Shirley Schmidt
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Shirley Schmidt is a fictional character in the ABC Television Network series Boston Legal. She is portrayed by Candice Bergen.
Shirley is a woman in late middle age, who together with Denny Crane (William Shatner) and Edwin Poole (Larry Miller), founded the show's fictional Boston law firm, Crane, Poole & Schmidt (as she puts it to young junior associates, "I'm Schmidt"). She and Crane had a sexual/romantic relationship many years in the past, but now her chief role, aside from star litigator and top decision-maker, is to rein in Denny's excessive behavior and oversee damage control in the wake of his public statements. She has an elderly father who is comatose in a local hospital, and visits him periodically to talk with him and read aloud his favorite books. She was married for four years with Ivan Tiggs (Tom Selleck).
Shirley first entered the Boston Offices when she was called back by Paul Lewiston. It was stated by Lori Colson that Shirley had spent the last three years in the New York Offices, and that Lewiston called her back to kick things into shape. This was brought on by the drop in litigation and the behaviour of mostly Denny Crane. As soon as Shirley returned she butted heads with first Alan Shore; who she had a confrontation with in the men's bathroom and then Denny Crane, who found he was still attracted to Shirley after she whispered those two, combustible little words: "Denny Crane." She then proceeded to fire an assistant; Maddie, who had filed a Title IX complaint stating, among other things, that the men had better fixtures. Maddie tried to stand up to Shirley, saying that she couldn't fire her for bringing a Title IX, to which Shirley merely replied by saying: "What are you going to do sweetheart sue me? You've already done that. Call your persuasive lawyer, tell him to add a count for wrongful termination. Bye-bye." Shirley made waves only moments later by berating Sally Heep for her dress sense. Within the next day Shirley had taken on a massive case involving a man suing the United States Government. Whereas nobody else seemed able to get the Federal Judge to see their cause of action, Shirley did so, resulting in the Judge denying the United State's motion to dismiss. It is unknown what became of that law suit.
Within the next week Shirley fired Sally Heep, stating that whilst her work was good, it wasn't up to the standard expected at Crane, Poole and Schmidt. When Sally asked her how she could come in and after one week fire someone she didn't know, Shirley replied: "I'm Schmidt." She then dealt with Alan Shore's sexual harassment of Nora Jacobs and proceeded to take a position as top woman at the firm, becoming an immensely feared but respected woman. Although good friends with Lori Colson, she later ushered her out of the firm when Lori brought a sexual harassment case against Denny Crane. This proved that Shirley was not to be messed with.
She most recently had to suppress the auctioning of some "tasteful" nude photographs of her which had been taken by a photographer with whom she had had an adulterous sexual liaison decades ago (the photographer was married at the time, whereas Schmidt was not). Alan Shore (James Spader) finally persuaded the photographer's vengeful widow to sell him the photos so as to keep the public (and Schmidt's grandchildren) from seeing them.
Recently, she and Ivan were on opposing sides in a case, Ivan saying he still wanted Shirley. He told her he and his new wife (a bubbly young woman named Missy) were divorcing and he and Shirley renewed their relationship. However, when Missy came to Shirley, saying she suspected Ivan was cheating on her, Shirley realized Ivan had lied about the marriage being over and broke it off. She then helped Missy create a "post-nup" so that if Ivan cheated on her, Missy would get a sizable portion of his earnings and estate. Missy thanked Shirley for making sure Ivan would never cheat on her with anyone and Shirley realized Missy had known all along about them and used Shirley's guilt to get the post-nup created.
Denny tried to cheer her up afterward by telling her that men knew they weren't worthy of Shirley "but the mere possibility sustains us."
