Bobby Sherman, Here Come The Brides star and teen idol, dies

Bobby Sherman, who rose to fame as Jeremy Bolt on the hit TV series Here Come The Brides, has died of cancer at the age of 81, just shy of his 82nd birthday.

Bobby gained recognition in 1964 when he was hired as the house singer on the variety show Shindig. After the show ended in 1966, he made guest appearances on several TV programs, including The Monkees, The F.B.I., and Honey West. In 1968 he was cast as Jeremy, the youngest of the three Bolt brothers, with Robert Brown and David Soul playing the other two. The Bolts owned a mountain and a logging operation in Seattle, and when their loggers threatened to leave town due to a shortage of women, the brothers traveled to New England to recruit 100 potential brides. When the series aired, Bobby received such a volume of fan mail that many episodes began to center around his character. He also secured a recording contract and quickly started releasing hit records.

In Jonathan Etter’s 2015 book, Gangway, Lord! The Here Come The Brides, Executive Producer Bob Claver mentioned that they had many shows focused on Bobby's character, stating, "Those were my favorites because I liked the character and all the rest of it. Bobby had a solid core of people that liked him, as they should have. He was an interesting actor."

Bobby soon became a teen idol, gracing the covers of fan magazines and touring the country to perform concerts when he wasn't working on Here Come The Brides. He had several hit songs, including "Julie, Do Ya Love Me," "Little Woman," "Easy Come, Easy Go," and "The Drum." When the series concluded in 1971, he made a guest appearance on The Partridge Family that led to his own series, Getting Together. That same year, he married Patti Carnel, with whom he had two sons, Christopher and Tyler. They divorced in 1977 and three years later, Patti married Bobby's Here Come the Brides co-star, David Soul, who had played his brother on the show. This was Soul's third marriage, and it ended six years later amidst alcohol and physical abuse allegations.

Guest appearances on numerous shows followed, including Mod Squad (2 episodes), Emergency, The Love Boat (2 episodes), Fantasy Island and Murder She Wrote. Bobby became a regular on the series The Sanchez of Bel Air in 1986 and made a cameo on Frasier, playing himself. By that time, he'd already decided to retire from show business and give back to the community.

In the late 1970s, he decided to learn CPR and first aid training for the sake of his two young sons. He became an EMT who trained paramedics in CPR and first aid at the Los Angeles Police Academy. He also served as a reserve police officer in L.A., and as a deputy sheriff in San Bernardino County. During his time as an EMT, he saved lives and delivered more than one baby whose mother didn't make it to the hospital.

“There’s not a better feeling in the world than when you’re responsible for saving someone’s life,” he wrote in his memoir, Still Remembering You, published in 1996.

In 1998, he teamed up with Davy Jones of The Monkees and Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits for a limited series of concerts.

Bobby married his second wife, Brigitte Poublon, in 2011. Together they began the Brigitte & Bobby Sherman Children’s Foundation, a Ghana-based center that provides local children with quality education and programs, along with meals for the entire community.

Bobby leaves behind Brigitte, Christopher, Tyler, and six grandchildren. ~Alexandra Heilbron