Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters (born August 18, 1920 as Shirley Font in East St. Louis , † January 14, 2006 in Beverly Hills ) was an American actress . For her roles in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and in Dreaming Lips (1965), she received an Oscar for best supporting actress .
life and work
Shelley Winters came from an Austrian-Jewish immigrant family. She initially had minor successes in comedies and musicals on Broadway , where she also became a member of the Actors Studio . She took on film roles from 1943, although her first screen appearances were mostly not mentioned in the credits. In the late 1940s she had her breakthrough in Hollywood with George Cukor's thriller A Double Life (1947), in which she fell victim to an insane actor (played by Ronald Colman ). At that time she also achieved fame on Broadway as Ado Annie in the successful musical Oklahoma! . This was followed by larger roles such as in the thriller Schrei der Großstadt (1948) alongside Victor Mature and alongside Alan Ladd in the literary film The Great Gatsby (1949). In 1950 she starred alongside James Stewart in Anthony Mann's critically acclaimed Western Winchester '73 . Her film studio Universal Pictures wanted to set up Winters as a "sex bomb", but early on she was particularly interested in character roles and did not shy away from unusual acting challenges.
In 1951 she embodied a factory worker seduced by Montgomery Clift in the award-winning melodrama Ein Platz in der Sonne . This role established her as a serious actress and earned her her first Oscar nomination. She then took on very different character roles, for example in the drama A Stranger Calls (1952) a singer who died in a plane crash, in the Western Saskachevan (1954) a woman suspected of murder and in the thriller The Night of the Hunter (1955) the naive one Widow of an executed murderer. Winters received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1959 for her portrayal of Auguste van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), directed by George Stevens . She donated the prize to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam , where it can still be seen today. She received a second Oscar for portraying a hard-hearted prostitute alongside Sidney Poitier in Dreaming Lips (1965). In addition to Winters, only Dianne Wiest received two Oscars for Best Supporting Actress . Despite her film success, she kept returning to the theater, for example in the world premiere of The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams or the musical Minnie's Boys .
Winters had other important film roles as the mother of the title character in Stanley Kubrick's film Lolita (1962) as well as alongside Michael Caine in the literary adaptation Der Verführer macht schön greetings (1966). In 1972 she was noticed in The Poseidon's Hell Voyage with an underwater scene, which she mostly mastered without a double . For this role, Winters earned a Golden Globe and the last of her four Oscar nominations. Later she was seen as a wicked adoptive mother in the Disney film Elliot, das Schmunzelmonster (1977), and she also played the wife of Martin Balsam in the Chuck Norris film Delta Force . She was also seen in numerous guest roles on US television, including a recurring role on the sitcom Roseanne . Her last appearance was in 1999 in the Italian film La Bomba .
Winters discovered and promoted Robert De Niro's talent as early as the 1960s . In 1967 she became the godmother of Laura Dern , who she also supported.
Private life
Shelley Winters was married four times, to Chicago salesman Mack Paul Mayer, actor Vittorio Gassman , actor Anthony Franciosa, and Gerry DeFord. She married the latter a few hours before her death after they had been a couple for 19 years. Her daughter Victoria was born from her marriage to Gassman. Shelley Winters published several autobiographies in which she passed on much-noticed information about show business. She also wrote about her relationships and affairs with William Holden , Sean Connery , Burt Lancaster , Errol Flynn and Marlon Brando . The actress passed away on 14 January 2006 at the age of 85 years at the rehabilitation center in Beverly Hills in heart failure after one on 14 October 2005 heart attack suffered. She found her final resting place in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City , California .
In 1975, as a guest on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show , Winters had a loud, and in the end even tangible, argument with Oliver Reed after he had uttered misogynistic statements.
