Sabrina Scharf
- Actress
Sandra Mae Trentman, known as Sandy, was a typical small-town girl. She was in grade school when her parents divorced. It was during her seventh-grade year when her mother decided that a change was needed and they left Delphos, Ohio, and headed first to Van Wert, Ohio, for two years and then out west to Arizona. While attending high school in Tucson, her high school algebra teacher asked her to marry him. At 15, she thought this was her only chance and if she said no she would never get asked again so she said yes. They eloped later in San Diego where Sandy's mother had taken a job at Scripps Hospital. It became clear that a 15-year-old high school girl wasn't ready to settle down as a housewife and the marriage was annulled after three years.
After a short time studying pre-med at the University of Arizona, a newly-single Sandy recreated herself, now going by Sabrina Scharf (taking her mother's maiden name) and drove to New York, where she stopped at a Greenwich Village diner for a burger and ended up at a long table with members of a local off-Broadway theater group. When they found out she hadn't any lodgings, they invited her to stay at their theater and become an assistant. She had no intention of being an actress but soon landed a small role in one of the theater's productions. During rehearsals, it became apparent she was not a born thespian and that if she wished to pursue a career onstage, acting classes were in her future.
The Neighborhood Playhouse had the best acting program but had a strict rule that you had to be a full-time student. During a visit to California to see her mother, her New York agent asked her to meet their West Coast agents in Los Angeles. At that time, Columbia Studios was developing a company of low-salaried contract players. Scharf, a former Playboy Bunny by that time, and eleven other actors were signed by the studio. Her film career began in an episode of Gidget (1965) in 1965.
In 1972, Scharf ran for California State Senate in a bid to become the first woman ever elected to the upper house of that state's Legislature, losing by only 700 votes from more than 250,000 votes cast. Her husband, Bob Schiller (with whom she had two children), and his writing partner, Bob Weiskopf, were writing for the sitcom Maude (1972) at the time and used the experience as the basis for the "Maude Runs for Congress" episodes. Scharf later worked as a real estate developer in the Greater Los Angeles Area.
After a short time studying pre-med at the University of Arizona, a newly-single Sandy recreated herself, now going by Sabrina Scharf (taking her mother's maiden name) and drove to New York, where she stopped at a Greenwich Village diner for a burger and ended up at a long table with members of a local off-Broadway theater group. When they found out she hadn't any lodgings, they invited her to stay at their theater and become an assistant. She had no intention of being an actress but soon landed a small role in one of the theater's productions. During rehearsals, it became apparent she was not a born thespian and that if she wished to pursue a career onstage, acting classes were in her future.
The Neighborhood Playhouse had the best acting program but had a strict rule that you had to be a full-time student. During a visit to California to see her mother, her New York agent asked her to meet their West Coast agents in Los Angeles. At that time, Columbia Studios was developing a company of low-salaried contract players. Scharf, a former Playboy Bunny by that time, and eleven other actors were signed by the studio. Her film career began in an episode of Gidget (1965) in 1965.
In 1972, Scharf ran for California State Senate in a bid to become the first woman ever elected to the upper house of that state's Legislature, losing by only 700 votes from more than 250,000 votes cast. Her husband, Bob Schiller (with whom she had two children), and his writing partner, Bob Weiskopf, were writing for the sitcom Maude (1972) at the time and used the experience as the basis for the "Maude Runs for Congress" episodes. Scharf later worked as a real estate developer in the Greater Los Angeles Area.
