Bob Shepherd

Sally-Jane Heit was born in Brooklyn into a tumultuous, arts loving Jewish family with eight children and modest means. Her need to garner attention among her siblings stirred her natural abilities as a performer - singing, dancing, and acting. At home, she felt like just another sister, just another daughter, but on stage, she was special and she thrived in the spotlight. As a child, she trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse and as a teenager, studied at New York’s High School of Performing Arts, where Martha Graham and Sidney Lumet served as her mentors. Her ambition was to become a big-time movie musical star. She and Betty Grable had the same shoe size.