Shirley MacLaine has six Academy Award nominations, with a well-deserved win for Terms Of Endearment, (1983). She has five Emmy Awards with a win for her musical special Gypsy In My Soul (1976); a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Actress for Cannonball Run II (1984); 20 Golden Globe nominations, with seven wins including Best Newcomer of 1955, and their Cecil B. DeMille Look Alike Award in 1998. Plus, she is the author of 17 books, all bestsellers, and on top of that, she sings and she dances.
MacLaine was discovered on Broadway dancing in the delightful musical The Pajama Game (1954) when she famously went on as the understudy for Carol Haney who had broken her ankle.
Her first film was Alfred Hitchcock‘s The Trouble With Harry (1955). She continues to work into the second decade of the 21st century.
She has a film from last year that is streaming right now, titled American Dreamer. I am sure I will catch it eventually; I see all her projects. She also guest starred on the series Only Murders In The Building last year. Attempting to count her filmography, I lost track at 75 films. MacLaine received the highest film industry honor, the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award in 2012, and a Kennedy Center Honor in 2013.
MacLaine’s brother is an actor also. His name is Warren Beatty. They have never worked together, but that is something I would pay to see, especially if they were to play senior citizen love interests.
She talks to her rat terrier Terry and her dog talks back, even though Terry went to the great beyond in 2016.
In 2011, she gave a frightfully furious, funny performance, one of her best, in the terrific film Bernie.
She was simply sparkling in her second Oscar nominated performance in Billy Wilder‘s cynical, yet tender The Apartment (1960), opposite her best co-star Jack Lemmon. Favored to win that year, she lost to Elizabeth Taylor for Butterfield 8. MacLaine stated:
“I thought I would win for The Apartment, but then Elizabeth Taylor had a tracheotomy…“
My favorite MacLaine role would have to be Doris (a thinly disguised version of Debbie Reynolds) in Postcards From The Edge (1990). It is my understanding that The Gays just adore her.
“I’ve made so many movies playing a hooker that they don’t pay me in the regular way anymore. They leave it on the dresser.“
Never shy about politics, she said of the 45th POTUS:
“He’s a showbiz barker. I recommend new hair, new makeup and a new script – from a showbiz perspective.“
Today is her birthday and she is spending at her ranch in New Mexico. She’ll probably Facetime with Barbra Streisand, it’s her birthday too, and they traditionally have spent the day together.
