Shirley MacLaine
(born April 24, 1934) is an American film and theater actress, dancer, activist, and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career.
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SHIRLEY MACLAINE TICKETS
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Early life
Named after
Shirley Temple, MacLaine was born
Shirley MacLean Beaty
in
Richmond, Virginia. Her father, Ira Owens Beaty,
[1] was a professor of psychology, public school administrator and real estate agent, and her mother, Kathlyn Corinne (
née MacLean), was a
Nova Scotia-born drama teacher; her grandparents were also teachers. Through her mother she is descended from the
Scottish Clan Maclean. The family was devoutly Baptist.
[2] [3] MacLaine's father moved the family from Richmond to
Norfolk, Virginia and then to
Arlington, VirginiaArlington, Virginia, while she was still a child, then to
Waverley, Virginia between 1932 and 1936, eventually taking a position at Arlington's Jefferson Middle School. The Beaty family lived in a house in the Western part of the county off Wilson Boulevard where it was said that Shirley and brother,
Warren were known around their neighborhood as troublemakers in their pre-adolescent days.
Her early childhood dream was to be a ballerina. Strongly motivated by ballet throughout her youth, she never missed a class. When a piece was performed, she would play the boy's role, being the tallest participant. She was so determined and so set on being a dancer that her recurring childhood nightmare was that she missed the bus to class. She finally played a respectable woman's role, the Fairy Godmother in
Cinderella
, and while warming up backstage, she snapped her ankle. Many would bow out in this particular situation, but she was so determined that she simply tied the ankle ribbon on her toe shoes extra tight and went "on with the show". After it was over, she called for an ambulance.
Eventually, MacLaine decided that professional ballet was not for her. She said that she did not really have the right body type and that she did not want to starve herself. Also, her feet were not "beautifully constructed" (without high arches and insteps). Nor was she of "exquisite beauty". At that point, she decided to switch her focus to acting. She attended Washington-Lee High School, where she was on the cheerleading squad and acted in the school's productions. The summer before her senior year, she was in New York to try acting on Broadway with some success. After she graduated, she returned and within a year she achieved her goal of becoming a star when she became an understudy to actress
Carol Haney in
The Pajama Game
; Haney broke her ankle, and MacLaine replaced her.
A few months after, with Haney still out of commission, film producer
Hal B. Wallis was in the audience, took note of MacLaine, and signed her to work for
Paramount Pictures. She would later sue Wallis over a contractual dispute, a suit that is credited with having ended the old-style studio system of actor management.
[4]
Career
{{#if:June 2007{{#ifexist:Category:Articles to be expanded since June 2007
{{#ifexist:Category:Wikipedia articles needing copy edit from July 2008
She made her debut in the
Alfred Hitchcock film
The Trouble with Harry
(1955), which won her the
Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year - Actress. In 1956, she took parts in
Hot Spell
and
Around the World in Eighty Days
. At the same time, she starred in
Some Came Running
; this film gave her her first Academy Award nomination - one of five that the film received - and a Golden Globe nomination.
She got her second nomination two years later for
The Apartment
, starring with
Jack Lemmon. The film won 5 Oscars, including Best Director for
Billy Wilder. She later said, "I thought I would win for The Apartment, but then Elizabeth Taylor had a tracheotomy". She starred in
The Children's Hour
(1961) also starring
Audrey Hepburn, based on the play by
Lillian Hellman. She was again nominated for
Irma la Douce
(1963), for which she reunited with Wilder and Lemmon.
In 1975, she received a nomination for
Best Documentary Feature for her documentary film
The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir
. Two years later, she was once again nominated for
The Turning Point
, along with co-star
Anne Bancroft. In 1983 she won her first Oscar for
Terms of Endearment
. The film won five Oscars; one for
Jack Nicholson and three for director
James L. Brooks. In the awards season for films of 1988, she became the first actress since the inception of the
Golden Globe Awards to win a
Golden Globe for Best Actress (Drama)—for
Madame Sousatzka
—without getting an Oscar nomination for the same performance (
Kate Winslet became the second for her performance in
Revolutionary Road
(2008)). MacLaine won her award for
Madame Sousatzka
in a three-way tie with
Jodie Foster (
The Accused
) and
Sigourney Weaver (
Gorillas in the Mist
).
She continued to star in major films, like
Steel Magnolias
with
Julia Roberts. She made her feature-film directorial debut in the quirky film
Bruno,
written by then new-comer
David Ciminello in his Disney-Meets-David Lynch style. MacLaine starred as Helen in this film, which was released to video as
The Dress Code
. In 2007 she completed
Closing the Ring
, directed by
Richard Attenborough and starring
Christopher Plummer. Other notable films in which MacLaine has starred include
Two Mules for Sister Sara
(1970) with
Clint Eastwood,
Being There
(1979) with
Peter Sellers,
Used People
with
Jessica Tandy and
Kathy Bates,
Guarding Tess
with
Nicholas Cage,
Sweet Charity
(1968),
Rumor Has It
with
Kevin Costner and
Jennifer Aniston and
In Her Shoes
with
Cameron Diaz.
MacLaine is also set to star in
Poor Things
, a drama. The production has been delayed due to
Lindsay Lohan's period in rehab.
MacLaine has also appeared in numerous television projects including
Out on a Limb
, an autobiographical miniseries based upon the book of the same name,
The Salem Witch Trials
,
These Old Broads
written by
Carrie Fisher and co-starring
Elizabeth Taylor,
Debbie Reynolds, and
Joan Collins, and
Coco
, a
Lifetime production based on the life of
Coco Chanel. She also had a short-lived sit-com called
Shirley's World
.
MacLaine has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1615 Vine Street.
