Shirley MacLaine
French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 742. Photo: Paramount, 1956.
American actress Shirley MacLaine (1934) is among Hollywood's most unique stars. With her auburn hair cut impishly short, she made her film debut in Hitchcock's black comedy The Trouble With Harry (1955). She earned Oscar nominations for Some Came Running (1959), for Billy Wilder's The Apartment, and for Irma La Douce (1963). Later triumphs included Sweet Charity! (1969), The Turning Point (1977), Being There (1979) and Terms of Endearment (1983). And she's still going strong.
Shirley MacLaine was born Shirley MacLean Beaty in 1934 in Richmond, USA. She was the daughter of drama coach and former actress Kathlyn MacLean Beaty and Ira O. Beaty, a professor of psychology and philosophy. Her younger brother, Warren Beatty, also grew up to be an important Hollywood figure as an actor/director/producer and screenwriter. MacLaine took dance lessons from age two, first performed publicly at age four, and at 16 went to New York, making her Broadway debut as a chorus girl in Me and Juliet (1953). When not scrambling for theatrical work, MacLaine worked as a model. Her big break came in 1954 when she was understudying Broadway actress Carol Haney in The Pajama Game. Haney fractured her ankle, MacLaine replaced her and was spotted, and offered a movie contract by producer Hal Wallis. Her film debut was Alfred Hitchcock's black comedy The Trouble With Harry (1955). Later that year, she co-starred opposite Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in the comedy Artists and Models (Frank Tashlin, 1955). In her next feature, Around the World in 80 Days (Michael Anderson, 1956), she appeared as an Indian princess. The film was completed not too long before her daughter, Sachi Parker (born Stephanie), was born. Father was her husband Steve Parker, whom she had married in 1954 and would divorce in 1982.
Shirley MacLaine earned her first Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a pathetic tart who shocks a conservative town by showing up on the arm of young war hero Frank Sinatra in Some Came Running (Vincente Minnelli, 1959). She then got the opportunity to show off her long legs and dancing talents in Can-Can (Walter Lang, 1960). Prior to that, she appeared in a bit part with Rat Packers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Peter Lawford in Oceans Eleven (Lewis Milestone, 1960). MacLaine, the only female member of the famed group, would later recount her experiences with them in her seventh book My Lucky Stars. In 1960, she won her second Oscar nomination for Billy Wilder's comedy/drama The Apartment, and the third nomination for Irma La Douce (Billy Wilder, 1963), both opposite Jack Lemmon. MacLaine's career was in high gear during the 1960s, with her appearing in everything from dramas to madcap comedies to musicals such as What a Way to Go! (J. Lee Thompson, 1964) and Bob Fosse's Sweet Charity! (1969). In addition to her screen work, she actively participated in Robert Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign and served as a Democratic Convention delegate. She was similarly involved in George McGovern's 1972 campaign.
Bored by sitting around on movie sets all day awaiting her scenes, Shirley MacLaine started writing down her thoughts and was thus inspired to add writing to her list of talents. She published her first book, Don't Fall Off the Mountain in 1970. She next tried her hand at series television in 1971, starring in the comedy Shirley's World (1971-72) as a globe-trotting photographer. The role reflected her real-life reputation as a world traveller, and these experiences resulted in her second book Don't Fall Off the Mountain and the documentary The Other Half of the Sky - A China Memoir (1975) which she scripted, produced, and co-directed with Claudia Weill. MacLaine returned to Broadway in 1976 with a spectacular one-woman show A Gypsy in My Soul, and the following year entered a new phase in her career playing a middle-aged former ballerina who regrets leaving dance to live a middle-class life in The Turning Point (Herbert Ross, 1977). It meant her fourth Best Actress Oscar nomination. MacLaine was also memorable starring as a lonely political wife opposite Peter Sellers' simple-minded gardener in Being There (Hal Asby, 1979), but did not again attract too much attention until she played the over-protective, eccentric widow Aurora Greenway in Terms of Endearment (James L. Brooks, 1983). After 20 years in the film industry, she finally took home the Best Actress Oscar for this role. In 1983, she also published the candid Out on a Limb, bravely risking public ridicule by describing her experiences and theories concerning out-of-body travel and reincarnation.
