Shelley Winters

Infobox actor
name = Shelley Winters


imagesize = 235px
caption = from "Tennessee Champ" (fy|1954)
birthname = Shirley Schrift
birthdate = birth date|1920|8|18|df=y
birthplace = St. Louis, Missouri
deathdate = Death date and age|2006|1|14|1920|08|18
deathplace = Beverly Hills, California
spouse = Paul Meyer (1942-1948)
Vittorio Gassman (1952-1954)
Anthony Franciosa (1957-1960)
Gerry DeFord (2006-2006)
yearsactive = 1943 - 1999
occupation = actress, singer, producer
academyawards = Best Supporting Actress
1959 "The Diary of Anne Frank"
1965 "A Patch of Blue"
goldenglobeawards = Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1973 "The Poseidon Adventure"
emmyawards = Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries/Movie
1964 "Two is the Number"
awards = Hollywood Walk of Fame
1750 Vine Street

Shelley Winters (August 18, 1920 – January 14, 2006) was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television.

Biography

Early life

Winters was born Shirley Schrift in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of Jewish parents Rose (née Winter), a singer with The Muny, and Jonas Schrift, a designer of men's clothing. [ [http://www.filmreference.com/film/39/Shelley-Winters.html Shelley Winters Biography (1920?-) ] ] [ [http://www.adherents.com/people/pw/Shelley_Winters.html The religion of Shelley Winters, actress ] ] [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/15/nyregion/15winters.html Shelley Winters, Tough-Talking Oscar Winner in 'Anne Frank' and 'Patch of Blue,' Dies - New York Times ] ] Her family moved to Brooklyn, New York when she was three years old. She studied in the Hollywood Studio Club, sharing the same bedroom with another beginner, Marilyn Monroe.

Career

As the "New York Times" obituary noted, "A major movie presence for more than five decades, Shelley Winters turned herself into a widely respected actress who won two Oscars." Winters originally broke into Hollywood as "the Blonde Bombshell", but quickly tired of the role's limitations. She washed off her makeup and played against type to set up Elizabeth Taylor's beauty in "A Place in the Sun," still a landmark American film. As the Associated Press reported, the general public was unaware of how serious a craftswoman Winters was. "Although she was in demand as a character actress, Winters continued to study her craft. She attended Charles Laughton's Shakespeare classes and worked at the Actors Studio, both as student and teacher."

Her first movie was "What a Woman!" (1943). Working in films (in mostly bit roles) through the forties, Winters' first achieved stardom with her breakout performance as the victim of insane actor Ronald Colman in George Cukor's "A Double Life", in 1948. She quickly ascended in Hollywood with leading roles in "The Great Gatsby" (1949) and "Winchester 73" (1950), opposite James Stewart. But it was "A Place in the Sun", a departure from the sexpot image that her studio, Universal Pictures, was building up for her at the time. It was this performance that first brought Shelley Winters acclaim as an actress, earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Throughout the 1950s, Winters continued in films, most notably in Charles Laughton's masterpiece, 1955s Night of the Hunter, with Robert Mitchum and Lillian Gish. She also returned to the stage on various occasions during this time, including a Broadway run in A Hatful of Rain. In 1959, she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for "The Diary of Anne Frank" and another for "A Patch of Blue" (1965).

Notable later roles included her lauded performance as the man-hungry Charlotte in Stanley Kubrick's "Lolita", opposite Michael Caine in "Alfie", as the once gorgeous, alcoholic former starlet "Fay Estabrook" in "Harper" (both 1966), in "The Poseidon Adventure" (1972) as the ill-fated Belle Rosen (for which she received her final Oscar nomination), and in Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976). She also returned to the stage during the 1960s and 1970s, most notably in Tennessee Williams' "Night of the Iguana". Unfortunately, her prestigious work during this period tended to be undermined by her forays into camp kitsch with films like 1968s "Wild in the Streets" and 1971s "Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?". Always conscious of her Jewish heritage—she had first learned her trade in the Borscht Belt—she donated her Oscar for "Anne Frank" to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

As the Associated Press reported, "During her fifty years as a widely known personality, Winters was rarely out of the news. Her stormy marriages, her romances with famous stars, her forays into politics and feminist causes kept her name before the public. She delighted in giving provocative interviews and seemed to have an opinion on everything."