Personal life
MacLaine was married to businessman Steve Parker until they divorced in 1982. They had a daughter,
Sachi Parker (born 1956).
MacLaine's interest in spirituality is very strong and long-lived. Many of her best-selling books, such as
Out on a Limb
and
Dancing in the Light
have it as their central theme. Her beliefs have compelled her to explore herself and the world. This includes walking
El Camino de Santiago and working with
Chris Griscom.
MacLaine found her way into many law school casebooks when she sued
Twentieth Century-Fox for
breach of contract. She was to play a role in a film titled
Bloomer Girl
, but the production was cancelled.
Twentieth Century-Fox offered her a role in another film,
Big Country, Big Man
, in hope of getting out of its contractual obligation to pay her for the cancelled film. MacLaine's refusal led to an appeal by Twentieth Century-Fox to the
Supreme Court of California in 1970, where the Court ruled against Fox.
Parker v. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.
, 474 P.2d 689 (Cal. 1970).
Filmography
Year
| Film
| Role
| Notes
|
1955
| The Trouble with Harry
| Jennifer Rogers
| Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
|
Artists and Models
| Bessie Sparrowbrush
|
|
1956
| Around the World in 80 Days
| Princess Aouda
|
|
1958
| Some Came Running
| Ginnie Moorehead
| Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
|
The Sheepman
| Dell Payton
|
|
Hot Spell
| Virginia Duval
|
|
The Matchmaker
| Irene Molloy
|
|
Ask Any Girl (film)
| Meg Wheeler
| BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress Silver Bear for Best Actress Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
|
1959
| Career
| Sharon Kensington
|
|
1960
| Ocean's Eleven
| Tipsy girl
| uncredited cameo
|
Can-Can
| Simone Pistache
|
|
The Apartment
| Fran Kubelik
| BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Volpi Cup Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
|
1961
| The Children's Hour
| Martha Dobie
| Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
|
All in a Night's Work
| Katie Robbins
|
|
Two Loves
| Anna Vorontosov
|
|
1962
| Two for the Seesaw
| Gittel Mosca
|
|
My Geisha
| Lucy Dell/Yoko Mori
|
|
1963
| Irma la Douce
| Irma la Douce
| Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
|
1964
| The Yellow Rolls-Royce
| Mae Jenkins
|
|
What a Way to Go!
| Louisa May Foster
| Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
|
1965
| John Goldfarb, Please Come Home
| Jenny Erichson
|
|
1966
| Gambit
| Nicole Chang
| Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
|
1967
| Woman Times Seven
| Paulette/Maria Teresa/Linda/Edith/Eve Minou/Marie/Jeanne
| Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
|
1968
| The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom
| Harriet Blossom
|
|
1969
| Sweet Charity
| Charity Hope Valentine
| Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
|
1970
| Two Mules for Sister Sara
| Sara
|
|
1971
| Desperate Characters
| Sophie Bentwood
| Silver Bear for Best Actress
|
1972
| The Possession of Joel Delaney
| Norah Benson
|
|
1975
| The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir
| Herself
| Documentary Writer, direct, producer Nominated — Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary
|
1977
| The Turning Point
| Deedee Rodgers
| Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
|
1979
| Being There
| Eve Rand
| Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
|
1980
| A Change of Seasons
| Karyn Evans
|
|
Loving Couples
| Evelyn
|
|
1983
| Terms of Endearment
| Aurora Greenway
| Academy Award for Best Actress David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress National Board of Review Award for Best Actress New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
|
1984
| Cannonball Run II
| Veronica
|
|
1987
| Out on a Limb
| Herself
| Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
|
1988
| Madame Sousatzka
| Madame Yuvline Sousatzka
| Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama Volpi Cup
|
1989
| Steel Magnolias
| Ouiser Boudreaux
| Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
|
1990
| Postcards from the Edge
| Doris Mann
| Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
|
Waiting for the Light
| Aunt Zena
|
|
1991
| Defending Your Life
| "Past Lives Pavilion" host
|
|
1992
| Used People
| Pearl Berman
| Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
|
1993
| Wrestling Ernest Hemingway
| Helen Cooney
|
|
1994
| Guarding Tess
| Tess Carlisle
| Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
|
1995
| The West Side Waltz
| Margaret Mary Elderdice
|
|
1996
| The Evening Star
| Aurora Greenway
|
|
Mrs. Winterbourne
| Grace Winterbourne
| Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
|
1997
| A Smile Like Yours
| Martha
| uncredited
|
1999
| Joan of Arc
| Madame de Beaurevoir
|
|
2000
| Bruno
| Helen
| Directed by Shirley MacLaine
|
2001
| These Old Broads
| Kate Westbourne
|
|
2002
| Salem Witch Trials
| Rebecca Nurse
|
|
Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay
| Mary Kay
| Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
|
2003
| Carolina
| Grandma Millicent Mirabeau
|
|
2005
| Rumor Has It
| Katharine Richelieu
|
|
Bewitched
| Iris Smythson/Endora
|
|
In Her Shoes
| Ella Hirsch
| Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
|
2007
| Closing the Ring
| Ethel Ann
|
|
2008
| Coco Chanel
| Coco Chanel
| Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
|
Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning
| Amelia Thomas
|
|
2010
| Valentine's Day
|
|
|
TV work
- Shirley's World
(1971 – 1972) and a 1977 one hour special.
- Where Do We Go From Here?
(1978) Winner of the Rose D'Or
- Out on a Limb
(1987)
References
- New England Historic Genealogical Society
- The religion of Warren Beatty, actor, director
- Actor Warren Beatty gives public-policy graduates — and Gov. Schwarzenegger — some advice on power
- ''Hanrihan v. Parker'', 19 Misc. 2d 467, 469 (N.Y. Misc. 1959)