Deaths of San Francisco film patrons on I-5 described as ‘medically related'

The San Francisco film community was mourning Judy Wyler Sheldon and her husband, Wylie Sheldon, longtime arts patrons who were found dead Monday evening inside a running SUV near Redding (Shasta County) in what the California Highway Patrol described as an apparently "medically related" incident.

Sheldon, 84, the daughter of Oscar-winning filmmaker William Wyler, was a longtime leader of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. She and Wylie Sheldon, 86, were remembered Tuesday as generous hosts whose San Francisco home became a gathering place for visiting archivists, musicians and film lovers.

"We are reeling from this news," Anita Monga, artistic director of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, said in an email. "Judy and Wylie were very dear to us, supportive and a positive presence at all our events."

The Sheldons were found about 5:46 p.m. June 15 in a 2022 Jeep Compass stopped on the right shoulder of northbound Interstate 5, north of Fawndale Road, according to the CHP. Judith Sheldon was the driver, and Wylie Sheldon was the passenger, the agency said.

The vehicle was running when a CHP officer stopped to check on it, but both people inside were unresponsive, the agency said. A second CHP officer arrived, and the officers rendered medical aid along with medical personnel.

Both were pronounced dead at the scene in what appeared to be a medically related incident, according to the CHP. The agency said the circumstances and cause of death remain under investigation.

Redding was under a National Weather Service extreme heat warning that day, and temperatures in the area reached about 109 degrees, according to weather data. CHP has not said whether heat was a factor in the deaths.

The couple was en route to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. Investigators were retracing the couple's route from the Bay Area and checking where they may have stopped along the way.

The deaths reverberated through San Francisco's arts world, where Judy Wyler Sheldon was known not only for her Hollywood lineage but for her decades of work supporting silent film preservation.

In a statement, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival said Judy Sheldon's "generous support and positive spirit" had been a "buoying presence" at festival events for more than two decades.

Stacey Wisnia, the festival's executive director, said Sheldon attended "almost every program" she could remember since Wisnia joined the organization more than 20 years ago.

"Completely unassuming, she could always be found in the theater lobby engaged in lively conversations with festival musicians, special guests, and audience members," Wisnia said.

Wisnia said she would miss Sheldon's "warmth, curiosity, and charming stories about her travel adventures and her father, the great director William Wyler."

"She was a San Francisco treasure," Wisnia said.

After stepping down as president of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival's board, Sheldon became the organization's longtime chair, Monga said.

"I used to joke with her that she was our Frank Sinatra - Chairman of the Board," Monga said.

Monga said Judy and Wylie Sheldon hosted the festival's pre-festival welcome party for many years at their home in San Francisco's Pacific Heights.

"Judy would allow, actually encourage, our visiting film archivists and musicians to pose for pictures with her father William Wyler's Oscars," Monga said. "The perfect hosts."

She added, "I'm sorry to not be more articulate; this loss is so devastating."

Sheldon was born Judith Wyler in Los Angeles and was widely known in film and San Francisco arts circles as Judy Wyler Sheldon.

The daughter of Wyler and actress Margaret Tallichet, she had several screen credits in the 1950s, including appearances in "The Errol Flynn Theatre," "The Buccaneers" and "BBC Sunday-Night Theatre," before becoming a longtime advocate for silent film preservation.

In a 2007 interview, she said she became involved with the San Francisco Silent Film Festival after attending a retrospective of her father's early silent films in Pordenone, Italy. San Francisco Performances also listed Judy Sheldon as a co-chair of its 43rd season gala.

At the 2024 San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Sheldon introduced her father's 1929 silent Western "Hell's Heroes."

William Wyler was one of Hollywood's most acclaimed directors. His films included "Roman Holiday," "Ben-Hur," "The Best Years of Our Lives," "Mrs. Miniver," and "Wuthering Heights." He won three Academy Awards for directing.

Eddie Muller, founder of Noir City and a Turner Classic Movies host, said Judy and Wylie Sheldon were "two of the kindest, sweetest, most generous people I knew."

"Her warm and gregarious support of the film community represented the best of San Francisco's embrace of the Arts," Muller said. "She was so vital to the success of the Silent Film Festival."

Muller said he especially remembered Sheldon's participation in Noir City when the festival screened "Stranger on the Third Floor," the 1940 film starring her mother, Margaret Tallichet, that is often cited as an early landmark of film noir.

"For once, she got to honor her mom, instead of her more famous father," Muller said. "I just can't believe she's gone."

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This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 7:17 PM.