Shirley MacLaine's film appearances were sporadic through the mid-'80s, although she did appear in a few television specials. In 1988, she came back strong with three great roles in Madame Sousatzka (John Schlesinger, 1988), Steel Magnolias (Herbert Ross, 1989), and particularly Postcards from the Edge (Mike Nichols, 1990), in which she played a fading star clinging to her own career while helping her daughter (Meryl Streep), a drug-addicted, self-destructive actress. Through the '90s, MacLaine specialized in playing rather crusty and strong-willed eccentrics, such as her title character in the comedy Guarding Tess (Hugh Wilson, 1994). In 1997, MacLaine stole scenes as a wise grande dame who helps pregnant, homeless Ricki Lake in Mrs. Winterbourne (Richard Benjamin, 1997), and the same year revived Aurora Greenway in The Evening Star (Robert Harling, 1997), the critically maligned sequel to Terms of Endearment. MacLaine's onscreen performances were few and far between in the first half of the next decade, but in 2005 she returned in relatively full force, appearing in three features. She took on a pair of grandmother roles in the comedy-dramas In Her Shoes (Curtis Hanson, 2005) and Rumor Has It... (Rob Reiner, 2005), and was a perfect fit for the part of Endora in the big-screen take on the classic sitcom Bewitched (Nora Ephron, 2005). In the coming years, McLaine would continue to give critically acclaimed performances in movies like Coco Chanel (Christian Duguay, 2008), Valentine's Day, (Garry Marshall, 2010), and Bernie (Richard Linklater, 2011). For a long time, MacLaine did seminars on her books, but in the mid-'90s stopped giving talks, claiming she did not want "to be anyone's guru." She does, however, continue writing and remains a popular writer. For 2015, four new films with her are announced or in pre-production.
Sources: AllMovie, Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Shirley MacLaine
French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 742. Photo: Paramount, 1956.
American actress Shirley MacLaine (1934) is among Hollywood's most unique stars. With her auburn hair cut impishly short, she made her film debut in Hitchcock's black comedy The Trouble With Harry (1955). She earned Oscar nominations for Some Came Running (1959), for Billy Wilder's The Apartment, and for Irma La Douce (1963). Later triumphs included Sweet Charity! (1969), The Turning Point (1977), Being There (1979) and Terms of Endearment (1983). And she's still going strong.
Shirley MacLaine was born Shirley MacLean Beaty in 1934 in Richmond, USA. She was the daughter of drama coach and former actress Kathlyn MacLean Beaty and Ira O. Beaty, a professor of psychology and philosophy. Her younger brother, Warren Beatty, also grew up to be an important Hollywood figure as an actor/director/producer and screenwriter. MacLaine took dance lessons from age two, first performed publicly at age four, and at 16 went to New York, making her Broadway debut as a chorus girl in Me and Juliet (1953). When not scrambling for theatrical work, MacLaine worked as a model. Her big break came in 1954 when she was understudying Broadway actress Carol Haney in The Pajama Game. Haney fractured her ankle, MacLaine replaced her and was spotted, and offered a movie contract by producer Hal Wallis. Her film debut was Alfred Hitchcock's black comedy The Trouble With Harry (1955). Later that year, she co-starred opposite Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in the comedy Artists and Models (Frank Tashlin, 1955). In her next feature, Around the World in 80 Days (Michael Anderson, 1956), she appeared as an Indian princess. The film was completed not too long before her daughter, Sachi Parker (born Stephanie), was born. Father was her husband Steve Parker, whom she had married in 1954 and would divorce in 1982.