Filmography (selection)
- 1943: There's Something About a Soldier
- 1944: Knickerbocker Holiday
- 1944: Model Against Will (Together Again)
- 1947: A Double Life (A Double Life)
- 1948: Red River
- 1948: Cry of the City (Cry of the City)
- 1948: Fraud (Larceny)
- 1949: Cocaine (Johnny Stool Pigeon)
- 1949: The Great Gatsby (The Great Gatsby)
- 1950: Revolver Lady (Frenchie) - Directed by Louis King
- 1950: Winchester '73
- 1950: South Sea Vagabonds (South Sea Sinners)
- 1951: Profile 7-73 (He Ran All the Way)
- 1951: Determined to do anything (Meet Danny Wilson)
- 1951: Gangsters among themselves (Behave Yourself)
- 1951: A Place in the Sun (A Place in the Sun)
- 1952: The Day of Retribution (Untamed Frontier)
- 1952: A stranger calls (Phone Call from a Stranger)
- 1954: Mambo
- 1954: Saskatchewan (Saskatchewan)
- 1954: The Million Baby (To Dorothy, a Son)
- 1954: The Intriguers (Executive Suite)
- 1954: Tennessee Champ
- 1955: Hollywood Story (The Big Knife)
- 1955: The Night of the Hunter (The Night of the Hunter)
- 1955: The Treasure of Pancho Villa
- 1955: Against All Violence (I Died a Thousand Times)
- 1959: Odds Against Tomorrow (Odds Against Tomorrow)
- 1959: The Diary of Anne Frank (The Diary of Anne Frank)
- 1961: The Wild Ones (The Young Savages)
- 1962: Lolita - Director: Stanley Kubrick
- 1962: The Chapman Report (The Chapman Report)
- 1963: The balcony (The Balcony)
- 1963: Oh darling ... not here! (Wives and Lovers)
- 1964: Madame P. and her girls (A House Is Not a Home)
- 1965: Dreaming Lips (A Patch of Blue)
- 1966: A Case for Harper (Harper)
- 1966: The seducer sends his regards (Alfie)
- 1968: With Fists of Iron (The Scalphunters)
- 1968: Wild in the Streets
- 1968: Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell
- 1969: The House of Bloody Hands (The Mad Room)
- 1970: Bloody Mama - Director: Roger Corman
- 1970: The Indian (Flap)
- 1971: What's the matter with Helen? (What's the Matter with Helen?)
- 1972: The Poseidon Adventure (The Poseidon Adventure)
- 1972: Who Set Aunt Ruth On Fire (Whoever Slew Aunti Roo?)
- 1975: Stay away from me (That Lucky Touch)
- 1976: Amok (Something to Hide)
- 1976: The tenant (Le locataire)
- 1977: Elliot, the Smirking Monster (Pete's Dragon)
- 1977: The Polyp - The Beast with the Arms of Death (Tentacoli)
- 1977: The Leaden Years (Un borghese piccolo piccolo)
- 1978: King of the Gypsies (King of the Gypsies)
- 1979: City on Fire (City on Fire)
- 1979: The Magician of Lublin
- 1979: Victor Charlie calls Lima Sierra (The French Atlantic Affair, three-part television series)
- 1979: Elvis (TV movie)
- 1980: looping
- 1981: SOB - Hollywood's Last Howler (SOB)
- 1983: Over the Brooklyn Bridgde - Directed by Menahem Golan
- 1983: Fanny Hill
- 1986: Delta Force (The Delta Force)
- 1988: The Purple People Eater
- 1991: Stepping Out
- 1992: Rivals (Weep No More My Lady)
- 1993: Stage Fright - a cucumber conquers Hollywood (The Pickle)
- 1994: Backfire - the totally crazy fire department (Backfire!)
- 1995: Raging Angels
- 1995: Hungry For Love (Heavy)
- 1995: chaos! Son-in-law Junior in the courtroom (Jury Duty)
- 1995: Mrs. Munck
- 1991–1996: Roseanne (TV series, 10 episodes)
- 1996: Portrait of a Lady (The Portrait of a Lady)
- 1998: Gideon
- 1999: La Bomba
Awards (selection)
- 1952: Oscar nomination for best leading actress for A Place in the Sun.
- 1952: Golden Globe nomination for best leading actress (drama) for Ein Platz in der Sonne
- 1960: Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for The Diary of Anne Frank
- 1960: Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress for The Diary of Anne Frank
- 1963: Golden Globe nomination for best actress (drama) for Lolita
- 1963: Emmy Award for Best Guest Actress for Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theater
- 1966: Oscar for best supporting actress for dreaming lips
- 1967: Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress for The Seducer sends greetings
- 1972: Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Poseidon's Hell Ride
- 1972: Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for Poseidon's Hell Ride
- 1977: Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress for A Hair in the Soup
In addition, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her film work .
Web links
- Shelley Winters in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Pictures by Shelley Winters In: Virtual History
Individual evidence
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Winters, Shelley |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Scripture, Shirley |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | US-american actress |
DATE OF BIRTH | August 18, 1920 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | East St. Louis , Illinois , United States |
DATE OF DEATH | January 14, 2006 |
Place of death | Beverly Hills , California , United States |