SHIRLEY MACLAINE

'Shirley MacLaine' (born April 24, 1934) is an Academy Award-winning American film and theatre actress, well-known not only for her acting, but for her devotion to her belief in reincarnation. She is also the writer of a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her new age beliefs, such as solipsism, as well as her Hollywood career. She is the older sister of Warren Beatty.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

References in popular culture

Filmography

TV work

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Named after Shirley Temple, MacLaine was born 'Shirley MacLean Beaty' in Richmond, Virginia's Bellevue neighborhood. Her father, Ira Owens Beaty,^[1] was a professor of psychology, public school administrator and real estate agent, and her mother, Kathlyn Corinne MacLean, was a Nova Scotia-born drama teacher; her grandparents were also teachers. The family was devoutly Baptist.^[2][3] MacLaine's father moved the family from Richmond to Norfolk, Virginia and then to Arlington, Virginia while she was still a child, then to Waverly, Virginia between 1932-1936, 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. She took ballet classes fervently all throughout her youth and never missed one, and whenever they performed a piece, she would play the boy's role, due to being the tallest one there. 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 got to play 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 go "on with the show." After it was over, she called for an ambulance.
Eventually, MacLaine decided that professional ballet wasn't for her. She said that she didn't really have the right body type and that she did not want to starve herself. Also, her feet weren't good enough (she didn't have really high arches and insteps). Nor was she an "exquisite beauty." At that point, she decided to switch her focus to acting. She attended Washington-Lee High School and was on the cheerleading squad and acted in school productions. The summer before her senior year, she went to New York to try acting on Broadway with some success. After she graduated, she went back 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, director-producer Hal B. Wallis was in the audience, took note of MacLaine, and signed her to go to Hollywood 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

Her first film was the Alfred Hitchcock film ''The Trouble with Harry'' in 1955. In 1958, she took part in ''Hot Spell'' and ''Around the World in Eighty Days''. At the same time, she stared in ''Some Came Running'', this film gave her her first Academy Award nomination. She got her second nomination in two years later for ''The Apartment'', one of her most famous films starring alongside Jack Lemmon and directed by Billy Wilder. This film won 5 Oscars, including Best Director. She was again nominated for ''Irma la Douce'', once again reunited with Wilder and Lemmon. In 1975, she also received a nomination for Best Documentary Feature for her documentary film ''. Two years later, she was once again nominated for ''The Turning Point'', as was her co-star Anne Bancroft. In 1983, she finally won her first Oscar for ''Terms of Endearment''. The film won 5 Oscars, including one for Jack Nicholson and three for director James L. Brooks. After she won an Oscar, she still starred in some major films, like ''Steel Magnolias'' with Julia Roberts. She also directed and starred in ''Bruno'' as Helen. She completed ''Closing the Ring'', directed by Richard Attenborough and staring Christopher Plummer, it will be released in 2007.
Maclaine is also set to star in Poor Things, a drama. The production has been delayed due to Lindsay Lohan's stint in rehab.
As of 2004, she is the only actress to win a Golden Globe for Best Actress (Drama) without getting an Oscar nomination for the same performance, for ''Madame Sousatzka'' (1988).

Personal life

MacLaine was married to businessman Steve Parker until they divorced in 1982. They had a daughter, Sachi Parker (b. 1956).
In political circles, MacLaine is known for her former relationship with Andrew Peacock, a former Australian Liberal Party Prime Ministerial aspirant who was later appointed as Ambassador to the United States. She also has a close friendship with Ohio congressman, Dennis Kucinich, who was a candidate in the 2004 Democratic presidential primary. Kucinich is reported to have spent a few months living in MacLaine's home.
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 them. ''Parker v. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.'', 474 P.2d 689 (Cal. 1970).
She now lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

