come the Brides,” a comedy-western series that aired on ABC from 1968 to 1970. He portrayed Jeremy Bolt, a bashful 19th-century Seattle lumberjack and the youngest brother in a family logging business. Despite running only two seasons and 52 episodes, the show generated enormous popularity for Sherman, who reportedly received 25,000 pieces of fan mail weekly at the height of his fame.
Sherman’s recording career flourished simultaneously with his television success. His first single, “Little Woman,” reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969, becoming his biggest hit. He followed with three other Top 10 singles in 1969 and 1970: “La La La (If I Had You),” “Easy Come, Easy Go,” and “Julie, Do Ya Love Me.” By the end of 1972, Sherman had achieved seven gold singles, one platinum single, and 10 gold albums. TV Guide ranked him eighth in its 2005 list of the 25 greatest teen idols.
The teen idol appeared on countless magazine covers, particularly Tiger Beat and Sixteen magazines, and his image graced lunch boxes, cereal boxes, and bedroom posters of adoring fans. His popularity extended to variety shows including “The Ed Sullivan Show,” “The Johnny Cash Show,” and “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.” Sherman also starred in “Getting Together,” a 1971 spinoff of “The Partridge Family” about two young songwriters, though it lasted only 14 episodes due to competition from “All in the Family.”
In 1972, Sherman called a news conference to address revelations that he had secretly married his first wife, Patti Carnel, 14 months earlier when she was six months pregnant. The marriage license also revealed he was 28, not 25 as publicly stated. Sherman explained he was protecting his wife from the spotlight after an earlier pregnancy had ended in miscarriage. The couple divorced in 1977, and Carnel later married and divorced David Soul, Sherman’s co-star from “Here Come the Brides.”
After his entertainment career cooled in the mid-1970s, Sherman pursued his childhood dream of working in healthcare. He became a certified emergency medical technician in 1988 and served as chief medical training officer for the Los Angeles Police Department, teaching first aid and CPR to recruits while donating his salary. He also worked as a reserve deputy with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
Sherman’s second career proved fulfilling and impactful. By 1998, he had helped deliver five babies in car backseats and other unplanned locations. In one memorable case, after helping deliver a baby on a sidewalk, the new mother named her daughter Roberta. Sherman received the LAPD’s Reserve Officer of the Year award for 1999 and earned the FBI’s Exceptional Service Award.
In 2004, then-Representative Howard McKeon praised Sherman on the House floor, describing him as a stellar example of the statement “to protect and serve.” Sherman also co-founded a children’s foundation in Ghana with his second wife, Brigitte Poublon, whom he married in 2010.
Sherman continued acting sporadically through the 1980s, appearing on series like “The Mod Squad,” “Fantasy Island,” and “The Love Boat.” His final acting credit came in 1997 on “Frasier.” He also participated in the 1990s “Teen Idols Tour” with former heartthrobs Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones, and published a memoir titled “Still Remembering You” in 1996.
Sherman is survived by his wife Brigitte, two sons, Tyler and Christopher, from his first marriage, and six grandchildren. His transformation from teen idol to public servant exemplified his character, as Poublon noted in her announcement that he traded sold-out concerts and magazine covers for life-saving work in an ambulance.