That led to a second career as a writer. Though not an overwhelming beauty, her acting, wit, and "chutzpah" gave her a love life to rival Monroe's. In late life, she recalled her conquests in autobiographies so popular they undermined her reputation as a serious actor. She wrote of a yearly rendezvous she kept with William Holden, as well as her affairs with Sean Connery, Burt Lancaster and Marlon Brando.

Winters suffered a significant weight gain later in life, frequently stating that it was a marketing tool, since there were plenty of prominent normal-weight older actresses but fewer overweight ones, and her obesity would enable her to find work more easily. In 1973 Winters even put on a short-lived Broadway musical revue entitled "The Hoofing Hollywood Heifer", co-starring Charles Nelson Reilly and Bongo, a tap-dancing chimp. Although it closed after only eight performances, this show was applauded for its sheer campy bravado by many critics, one of whom stated that Winters was a "Whale of a Talent looking for a sea of applause big enough to rest her massive girth."

Audiences born in the 1980s knew her primarily for the autobiographies and for her television work, in which she played a humorous parody of her public persona. In a recurring role in the 1990s, Winters played the title character's grandmother on the ABC sitcom "Roseanne." Her final film roles were supporting ones, as John Gielgud's wife in "The Portrait of a Lady" (1996), and as a bitter nursing home administrator in 1999s "Gideon".

Personal life

She was married four times. Her husbands were:
#Capt. Mack Paul Mayer, whom she married on New Years Day, 1943; they divorced in October 1948. Mayer was unable to deal with Shelley's "Hollywood lifestyle" and wanted a "traditional homemaker" for a wife. Winters wore his wedding ring up until her death and kept their relationship very private Fact|date=September 2008.
#Vittorio Gassman, whom she married on April 28, 1952; they divorced on June 2, 1954. They had one child, Vittoria born February 14, 1953, a physician, who practices internal medicine at Norwalk Hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut. She was Winters' only child.
#Anthony Franciosa, whom she married on May 4, 1957; they divorced on November 18, 1960.
#Gerry DeFord, on January 14, 2006, hours before her death.

Shortly before her death, Winters married long-time companion Gerry DeFord, with whom she had lived for nineteen years. Though Winters' god-daughter objected to the marriage, the actress Sally Kirkland, performed the wedding ceremony for the two at Winters' deathbed. Non-denominational last rites for Winters were also performed by Kirkland, a minister of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness. Winters also had a romance with Farley Granger that became a long-term friendship. She starred with him in the 1951 film, Behave Yourself!, as well as in a 1957 television production of A. J. Cronin's novel, "Beyond This Place."

Winters died on January 14, 2006 from natural causes at the Rehabilitation Centre of Beverly Hills. Just hours before her death she married Gerry DeFord. Her third ex-husband Anthony Franciosa died of a stroke five days later.

Awards and nominations

She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1750 Vine Street, and was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame in 1992.

