1960s and ’70s teen idol idol was 81

Bobby Sherman, the pop singer and actor who rose to fame as a teen heartthrob in the 1960s, has died at 81.

His longtime wife, Brigitte Poublon, announced his death on social media Tuesday, three months after she disclosed that Sherman had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

“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,” Poublon wrote. “I was his Cinderella, and he was my Prince Charming. Even in his final days, he stayed strong for me.”

Born in Los Angeles to a milkman father and stay-at-home mother, Sherman began his career as a singer on such shows as Hollywood a Go Go and Shindig! before landing his breakout role as shy logger Jeremy Bolt on the comedy Western series Here Come the Brides.

Alongside that exposure, Sherman embarked on a music career that launched his teen idol status, recording more than 10 albums and 100 songs that included such chart hits as “Little Woman,” “Easy Come, Easy Go,” “La La La,” and “Julie, Do Ya Love Me.”

Referred to as Bubblegum Bobby and a fixture on the cover of teen magazines, lunch boxes, and other merch for adoring young fans, Sherman also continued to act during that period. His notable screen credits included The Partridge Family and its short-lived spin-off Getting Together; The Love Boat; Murder, She Wrote; and Sanchez of Bel Air.

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in 1989, after his heartthrob era, a 45-year-old Sherman mused, “I wasn’t glad that it was over. It was inevitable, there’d been so much over-saturation. Anyway, there were other things I wanted to do.”

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Indeed, it was a guest appearance on a 1974 episode of the medical rescue drama Emergency! that inspired a different career path for Sherman, who became a paramedic and medical training officer in his native L.A. in the ’90s. He left the entertainment industry during that time, becoming a technical reserve police officer with the LAPD. He would also serve as deputy sheriff with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, retiring in 2010.

Poublon remembered her husband as someone “much more” than a Hollywood star in her social media tribute, heralding him as “a man of service.” She added, “He traded sold-out concerts and magazine covers for the back of an ambulance… he saved lives. He showed us what real heroism looks like — quiet, selfless, and deeply human.”

In addition to his wife, Sherman is survived by his two sons, Tyler and Christopher, and six grandchildren.