What Was The Appeal Of Shelley Winters?

I never cared for her whiny voice.

She is a fantastic actress, as good as any other in Hollywood.

She did a lot of dreck - there are only so many roles for fat elderly women - but she could be outstanding, like in Lolita or Place In The Sun.

Shelley was wise to transition to character parts as she got older because she never stopped working.

She didn't get fat until The Poseidon Adventure--before then she was sexy, and a terrific actress.

A very good character actress. You just have to look at her two Oscar-winning performances. The fearful, whining Mrs. Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank and as the racist mother of the blind girl in A Patch of Blue. The characters were as different as night and day. She even took a stereotypical character like Mrs. Rosen in The Poseidon Adventure and made her three-dimensional.

Mrs. Rosen was nothing if not three-dimensional.

One good thing I'll say about Shelley is she had dishy husbands.

[quote] before then she was sexy

lol, no she wasn’t.

She got a lot of mileage out of talking a out living with Marilyn. And Thelma Ritter should have won one of her Oscars

My father loathes her and will always bring her up and say “Shelly Winters, UGH!” when talking about actors he dislikes.

[quote]I had at least three meetings with Shelley Winters, none of them quiet:

[quote]Meeting No. 2: Tavern on the Green Restaurant in Central Park, New York, where a tribute to director George Cukor had drawn most of the movie stars of the known world.

[quote]Lauren Bacall, who is leaving, is asked to pose for a picture with Winters.

[quote]Shelley: "You bet … you can get a picture, boys. Betty, get over here. You need publicity. I see a lot of Humphrey Bogart festivals around, but I don't see many Betty Bacalls."

[quote]Lauren Bacall (aka Betty): "I'm sorry, Shelley, but I really don't have the time. I'm leaving for Florida tomorrow to make a picture with Robert Altman."

[quote]Shelley: "Hey, everybody. Betty got work! We should all celebrate."

[quote]Lauren Bacall: "If it's one thing I can't stand, it's a drunk woman. I'll match you flop for flop, you (expletive deleted, and then more deleted)."

[quote]Bacall left as Winters waved her goodbye.

That was Shelley's appeal

Her biggest role was playing the Poseidon in the movie 'The Poseidon Adventure' - only Shelly could play a cruise ship as realistically as she did!

She is iconic as Lolita’s wimpy mother.

dayam

LOVED her in “Lolita”, her first scene showing Humbert Humbert her home is delightful!

"Who's Afraid of Shelley Winters?" Damn she was good in that!

How did she NOT get Oscar nominated for Lolita?

People used to want to see good acting in quality films. Shelley, when she was trying, was fantastic.

She scared people into giving her roles.

"The Night of the Hunter" was another memorable role and performance.

I love her for this alone:

[Quote] Meeting No. 2: Tavern on the Green Restaurant in Central Park, New York, where a tribute to director George Cukor had drawn most of the movie stars of the known world. Lauren Bacall, who is leaving, is asked to pose for a picture with Winters. Shelley: “You bet … you can get a picture, boys. Betty, get over here. You need publicity. I see a lot of Humphrey Bogart festivals around, but I don’t see many Betty Bacalls.” Lauren Bacall (aka Betty): “I’m sorry, Shelley, but I really don’t have the time. I’m leaving for Florida tomorrow to make a picture with Robert Altman.” Shelley: “Hey, everybody. Betty got work! We should all celebrate. Lauren Bacall: “If it’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s a drunk woman. I’ll match you flop for flop, you (expletive deleted, and then more deleted).” Bacall left as Winters waved her goodbye.

Shelley takes Debbie's jabs. She could dish it and she could take it.

Love Shelley Winters. She was always a character actress but got a few juicy lead roles early on. Later she was cast as eccentrics and was always fun and watchable.

Some men thought she was sexy. She was married to Vittorio Gassman and Tony Franciosa. One of her early proteges was Robert DeNiro. Her autobiography is very dishy. It's hard to believe she had so many affairs but nobody named in the book denied it (the ones still alive of course.)

Well, if she was as voracious in the bedroom as she was at the buffet...

This never fails to put a smile on my face!

And as far as her not being nominated for her outstanding work in “Lolita”, in one of her memoirs she claimed that the studio wanted to submit her in the Best Supporting Actress category, but Shelley pushed for a Best Actress nod instead (a hubris-based mistake she realized later in hindsight.)