Work

Filmography

*"There's Something About a Soldier" (1943)
*"What a Woman!" (1943)
*"The Racket Man" (1944)
*"Sailor's Holiday" (1944)
*"Knickerbocker Holiday" (1944)
*"Cover Girl" (1944)
*"She's a Soldier Too" (1944)
*"Dancing in Manhattan" (1944)
*"Together Again" (1944)
*"Tonight and Every Night" (1945)
*"Escape in the Fog" (1945)
*"A Thousand and One Nights" (1945)
*"The Fighting Guardsman" (1946)
*"Two Smart People" (1946)
*"Susie Steps Out" (1946)
*"Abie's Irish Rose" (1946)
*"New Orleans" (1947)
*"Living in a Big Way" (1947)
*"The Gangster" (1947)
*"A Double Life" (1947)
*"Killer McCoy" (1947)
*"Red River" (1948)
*"Larceny" (1948)
*"Cry of the City" (1948)
*"Take One False Step" (1949)
*"The Great Gatsby" (1949)
*"Johnny Stool Pigeon" (1949)
*"Winchester '73" (1950)
*"South Sea Sinner" (1950)
*"Frenchie" (1950)
*"He Ran All the Way" (1951)
*"A Place in the Sun" (1951)
*"Behave Yourself!" (1951)
*"The Raging Tide" (1951)
*"Meet Danny Wilson" (1952)
*"Phone Call from a Stranger" (1952)
*"Untamed Frontier" (1952)
*"My Man and I" (1952)
*"Tennessee Champ" (1954)
*"Saskatchewan" (1954)
*"Playgirl" (1954)
*"Executive Suite" (1954)
*"Mambo" (1954)
*"Cash on Delivery" (1954)
*"I Am a Camera" (1955)
*"The Big Knife" (1955)
*"The Night of the Hunter" (1955)
*"The Treasure of Pancho Villa" (1955)
*"I Died a Thousand Times" (1955)
*"The Diary of Anne Frank" (1959)
*"Odds Against Tomorrow" (1959)
*"Let No Man Write My Epitaph" (1960)
*"The Young Savages" (1961)
*"Lolita" (1962)
*"The Chapman Report" (1962)
*"The Balcony" (1963)
*"Wives and Lovers" (1963)
*"Time of Indifference" (1964)
*"A House Is Not a Home" (1964)
*"The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965)
*"A Patch of Blue" (1965)
*"The Three Sisters" (1966)
*"Harper" (1966)
*"Alfie" (1966)
*"Enter Laughing" (1967)
*"The Scalphunters" (1968)
*"Wild in the Streets" (1968)
*"Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell" (1968)
*"The Mad Room" (1969)
*"Arthur! Arthur!" (1969)
*"Bloody Mama" (1970)
*"How Do I Love Thee?" (1970)
*"Flap" (1970)
*"What's the Matter with Helen?" (1971)
*"Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?" (1971)
*"Something to Hide" (1972)
*"The Poseidon Adventure" (1972)
*"Blume in Love" (1973)
*"Cleopatra Jones" (1973)
*"Poor Pretty Eddy" (1975)
*"Journey Into Fear" (1975)
*"Diamonds" (1975)
*"That Lucky Touch" (1975)
*"The Scarlet Dahlia" (1976)
*"Next Stop, Greenwich Village" (1976)
*"The Tenant" (1976)
*"Mimì Bluette... Flower of My Garden" (1977)
*"Black Journal" (1977)
*"Tentacles" (1977)
*"A Very Little Man" (1977)
*"Pete's Dragon" (1977)
*"King of the Gypsies" (1978)
*"The Visitor" (1979)
*"City on Fire" (1979)
*"The Magician of Lublin" (1979)
*"S.O.B." (1981)
*"Looping" (1981)
*"Fanny Hill" (1983)
*"Ellie" (1984)
*"Over the Brooklyn Bridge" (1984)
*"Déjà Vu" (1985)
*"Witchfire" (1986)
*"Very Close Quarters" (1986)
*"The Delta Force" (1986)
*"Purple People Eater" (1988)
*"An Unremarkable Life" (1989)
*"Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol" (1990) (documentary)
*"Touch of a Stranger" (1990)
*"Stepping Out" (1991)
*"The Pickle" (1993)
*"A Century of Cinema" (1994) (documentary)
*"The Silence of the Hams" (1994)
*"Heavy" (1995)
*"Backfire!" (1995)
*"Jury Duty" (1995)
*"Mrs. Munck" (1995)
*"Raging Angels" (1995)
*"The Portrait of a Lady" (1996)
*"Gideon" (1999)
*"La Bomba" (1999)
*"A-List" (2006)

