Tall, strong-featured, smart-mouthed singer and actress born Cherilyn Sarkisian, Cher ran away from home as a teenager and met Sonny Bono (her husband from 1964-75) when he was general assistant to record producer Phil Spector. Work as a backup singer for Spector groups like the Ronettes and the Crystals led to the recording of her first single for the producer, “Ringo, I Love You” (1964), under the name Bonnie Jo Mason. Cher and Bono then joined forces as Caesar & Cleo, but it wasn’t long before they changed their name to Sonny and Cher, the handle by which they would come to prominence singing the hit singles “Baby, Don’t Go”, “I Got You Babe” (both 1965) and “The Beat Goes On” (1967), among others. Even while married to Sonny, Cher began recording solo, enjoying success throughout her career for songs like “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves”, “Take Me Home”, “Half Breed”, “If I Could Turn Back Time” and “One By One”.
After years of performing in clubs and auditoriums, Sonny and Cher finally got the opportunity to host their own summer variety show, “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour” (CBS, 1971-74), which did so well that it returned the following season to become a hit regular series. The couple’s soft rock sound, daring psychedelic wardrobe (including Cher’s famously extravagant hairstyles, headdresses and wigs), irreverent delivery and natural rapport with the audience aptly captured the mood of the times. After they divorced, she hosted her own series, the so-so “Cher” (CBS, 1975-76), and then reunited professionally with her ex-husband for “The Sonny and Cher Show” (CBS, 1976-77). Her put-downs of Sonny, which had seemed funny when the two were man and wife, however, just didn’t work as well as before, and the series limped along for a season and a half before its cancellation. Thereafter, Cher turned up in innumerable variety and interview specials.
Sonny and Cher appeared as themselves in the groovy feature films “Wild on the Beach” (1965) and “Good Times” (1967), after which Cher made her acting debut in the coming of age film scripted by Bono, “Chastity” (1969, also the name of their daughter). She made her stage debut in the Robert Altman-directed “Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean” (1981) and reprised her role for his 1982 film version. No one really took her seriously as an actress, though, until Mike Nichols’ “Silkwood” (1983), in which she played Meryl Streep’s blue-collar lesbian friend and received an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress. Finally, Cher had earned serious acclaim for her acting, displaying an intensity and control alongside the good-humored flamboyance which had helped make her famous. Despite her battles with director Peter Bogdanovich, she continued her growth as the biker mother of a horribly disfigured child in “Mask” (1985), winning the Best Actress Award at Cannes for her efforts and establishing herself as an A-list Hollywood actor.
Her increased stature brought Cher starring roles in three 1987 features, “The Witches of Eastwick”, “Suspect” and “Moonstruck”. She delivered a charming performance as sensual sculptress Alexandra Medford, one of three man-hungry women, in “Witches”, although the film may have been unevenly weighted in Jack Nicholson’s favor. Cher turned in a fine and utterly believable performance as a dedicated public defender battling a near hopeless case in “Suspect”, but she was saving the best for last, a tour de force performance as a revitalized Italian woman in “Moonstruck”, for which she won that years’ Best Actress Academy Award. She then disappeared from the screen (but hardly out of the headlines) until 1990 when she appeared as a loopy romantic mother in “Mermaids”, her last film for six years, with the exception of cameos as herself in Robert Altman’s “The Player” (1992) and “Ready-to-Wear (Pret-a-Porter)” (1994).
After several years selling hair products and sugar substitute on TV, starting her own mail order home decor business and undergoing numerous plastic surgeries, Cher returned to the screen as a wealthy wife whose husband wants to kill her in the unsatisfying dark comedy “Faithless” ——–That same year, she also released her first recording in five years, “It’s a Man’s World”, and made her directing debut with a segment of the HBO anthology movie about abortion, “If These Walls Could Talk”. 1998 saw her executive produce and host “Sonny and Me: Cher Remembers”, a CBS special featuring footage from their old CBS comedy-variety shows and tributes to her late former husband. She also had another project in the works as executive producer, not to mention acting in a Franco Zeffirelli movie (“Tea With Mussolini” lensing 1998), giving every indication that this phoenix was on the rise again. She has a broad-based appeal, particularly among working-class women who have a deep empathy with her emotional life.