Long before I knew who Shelley Winters was, I had a friend who bragged that his aunt was a dead ringer for Shelley Winters. She was. But it was a while before I realized that Shelley had been attractive in her youth.

She was a good character actress.

Also very liberal for her time.

Didn't she say she fucked Belafonte?

R31 No, they were just friends. Shelley had a supporting role in a great film noir that Harry in — Odds Against Tomorrow.

starred in*

I apologize in advance, but I only know her as Rosanne's grandmother, and she was hilarious!

Her memoirs are the best.

I do wonder how she was able to snag Marlon Brando at the peak of his hotness.

R36, Brando would fuck anything, right? And sometimes men will give in when a woman is sexually aggressive.

Shelley got the hottest guys in Hollywood.

Women and gay men always judge the face. Straight men don't, not to the same degree.

She didn’t deserve to win an Oscar for A Patch of Blue imo. If anyone should have won from that movie it should’ve been the late Sidney Poitier.

Once in an interview with Vanity Fair, Shelley claimed to have given Madonna acting lessons. Madonna wrote a letter to the editor in the next issue saying they had never met! They're both so crazy I don't know who was telling the truth.

Shelley gave Methuselah acting lessons.

Those meaty cakes.

Even when slim Shelley was no beauty. But that's something most straight men would easily overlook.

A lot of men in Hollywood in the 50s and 60s liked Shelley because, unlike most actresses out there, she could talk about things other than herself, like politics and history and modern literature and music. And she had interesting opinions on the films and the characters she played...she could carry on an interesting conversation with a director or fellow actor about acting.

Unfortunately, as she aged, she started gaining a rep for being a bit batty on talk shows throughout the 70s and 80s. I don't think younger people would have ever believed she was once admired for her intelligence and intellectual curiosity.

As for Betty Bacall, didn't Bacall have an affair with Shelley's then husband Tony Franciosa? I think Shelley wrote about that in one her books.

R44 Being blonde seems to be enough for many straight men.

Take anything Winters said about Bacall with a large-ish brick of salt.

Shelley was far from hard to look at...

[Quote] Take anything Winters said about Bacall with a large-ish brick of salt.

Please. It wasn't Shelley talking about Bacall's affair with Sinatra.

Two things that were great of Shelley is how she gave away her oscar to be put in the anne frank house! classy act! And secondly, she was right on the mark, when asked about marilyn said "she wasn't what she sold"... so true....

Slim pins.

r49, what does Frank Sinatra have to do with Shelley Winters?

OP = Rebel Wilson, destined to drown in "Poseidon AVP 2030"

[Quote] what does Frank Sinatra have to do with Shelley Winters?

He called her a "bitch of a Brooklyn broad," or words to that effect.

She was great in A Patch Of Blue..

Shelley and Sally Kirkland talk acting and Jill Clayburgh's career.

What ever happened to Sally Kirkland?

I hung out with both Shelley and Sally in West Hollywood 1994-2000, mostly at the Silver Spoon. Shelley was amazing. Sally was batshit crazy.

I post this vid in every Shelley thread....

Winters was a dark horse in Hollywood. Even slammed up as shown in some of the pics upthread, she really couldn't compete with the film industry's idea of the beautiful, glamorous movie star. Still, not only did she work consistently, but she won TWO Academy awards for her work. Hers is a success story to appreciate.

Eh, he was a character actress...

*she

She looked fine and was a hoot! If you ask me, when young, as for looks, she beat Ann Miller, June Allyson, Jane Wyman, Bette Davis, dare I say it on here - Judy Garland.

[quote] Two things that were great of Shelley is how she gave away her oscar to be put in the anne frank house! classy act!

Actually, not. She freely admitted that she ran her mouth about the donation up until she won, then she regretted having to give it up. I think she talks in her book about procrastinating over the trip to Amsterdam.

Shelly Winters was rather a damn fine looking woman in her day.

Even with a bit of weight can see why men would find her attractive, she wore it well.

Another from film "Alfie"

I can't believe you evil twats are coming for Shelley Winters. It's like no one is sacred on here.

Men liked Shelley because she was easy. She was a dependable lay.

I'm still surprised she got the Best Actress nomination for A Place In The Sun. Her character dies less than halfway through the movie, and Elizabeth Taylor is the top-billed lead.