Theater

*"Of V We Sing" (Between 1939-1941) (Off-Broadway)
*"The Time of Your Life" (Between 1939-1941) (understudy for Judy Haydon) (Broadway)
*"Meet The People" (1939?)(U.S. Touring Company)
*"The Night Before Christmas" (1941) (Broadway)
*"Rosalinda" (1942) (Broadway)
*"Conquered in April" (Between 1942-1946) (Broadway)
*"Oklahoma!" (replacement for Celeste Holm 1947) (Broadway)
*"A Hatful of Rain" (1955) (Broadway)
*"Girls of Summer" (1956) (Broadway and Summer Stock)
*"Invitation to March" (1960) (Boston)
*"The Night of the Iguana" (1962) (replacement for Bette Davis) (Broadway)
*"Under the Weather" (1966) (Broadway)
*"LUV" (1967) (Broadway)
*"One Night Stands of a Noisy Passenger" (1970) (Writer) (Off-Broadway)
*"Minnie's Boys" (1970) (Broadway)
*"The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds" (1973-74) (Broadway)
*"Cages"'(1974) (Philadelphia, PA)
*"Kennedy's Children" (1976) (Chicago)
*"The Gingerbread Lady" (1981) (Chicago)
*"Natural Affection" (unknown)

Summer Stock Plays

*The Taming of the Shrew (1947)
*Born Yesterday (1950)
*Wedding Breakfast (1955)
*A Piece of Blue Sky (1959)
*Two for the Seasaw (1960)
*The Country Girl (1961)
*A View from the Bridge (1961)
*Days of the Dancing (1964)
*Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1965)

Television

*"What's My Line" (1954)
*"Beyond This Place" (1957)
*"Wipe-Out" (1963)
*"Batman" (1967)
*"Here's Lucy" (1968)
*"A Death of Innocence" (1971)
*"Adventures of Nick Carter" (1972)
*"The Devil's Daughter" (1973)
*"" (1974)
*"The Sex Symbol" (1974)
*"Frosty's Winter Wonderland" (1976) (voice)
*"Kojak" (1976)
*"The Initiation of Sarah" (1978)
*"Elvis" (1979)
*"Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July" (1979) (voice)
*"The French Atlantic Affair" (1979) (miniseries)
*"Emma and Grandpa on the Farm" (1983) (narrator)
*"Alice in Wonderland" (1985)
*"Weep No More, My Lady" (1992)
*"Roseanne" (1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997)

References

External links

*ibdb|65387
*imdb|0001859
*tcmdb name|208074
* [http://www.blushingvintage.com/blushing/shelleywinters.php Shelley Winters Photo Gallery]
* [http://www.theatrgroup.com/Shelley Shelley Winters Interview]
*cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/14/AR2006011400648.html|title=Actress Shelley Winters Dies|date=January 14, 2006|publisher=The Washington Post
*cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/15/movies/15winters.html|title=Shelley Winters, Winner of Two Oscars, Dies|date=January 15, 2006|publisher=The New York Times
*cite news|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/14/AR2006011401166.html|title=Actress Shelley Winters, 85; Blond Bombshell to Oscar Winner|date=January 15, 2006|publisher=The Washington Post
*cite news|url=http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2006/01/15/oscar_winner_shelley_winters_dies_at_85/|title=Oscar winner Shelley Winters dies at 85|date=January 15, 2006|publisher=The Boston Globe
* [http://www.stlouiswalkoffame.org/inductees/shelley-winters.html Winters' Entry] on the St. Louis Walk of Fame
*Find A Grave|id=13021175

###@@@KEY@@@### s-achsuccession box
title=Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
years=1973
for "The Poseidon Adventure"
before=Ann-Margret
for "Carnal Knowledge"
after=Linda Blair
for "The Exorcist"

Persondata
NAME= Winters, Shelley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Schrift, Shirley
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Actress
DATE OF BIRTH= August 18, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH= St. Louis, Missouri, United States
DATE OF DEATH= January 14, 2006
PLACE OF DEATH= Beverly Hills, California, United States