Shirley MacLaine earned her first Oscar nomination for her portrayal of a pathetic tart who shocks a conservative town by showing up on the arm of young war hero Frank Sinatra in Some Came Running (Vincente Minnelli, 1959). She then got the opportunity to show off her long legs and dancing talents in Can-Can (Walter Lang, 1960). Prior to that, she appeared in a bit part with Rat Packers Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., and Peter Lawford in Oceans Eleven (Lewis Milestone, 1960). MacLaine, the only female member of the famed group, would later recount her experiences with them in her seventh book My Lucky Stars. In 1960, she won her second Oscar nomination for Billy Wilder's comedy/drama The Apartment, and the third nomination for Irma La Douce (Billy Wilder, 1963), both opposite Jack Lemmon. MacLaine's career was in high gear during the 1960s, with her appearing in everything from dramas to madcap comedies to musicals such as What a Way to Go! (J. Lee Thompson, 1964) and Bob Fosse's Sweet Charity! (1969). In addition to her screen work, she actively participated in Robert Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign and served as a Democratic Convention delegate. She was similarly involved in George McGovern's 1972 campaign.
Bored by sitting around on movie sets all day awaiting her scenes, Shirley MacLaine started writing down her thoughts and was thus inspired to add writing to her list of talents. She published her first book, Don't Fall Off the Mountain in 1970. She next tried her hand at series television in 1971, starring in the comedy Shirley's World (1971-72) as a globe-trotting photographer. The role reflected her real-life reputation as a world traveller, and these experiences resulted in her second book Don't Fall Off the Mountain and the documentary The Other Half of the Sky - A China Memoir (1975) which she scripted, produced, and co-directed with Claudia Weill. MacLaine returned to Broadway in 1976 with a spectacular one-woman show A Gypsy in My Soul, and the following year entered a new phase in her career playing a middle-aged former ballerina who regrets leaving dance to live a middle-class life in The Turning Point (Herbert Ross, 1977). It meant her fourth Best Actress Oscar nomination. MacLaine was also memorable starring as a lonely political wife opposite Peter Sellers' simple-minded gardener in Being There (Hal Asby, 1979), but did not again attract too much attention until she played the over-protective, eccentric widow Aurora Greenway in Terms of Endearment (James L. Brooks, 1983). After 20 years in the film industry, she finally took home the Best Actress Oscar for this role. In 1983, she also published the candid Out on a Limb, bravely risking public ridicule by describing her experiences and theories concerning out-of-body travel and reincarnation.
Shirley MacLaine's film appearances were sporadic through the mid-'80s, although she did appear in a few television specials. In 1988, she came back strong with three great roles in Madame Sousatzka (John Schlesinger, 1988), Steel Magnolias (Herbert Ross, 1989), and particularly Postcards from the Edge (Mike Nichols, 1990), in which she played a fading star clinging to her own career while helping her daughter (Meryl Streep), a drug-addicted, self-destructive actress. Through the '90s, MacLaine specialized in playing rather crusty and strong-willed eccentrics, such as her title character in the comedy Guarding Tess (Hugh Wilson, 1994). In 1997, MacLaine stole scenes as a wise grande dame who helps pregnant, homeless Ricki Lake in Mrs. Winterbourne (Richard Benjamin, 1997), and the same year revived Aurora Greenway in The Evening Star (Robert Harling, 1997), the critically maligned sequel to Terms of Endearment. MacLaine's onscreen performances were few and far between in the first half of the next decade, but in 2005 she returned in relatively full force, appearing in three features. She took on a pair of grandmother roles in the comedy-dramas In Her Shoes (Curtis Hanson, 2005) and Rumor Has It... (Rob Reiner, 2005), and was a perfect fit for the part of Endora in the big-screen take on the classic sitcom Bewitched (Nora Ephron, 2005). In the coming years, McLaine would continue to give critically acclaimed performances in movies like Coco Chanel (Christian Duguay, 2008), Valentine's Day, (Garry Marshall, 2010), and Bernie (Richard Linklater, 2011). For a long time, MacLaine did seminars on her books, but in the mid-'90s stopped giving talks, claiming she did not want "to be anyone's guru." She does, however, continue writing and remains a popular writer. For 2015, four new films with her are announced or in pre-production.
Sources: AllMovie, Wikipedia, and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.