Ms. Winters must have had something, she nabbed a few prime Grade A slabs of beef as husbands (Anthony Franciosa, Vittorio Gassman...), but also was rolled around quite a lot in her day.

Name escapes me now, but IIRC wife of some big Hollywood producer or studio head invited a young actor to lunch (who was gay IIRC as well), and told him bluntly being seen with Shelley Winters was going to harm his career. Ms. Winters was by then a well known tramp in certain circles apparently.

SW wasn’t an uggo when she was young. She frumped up as she got older, but it worked for the kind of roles she was playing. Good actress. Not everybody in real life is drop dead gorgeous. Hollywood needs some average lookers.

Shirley probably didn't fuck that producer so he sought revenge.

How far through the movie does Kristin Scott Thomas die in "The English Patient"?

Not soon enough.

She had a ton of personality and versatility. She was also a great character actress. I like to think of her, Ann Dowd and Margo Martindale as part of a divine parthenon of grade A character actresses.

R64- I NEVER found Michael Caine appealing. Even in his 1960's heyday.

Shelley wrote in her first biography that Bacall had an affair with her husband Tony Franciosa.

A PLACE IN THE SUN

A DOUBLE LIFE

LOLITA

THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK

NEXT STOP, GREENWICH VILLAGE

PHONE CALL FROM A STRANGER

HARPER

THE CHAPMAN REPORT

ALFIE

ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW

THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER

A PATCH OF BLUE

THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE

Yeah, I'd say Shelley Winters did pretty good.

Well this was embarrassing. Lucy was such a bitch.

R78- At least our Lucy never got DUMPY like SW.

Lucy kept her lovely figure.

I disagree that she didn't deserve the Best Supporting Oscar for "A Patch of Blue". It was a weak year, but her embodiment of the mother is spot on. You feel like you're peeking into a rundown tenement at people on the brink. Her Roseanne is like Aileen Wuornos: personable and fun, then like a light switch- blind with rage. She's terrifying.

She was godawful and woefully miscast in the Cabaret forerunner “I Am A Camera.” Trying to do an accent got in her way. Julie Harris blew her right off the screen.

R79 Thanks to cigarettes she did.

There’s a clip out there of her on Carson and the guest tells her to shut up. The audience applauds.

Here's my look at a nifty all-star film noir called "Odds Against Tomorrow," that came out in '59. Harry Belafonte and Robert Ryan star as inept robbers, but Shelley Winters is terrific as she eases into her character actress years, as racist Ryan's girlfriend. Shell is restrained, deglamorized, and realistic. All filmed in NYC, with Gloria Grahame, Ed Begley, Wayne Rogers, and Cicely Tyson in her film debut. There's a great free copy on YouTube...

She had oomph, didn’t try to act seductive every second.

R78 Shelley Winters weight was a common punchline by many in the 70's. Shelley took it in stride for the most part. The only time she got pissed was with Robert Duvall at the oscars. None of it would be allowed today.

The thing is she's not even that heavy in that clip. Compared to people today, Shelley wasn't that huge.

The funny thing about the oscars snafu is that Duvall is presenting with Cloris Leachman, who once went on the Tonight Show and said that all fat people should be rounded up and put into starvation camps, because they polluted the environment.

Another one who would have been cancelled in today's environment.

Shelley was quite fat by 1970s standards. People were generally fit back then, and if you were fat it was because of health problems or being a SEVERE glutton.

If you've given in to wearing a mumu...

Shelley's weight was treated as a punchline in 1966's "Harper," where Shelley plays an ex-movie star. Here's my take on that all-star detective movie starring Paul Newman.

She's gorgeous in this noir drama.

I don’t think it was just her weight that annoyed people, she also had a reputation as a loudmouth. You can see that on talk shows when she gets going and just blah blah blah blah blahs.

She may have been a loudmouth on talk shows but at least she had something to say of interest. Her problem was that as she aged, she'd become easily flustered or would forget names and details and lose her train of thought, which was turned into comedy by the host or other guests.

R92 - Yes, she was often rude and talked over other guests as referenced in this Youtube video of Oliver Reed trying to be interviewed by Johnny Carson. Oliver tried to impress upon her to 'shut up' in a most dignified way but she didn't get the hint.

The Skip E. Lowe interview.

That must be why Cloris and MTM got along so well....cunts of a feather flock together.