While I was chatting with the young actress, I had no idea she would be a star in more than 50 motion pictures over the years, as well as being nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
After our engaging conversation, I was led to meet other stars on the lot. So I haven’t spoken to Shirley MacLaine since that day a half century ago, although I’ve enjoyed a few of her films.
My major reason for being in Hollywood was to interview Sam Goldwyn, probably the most famous motion picture producer of the time.
Goldwyn produced some of our most remembered motion pictures. For example, “The Best Years of Our Lives,” “Wuthering Heights,” “The Little Foxes,” and “Porgy and Bess.”
Goldwyn, in addition to winning practically every motion picture award, was famous for his contorted expressions. For example, he said “Anyone who went to a psychiatrist ought to have their head examined” and “Give me a couple of years and I’ll turn her into an actress overnight.”
Now, back to Shirley. She headed to New York as soon as she graduated from high school in Virginia. When she was auditioning for Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s “Me and Juliet,” the producer kept mispronouncing her name. So she changed her name from ShirleyMacLean Beatty to Shirley MacLaine.
In a stage play in New York one night, Hollywood producer, Hal Wallis, who was in the audience, signed her to a five-year contract with Paramount Pictures. Her first picture was in 1955, “The Trouble With Harry.” She got her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in 1958. She received her second Academy Award nomination in 1960 followed by a third nomination three years later. In 1963, she received a third nomination for “Irma la Douce.”
When 1969 rolled around, she brought her friend Bob Fosse from Broadway to direct her in “Sweet Charity.” In that, she wrote the lyrics for her signature song, “If My Friends Could See Me Now.” After a five-year break, Shirley made a documentary called “The Other Half of the Sky: A China,” for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary.
She won her fourth Best Actress Oscar nomination for “The Turning Point” in 1977. In 1979, she worked with Peter Sellers in “Being There.”
After 20 years in films, Shirley finally won the Best Actress Oscar for “Terms of Endearment” in 1983. After a five-year hiatus, Shirley made “Madame Sousatzka” in 1988, a hit that took top prize at the Venice Film Festival. A year later, she starred with Dolly Parton, Sally Field and Julia Roberts in “Steel Magnolias.” She received rave reviews playing Meryl Streep’s mother in “Postcards from the Edge” in 1990 and for “Guarding Tess” in 1994.
In 1996, she reprised her role from “Terms of Endearment” as Aurora Greenway in “The Evening Star.” It didn't have quite the success at the box office. In 1998, she directed “Bruno” which came out in 2000.
In the following three years, Shirley worked with close friends in “These Old Broads” and she co-starred with Kirstie Alley in “Salem Witch Trials” and in February 2001 with Julia Stiles in “Carolina.”
Shirley starred in a CBS miniseries based on the life of cosmetics queen “Mary Kay Ash – The Battle of Mary Kay,” in 2002 and she wrote two more books, The Camino in 2001, and Out on a Leash in 2003.
After taking another break from motion pictures, Shirley returned with roles in the movies that were small, but scene-stealing: “Bewitched” in 2005 with Nicole Kidman, “In Her Shoes” in 2005 with Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette, in which Shirley was nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Supporting Actress category, and “Rumor Has It...” in 2005 with Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Costner. Shirley completed filming of “Closing The Ring” in 2007.
Her latest book is Sage-ing While Ag-ing. In 2010, she was in “Valentine's Day” and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” in 2013. Her latest film, “Elsa and Fred,” was slated to appear in theaters in November 2014.
In her long and rewarding career Shirley has amassed a reported net worth of $50 million. I rather wish I had stayed in contact with her.
Tait Trussell is an old guy and fourth-generation professional journalist who writes extensively about aging issues among a myriad of diverse topics.