Shirley MacLaine
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Shirley MacLaine (born Shirley MacLean Beaty April 24, 1934) is an Academy Award-winning American 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 (Beatty changed his name from Beaty to Beatty).
Early life
MacLaine was born in Richmond, Virginia to an American father of English descent and a Canadian mother of Irish and Scottish ancestry. Her family followed the Baptist faith. MacLaine grew up in Waverly, Virginia, graduated from high school and moved to New York City to live out her dream of being a Broadway actress.
She achieved her goal when she became understudy to actress Carol Haney in The Pajama Game; Haney broke her ankle and MacLaine replaced her.
A few months thereafter, 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.
Career
Her first film was the Alfred Hitchcock film The Trouble with Harry in 1955. Her film career is now in its fifth decade. MacLaine was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role five times: in 1958 for Some Came Running, in 1960 for The Apartment, in 1963 for Irma La Douce, in 1977 for The Turning Point and in 1983 for Terms of Endearment (which she finally won). In 1975, she also received a nomination for Best Documentary Feature for her documentary . She recently appeared as the maternal grandmother to Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette in In Her Shoes.Private life
MacLaine was married to businessman Steve Parker until 1982. They had a daughter, Sachi Parker (b. 1956). Shirley filed for divorce after she learned (through her spiritual guide) that Steve had lied to her about his childhood in Japan, and that he had transferred all her money into the bank account of his Japanese mistress over the years.In political circles, MacLaine is known for her former relationship with Andrew Peacock, a former Australian Liberal Party Prime Ministerial asiprant 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.
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 hopes 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).
Filmography
- The Trouble with Harry (1955)
- Artists and Models (1955)
- Around the World in Eighty Days (1956)
- The Sheepman (1958)
- The Matchmaker (1958)
- Hot Spell (1958)
- Some Came Running (1958) – Academy Award nomination for Best Actress
- Ask Any Girl (1959)
- Premier Khrushchev in the USA (1959) (documentary)
- Career (1959)
- Can-Can (1960)
- The Apartment (1960) – Academy Award nomination for Best Actress
- Ocean's Eleven (1960) (Cameo)
- All in a Night's Work (1961)
- Two Loves (1961)
- The Children's Hour (1961)
- My Geisha (1962)
- Two for the Seesaw (1962)
- Irma la Douce (1963) – Academy Award nomination for Best Actress
- What a Way to Go! (1964)
- The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964)
- The Car That Became a Star (1965) (short subject)
- John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (1965)
- Gambit (1966)
- Woman Times Seven (1967)
- The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom (1968)
- Sweet Charity (1969)
- Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)
- Desperate Characters (1971)
- The Possession of Joel Delaney (1972)
- Year of the Woman (1973) (documentary)
- The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir (1975) (documentary) (also producer, writer, and director) – Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature
- The Turning Point (1977) – Academy Award nomination for Best Actress
- Being There (1979)
- Loving Couples (1980)
- A Change of Seasons (1980)
- Want to Be Beautiful (1981) (documentary)
- Terms of Endearment (1983) – Academy Award for Best Actress
- Cannonball Run II (1984)
- Madame Sousatzka (1988)
- Steel Magnolias (1989)
- Waiting for the Light (1990)
- Postcards from the Edge (1990)
- Defending Your Life (1991) (Cameo)
- Used People (1992)
- Wrestling Ernest Hemingway (1993)
- A Century of Cinema (1994) (documentary)
- Guarding Tess (1994)
- The Celluloid Closet (1995) (documentary)
- Mrs. Winterbourne (1996)
- The Evening Star (1996)
- A Smile Like Yours (1997)
- Get Bruce (1999) (documentary)
- Bruno (2000) (also director)
- These Old Broads (2001)
- Broadway, the Golden Age: By the Legends Who Were There (2003) (documentary)
- Carolina (2003)
- Bewitched (2005)
- In Her Shoes (2005)
- Rumor Has It (2005)
- Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age (2007) (documentary)
- Closing the Ring (2007)
TV work
- Shirley's World (1971-1972)
- Out on a Limb (1987)
- The West Side Waltz (1995)
- Joan of Arc (miniseries) (1999)
- These Old Broads (2001)
- Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay (2002)
- Salem Witch Trials (2002) (miniseries)
Academy Awards and Nominations
- 1984 - Won Best Actress in a Leading Role - Terms of Endearment
- 1978 - Nominated Best Actress in a Leading Role - The Turning Point
- 1976 - Nominated Best Documentary, Features -
- 1964 - Nominated Best Actress in a Leading Role - Irma la Douce
- 1961 - Nominated Best Actress in a Leading Role - The Apartment
- 1959 - Nominated Best Actress in a Leading Role - Some Came Running
MacLaine has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1615 Vine Street.
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