41 Facts About Shirley MacLaine

Shirley MacLaine was born on Shirley MacLean Beaty, April 24,1934 and is an American actress, author and former dancer.

Shirley MacLaine has been honored with a Gala Tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 1995, the Golden Globe Cecil B DeMille Award in 1998, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2012, and the Kennedy Center Honor in 2013.

Shirley MacLaine rose to prominence with starring roles in Around the World in 80 Days, Some Came Running, Ask Any Girl, The Apartment, The Children's Hour, Irma la Douce, Sweet Charity, and Being There.

Shirley MacLaine played the eponymous fashion designer in the biopic television film, Coco Chanel, receiving nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award.

Shirley MacLaine made appearances in various television series including Glee, Downton Abbey and Only Murders in the Building.

Apart from acting, Shirley MacLaine has written numerous books regarding the subjects of metaphysics, spirituality, and reincarnation, as well as a best-selling memoir, Out on a Limb.

Shirley MacLaine's father, Ira Owens Beaty, was a professor of psychology, public school administrator, and a real estate agent.

Shirley MacLaine's mother, Kathlyn Corinne, was a drama teacher, originally from Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Shirley MacLaine played baseball on an all-boys team, holding the record for most home runs, which earned her the nickname "Powerhouse".

Shirley MacLaine explained that she didn't have the ideal body type, lacking the requisite "beautifully constructed feet" of high arches, high insteps and a flexible ankle.

Shirley MacLaine attended Washington-Lee High School, where she was on the cheerleading squad and acted in school theatrical productions.

In 1960, Shirley MacLaine starred in Billy Wilder's romance film The Apartment.

Shirley MacLaine is attracted to the insurance company's elevator operator, who is already having an affair with Baxter's boss.

Shirley MacLaine starred in The Children's Hour, starring Audrey Hepburn and James Garner, based on the play by Lillian Hellman, and directed by William Wyler.

Shirley MacLaine was again nominated, this time for Irma la Douce, which reunited her with Wilder and Lemmon.

Shirley MacLaine devoted several pages in her first memoir, Don't Fall Off the Mountain, to a 1963 incident in which she had marched into the Los Angeles office of The Hollywood Reporter and punched columnist Mike Connolly in the mouth.

Shirley MacLaine was angered by what he had said in his column about her ongoing contractual dispute with producer Hal Wallis, who had introduced her to the movie industry in 1954 and whom she eventually sued successfully for violating the terms of their contract.

In 1969, Shirley MacLaine starred in the film version of the musical Sweet Charity, directed by Bob Fosse, and based on the script for Fellini's Nights of Cabiria released a decade earlier.

Gwen Verdon, who originated the role onstage, had hoped to play Charity in the film version, however Shirley MacLaine won the role due to her name being more well known to audiences at the time.

In 1976 Shirley MacLaine appeared in a series of concerts at the London Palladium and New York's Palace Theatre.

Co-starring with Anne Bancroft in The Turning Point, Shirley MacLaine portrayed a retired ballerina much like herself; she was nominated for an Oscar as the Best Actress in a Leading Role.

In 1980, Shirley MacLaine starred in A Change of Seasons alongside Anthony Hopkins.

In 1983, MacLaine starred in James L Brooks's comedy-drama film Terms of Endearment playing Debra Winger's mother.

Shirley MacLaine has continued to star in major films, such as the family southern drama Steel Magnolias directed by Herbert Ross and starring with Sally Field, Julia Roberts, and Dolly Parton.

Shirley MacLaine received a British Academy Film Award for her performance.

Shirley MacLaine starred in Mike Nichols' film Postcards from the Edge, with Meryl Streep, playing a fictionalized version of Debbie Reynolds from a screenplay by Reynolds's daughter, Carrie Fisher.

Shirley MacLaine received another Golden Globe Award nomination for her performance.

In 2011 Shirley MacLaine starred in Richard Linklater's dark comedy film Bernie alongside Jack Black, and Matthew McConaughey.

Shirley MacLaine has appeared in numerous television projects, including an autobiographical miniseries based upon the book Out on a Limb; The Salem Witch Trials; These Old Broads written by Carrie Fisher and co-starring Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds, and Joan Collins.

In 2016, Shirley MacLaine starred in Wild Oats with Jessica Lange.

Shirley MacLaine starred in the live-action family film The Little Mermaid, based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, in 2018.

Shirley MacLaine was married to businessman Steve Parker from 1954 until their divorce in 1982; they have a daughter, Sachi.

Shirley MacLaine told Winfrey that she often fell for the leading men she worked with, the exceptions being Jack Lemmon and Jack Nicholson.

Shirley MacLaine had long-running affairs with Lord Mountbatten, whom she met in the 1960s, and Australian politician and two-time Liberal leader Andrew Peacock.

Shirley MacLaine has gotten into feuds with such co-stars as Anthony Hopkins, who said that "she was the most obnoxious actress I have ever worked with", and Debra Winger.

Shirley MacLaine has a strong interest in spirituality and metaphysics, which are the central themes of some of her best-selling books, including Out on a Limb and Dancing in the Light.

Shirley MacLaine is godmother to journalist Jackie Kucinich, daughter of former Democratic US Representative Dennis Kucinich.

In 2015, Shirley MacLaine sparked criticism for her comments on Jews, Christians, and Stephen Hawking.

Shirley MacLaine claimed that victims of the Holocaust were experiencing the results of their own karma, and suggested that Hawking had subconsciously caused himself to develop ALS in order to focus better on physics.

In 1959, Shirley MacLaine sued Hal Wallis over a contractual dispute; that lawsuit has been credited with ending the old-style studio star system of actor management.

In 1966, Shirley MacLaine sued Twentieth Century-Fox for breach of contract when the studio reneged on its agreement to star Shirley MacLaine in a film version of the Broadway musical Bloomer Girl based on the life of Amelia Bloomer, a mid-nineteenth century feminist, suffragist, and abolitionist, that was to be filmed in Hollywood.