References in popular culture

In the episode Pardon My Past of the WB series ''Charmed'', Phoebe says the following to Prue, Piper and Leo: "Where's Shirley MacLaine when you need her?" as they're looking for a spell in the Book of Shadows about how to go back to a past life.
She was often referred to by the character Dot in the cartoon series Animaniacs.
A line in Randy Stonehill's song "Great Big Stupid World" is "(We're) channeling Houdini with Shirley MacLaine".
Former President George H. W. Bush concluded his commencement address to the University of New Hampshire's class of 2007, "Unless you're Shirley MacLaine, you only get one shot at this life," before later adding, "Be bold in your caring, be bold in your dreaming and above all else, always do your best."
In the comic The Far Side, one of the cartoons featured a lizard telling another one, "There it is again... some nagging feeling that in a past life I was someone named Shirley MacLaine."
On the album 'Bebop Moptop' by Scottish band Danny Wilson (band), there is a song called 'The Ballad Of Me And Shirley Maclaine'.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1955	''Artists and Models''	Bessie Sparrowbrush
	''The Trouble with Harry''	Jennifer Rogers	BAFTA nomination: Best Actress
1956	''Around the World in 80 Days''	Princess Aouda
1958	''Some Came Running''	Ginnie Moorehead	Academy Award nomination: Best Actress Golden Globe nomination: Best Drama Actress
	''The Sheepman''	Dell Payton
	''Hot Spell''	Virginia Duval
	''The Matchmaker''	Irene Molloy
	''Ask any Girl''	Meg Wheeler	Golden Globe nomination: Best Musical/Comedy Actress
1959	''Career''	Sharon Kensington
1960	''Ocean's 11''	Tipsy girl	uncredited
	''Can-Can''	Simone Pistache
	''The Apartment''	Fran Kubelik	Academy Award nomination: Best Actress BAFTA win: Best Actress Golden Globe win: Best Musical/Comedy Actress
1961	''The Children's Hour''	Martha Dobie	Golden Globe nomination: Best Drama Actress
	''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	Acedemy Award nomination: Best Actress BAFTA nomination: Best Actress Golden Globe win: Best Musical/Comedy Actress
1964	''The Yellow Rolls Royce''	Mae Jenkins
	''What a Way to Go!''	Louisa May Foster	BAFTA nomination: Best Actress
1965	''John Goldfarb, Please Come Home''	Jenny Erichson
1966	''Gambit''	Nicole Chang	Golden Globe nomination: Best Musical/Comedy Actress
1967	''Woman Times Seven''	Paulette/Maria Teresa/Linda/Edith/Eve Minou/Marie/Jeanne	Golden Globe nomination: Best Musical/Comedy Actress
1968	''The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom''	Harriet Blossom
1969	''Sweet Charity''	Charity Hope Valentine	Golden Globe nomination: Best Musical/Comedy Actress
1970	''Two Mules for Sister Sara''	Sara
1971	''Desperate Characters''	Sophie Bentwood
1972	''The Possession of Joel Delaney''	Norah Benson
1977	''The Turning Point''	Deedee Rodgers	Academy Award nomination: Best Actress
1979	''Being There''	Eve Rand	BAFTA nomination: Best Actress Golden Globe nomination: Best Musical/Comedy Actress
1980	''A Change of Seasons''	Karyn Evans
	''Loving Couples''	Evelyn
1983	''Terms of Endearment''	Aurora Greenway	Academy Award win: Best Actress BAFTA nomination: Best Actress Golden Globe win: Best Drama Actress
1984	''Cannonball Run II''	Veronica
1987	''Out on a Limb''	Herself
1988	''Madame Sousatzka''	Madame Yuvline Sousatzka	Golden Globe win: Best Drama Actress
1989	''Steel Magnolias''	Ouiser Boudreaux	BAFTA nomination: Best Supporting Actress
1990	''Postcards from the Edge''	Doris Mann	BAFTA nomination: Best Actress Golden Globe nomination: Best Supporting Actress
	''Waiting for the Light''	Aunt Zena
1992	''Used People''	Pearl Berman	Golden Globe nomination: Best Musical/Comedy Actress
1993	''Wrestling Ernest Hemingway''	Helen Cooney
1994	''Guarding Tess''	Tess Carlisle	Golden Globe nomination: Best Musical/Comedy Actress
1995	''The West Side Waltz''	Margaret Mary Elderdice
1996	''The Evening Star''	Aurora Greenway
	''Mrs. Winterbourne''	Grace Winterbourne
1997	''A Smile Like Yours''	Martha	uncredited
1999	''Joan of Arc''	Madame de Beaurevoir
2000	''Bruno''	Helen
2001	''These Old Broads''	Kate Westbourne
2002	''Salem Witch Trials''	Rebecca Nurse
	''Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay''	Mary Kay
2003	''Carolina''	Grandma Millicent Mirabeau
2005	''Rumor Has It''	Katharine Richelieu
	''Bewitched''	Iris Smythson/Endora
	''In Her Shoes''	Ella Hirsch	Golden Globe nomination: Best Supporting Actress
2007	''Closing the Ring''	Ethel Ann

TV work

★ ''Shirley's World'' (1971-1972)

★ ''Out on a Limb'' (1987)
MacLaine has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1615 Vine Street.

References

1. http://www.newenglandancestors.org/education/articles/research/special_guests/gary_boyd_roberts/gbr83.asp
2. http://www.adherents.com/people/pb/Warren_Beatty.html
3. http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/05/21_beatty.shtml
4. ''Hanrihan v. Parker'', 19 Misc. 2d 467, 469 (N.Y. Misc. 1959)

External links

★ Shirley's Official Website

★

★

★ Shirley MacLaine interviewed by Ginny Dougary (2005)

★ (http://sophomorecritic.blogspot.com/2007/02/digging-up-shirley-maclaine-and-warren.html)