- Also Credited As:
Bonnie Jo Mason, Cher Bono, Cherilyn Sarkisian La Piere, Cheryl Sarkisian, Cleo
- Born:
on 05/20/46 in El Centro, California
- Job Titles:
Actor, Singer
Family
- Daughter: Chastity Bono. born on March 4, 1969; father, Sonny Bono; “outed” by a tabloid in 1990; officially came out as a lesbian in 1995; wrote book “Family Outing” published in 1998 by Litle, Brown
- Father: Gilbert La Piere. mother’s fifth husband (married in 1961); adopted Cher and her sister
- Father: John Sarkisian. Armenian; abandoned family when Cher was a few months old; married and divorced Cher’s mother twice
- Half-sister: Georganne Southall. born in September 1951; married Cher’s head of security, Ed Bartylak
- Mother: Georgia Holt. born c. 1927; married six times; Cherokee; author of “Star Mothers”
- Son: Elijah Blue Allman. born c. 1976; father, Greg Allman; plays with band Deadsy
- Step-father: John Southall. married to Cher’s mother in the early 1950s; father of Cher’s half-sister
Significant Others
- Husband: Greg Allman. married in June 1975; separated after nine days; reconciled and later divorced c. 1977; member of the Allman Brothers
- Husband: Sonny Bono. born on February 16, 1935; married on October 27, 1964; divorced in 1975; elected mayor of Palm Springs CA in 1988; elected a representative to the US Congress in 1994; died in a skiing accident on January 5, 1998
- Companion: David Geffen.
- Companion: David Paich. member of Toto
- Companion: Gene Simmons. member of KISS
- Companion: Les Dudek. worked together in the hard-rock band Black Rose
- Companion: Mark Hudson.
- Companion: Richie Sambora. together 1989-90; member of Bon Jovi; later married actress Heather Locklear
- Companion: Rob Camilletti. together 1987-89
- Companion: Val Kilmer. dated briefly in the 1980s
- Companion: Warren Beatty. had relationship with Beatty when she was a teenager
Milestones
- 1946 Father abandoned family when Cher was a few months old
- 1950 Placed in a Catholic home until mother could save enough money to support her (date approximate)
- 1962 Ran away from home at age 16 (date approximate)
- 1963 Met Sonny Bono at Aldo’s coffee shop in Los Angeles when he was general assistant to record producer Phil Spector; Bono got her work as background vocalist for Spector recordings (of the Ronettes and the Crystals)
- 1964 Began performing with Bono as ‘Caesar & Cleo’
- 1964 Recorded first song, “Ringo, I Love You,” as Bonnie Jo Mason (produced by Spector)
- 1965 Changed name to ‘Sonny and Cher’; reached Top Ten with singles “Baby Don’t Go” (8th) and “I Got You Babe” (Number One)
- 1965 Film acting debut in “Wild on the Beach”
- 1967 Played herself in William Friedkin’s “Good Times”
- 1969 Acted the title role in “Chastity”, a feature written by Sonny Bono
- 1969 Debuted Sonny and Cher nightclub act
- 1971 Appeared on TV in “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour” (CBS)
- 1981 Off-Broadway acting debut in “Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean”
- 1982 Reprised role of Cissy in movie version of “Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean”
- 1983 Earned Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Meryl Streep’s lesbian friend in Mike Nichols’ “Silkwood”
- 1985 Formed film production company, Isis (date approximate)
- 1985 Played Eric Stoltz’ handsome, piratical hippie mother in “Mask”
- 1985 Won the coveted Hasty Pudding Award as Woman of the Year at Harvard University
- 1987 Received Academy Award as Best Actress for “Moonstruck”
- 1990 Last film for six years, “Mermaids”
- 1991 First exercise video released, “CherFitness: A New Attitude”
- 1996 Directing debut with a segment of the anthology HBO movie “If These Walls Could Talk”; also starred in the segment she directed
- 1996 Released “It’s a Man’s World”; her first CD since 1991; took off on the strength of the single “One by One”
- 1996 Returned to big screen in disappointing “Faithful”
- 1998 Executive produced and hosted CBS special, “Sonny and Me: Cher Remembers”, a retrospective featuring clips from their CBS comedy-variety hours
- 1998 Gave eulogy at former husband Sonny Bono’s funeral
- 1998 Returned to films in the ensemble of Franco Zeffirelli’s “Tea With Mussolini”
- 2003 Cameo apperance in the Farrelly brothers comedy “Stuck on You”
- 2003 Received grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording, for “Love One Another”
- After the divorce, reteamed with Bono for “The Sonny and Cher Show” (CBS)
- Got out of her seven figure contract as the spokesperson for sugar substitute Equal
- Had solo TV series, “Cher” (CBS)
- Made herself the target of much lampooning during her “Infomercial Diva” phase
