One of 24 performers to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, Booth was the recipient of an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards and three Tony Awards.
41 Facts About Shirley Booth
2.
Primarily a theater actress, Shirley Booth began her career on Broadway in 1925.
3.
Shirley Booth made her film debut, reprising her role in the 1952 film version, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her performance.
4.
Shirley Booth was acclaimed for her performance in the 1966 television production of The Glass Menagerie.
5.
Shirley Booth had one sibling, a younger sister, Jean.
6.
When she was age 7, Shirley Booth's family moved to Philadelphia, where she first became interested in acting after seeing a stage performance.
7.
When Shirley Booth was a teenager, her family moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where she became involved in summer stock.
8.
Shirley Booth made her stage debut in a production of Mother Carey's Chickens.
9.
Shirley Booth initially used the name Thelma Booth when her father forbade her to use the family name professionally.
10.
Shirley Booth began her stage career as a teenager, acting in stock company productions.
11.
Shirley Booth was a prominent actress in Pittsburgh theatre for a time, performing with the Sharp Company.
12.
Shirley Booth first attracted major notice as the female lead in the comedy hit Three Men on a Horse, which ran from 1935 to 1937.
13.
Shirley Booth acted with Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story, originated the role of Ruth Sherwood in the 1940 Broadway production of My Sister Eileen, and performed with Ralph Bellamy in Tomorrow the World.
14.
Shirley Booth starred on the popular radio series Duffy's Tavern, playing the lighthearted, wisecracking, man-crazy daughter of the unseen tavern owner on CBS radio from 1941 to 1942 and on NBC Blue from 1942 to 1943.
15.
Shirley Booth auditioned unsuccessfully for the title role of Our Miss Brooks in 1948; she had been recommended by Harry Ackerman, who was to produce the show, but Ackerman told radio historian Gerald Nachman that he felt Booth was too conscious of a high school teacher's struggles to have full fun with the character's comic possibilities.
16.
Shirley Booth received her first Tony Award, for Best Supporting or Featured Actress, for her performance as Grace Woods in Goodbye, My Fancy.
17.
Shirley Booth's popularity was such that, at the time, the story was skewed from the original so that Aunt Sissy was the leading role.
18.
Shirley Booth then went to Hollywood and reprised her stage role in the 1952 film version of Come Back, Little Sheba with Burt Lancaster playing Doc.
19.
In 1953, Shirley Booth received the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Come Back, Little Sheba, becoming the first actress ever to win both a Tony and an Oscar for the same role.
20.
Shirley Booth received her third Tony, her second in the Best Actress in a Play, for her performance in the Broadway production of Arthur Laurents' play The Time of the Cuckoo.
21.
Shirley Booth was age 54 when she made her first movie, but she had successfully shaved almost a decade off her real age, with her publicity stating 1907 as the year of her birth.
22.
Shirley Booth's second starring film, a romantic drama About Mrs Leslie opposite Robert Ryan, was released in 1954 to good reviews, but was poorly received by audiences.
23.
Shirley Booth spent the next few years commuting between New York and California.
24.
In 1957, Shirley Booth won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work on the stage in Chicago.
25.
Shirley Booth returned to the Broadway stage in 1959, starring as the long-suffering title character in Marc Blitzstein's musical Juno, an adaptation of Sean O'Casey's 1924 play Juno and the Paycock.
26.
In 1961, director Frank Capra approached Shirley Booth about starring in Pocketful of Miracles, an updated version of Capra's 1933 comedy-drama Lady for a Day starring May Robson.
27.
Shirley Booth informed him that she was unable to match Robson's Oscar-nominated performance in the original film and declined the role.
28.
In 1961, Shirley Booth was cast in the title role on the sitcom Hazel, based on Ted Key's popular single-panel cartoon from the Saturday Evening Post about the domineering yet endearing housemaid named Hazel Burke who works for the Baxter family.
29.
In 1963, Shirley Booth told the Associated Press at the height of Hazel's popularity,.
30.
Shirley Booth is one of the few performers to win all three major entertainment awards.
31.
Shirley Booth, who owned the rights to the series, hired Lynn Borden, a former Miss Arizona, as Steve's wife Barbara.
32.
Shortly after the end of Hazel, Shirley Booth appeared in the television production of The Glass Menagerie that aired on the anthology series CBS Playhouse.
33.
Shirley Booth won critical acclaim for her performance and was nominated for another Primetime Emmy Award.
34.
In 1973, Shirley Booth returned to episodic television in the ABC series A Touch of Grace.
35.
In 1974, Shirley Booth provided the voice for the character of Mrs Claus in the animated television special The Year Without a Santa Claus.
36.
On November 23,1929, Shirley Booth married Ed Gardner, who later gained fame as the creator and host of the radio series Duffy's Tavern.
37.
Shirley Booth never remarried and had no children from either marriage.
38.
Shirley Booth maintained contact with her friends via telephone and spent her time painting and doing needlework.
39.
Shirley Booth did not attend the ceremony, and the award was accepted on her behalf by Celeste Holm.
40.
Shirley Booth reportedly suffered a stroke that caused mobility issues and blindness.
41.
On October 16,1992, Shirley Booth died at the age of 94 at her home in North Chatham.