Shelley Winters wasn't the monster people made her out to be

That was very sweet.

Thanks for sharing.

Love her. Brilliant and underappreciated. She seemed to have surprisingly little vanity and could nail either black comedy or tragedy. Her work in the 60s, esp. A Patch of Blue and Lolita, was peerless.

The public access Queen Skip E. Lowe (who everyone knows is really Jiminy Glick) told this story about his good friend Shelley. The gossip mavens Hollywood Kids were fans of Shelley but not Skip E. The primary kid, Lance saw them at a restaurant and was talking to Shelley. Skip E. tried to say something and Lance said "I'm taking to her not you" to which Shelley said "if you want to talk to me, you'd better be talking to him."

One of Skip E's interviews with Shelley.

Used to see her at the Silver Spoon a lot back in the late 90s.

She would always wave hi and chat us up. My friend was a nanny so sometimes we'd take the toddler and Shells would dote on him.

She told me that Roddy McDowell confirmed to her that Jacko molested those boys.

It's interesting that Shelley's daughter didn't invite that guy to the funeral. I wonder what that was about? A lot of the time children become suspicious or jealous when other people befriend their elderly parents. That may have been the case here.

I wonder if he still has her script from A Streetcar Named Desire?

r6 she probably just didn't know about him

Didn't Shelley live with some weird guy and married him on hear deathbed? Author of that video says that the apartment above hers was occupied by someone who "took advantage of her". I'm guessing he must be talking about that person.

I LOVE this funny appearance with her on Johnny Carson - watch it, it's short

Happy Birthday!

In the water, she was a very skinny lady.

It was heartbreaking that she pushed him away. But also the jaded New Yorker in me wants to know how many times he admired something in her house only to go home with it.

This guy's videos crack me up - the old funny queen was not a fan of Shelley

Shelley agreed to do a role in a student film I was directing back in the '90s at NYU. We were set to shoot about a month after the Christmas break. A couple weeks before the shoot, she dropped out. I later found out it was because she'd gone to rehab.

R14 physical therapy rehab or Amy Winehouse Rehab?

Larry Randolph is excruciating.

Who knew that Natalie Cole dated Elvis? She sure got around. She pretty much dated/slept every actor in Hollywood it seems.

thanks for sharing this guys channel btw, cute wholesome vibe and i know very little about old hollywood so i appreciate the history lesson.

Great payoff, r13!

I think he's a great raconteur, r16.

Aww, r16 that bitter old thing makes me laugh - his Bea Arthur stories are fun.

Sadly, Shelley's house has now been torn down. It stood abandoned for 15 years after her death.

In this new video, he tells how Johnny Carson basically paid for her house. It speaks volumes at how beloved she was in Hollywood amongst other actors and talk show hosts. She was a very compassionate woman.

I never heard that she was a monster, just nuts.

I still laugh at Married… with Children when Al says, “Oh, my god, I’ve turned into Shelley Winters repeating the same stories on the Tonight Show!”

R22, Shelley also said that when they really did fly her out, they did so first class. She would then turn those tickets in for coach ones so she could bring along other people.

This is Shelley's appearance on Carson that he was referencing.

I don’t think she was a monster, but she sure embraced the Baby Jane persona as she aged. And I can’t believe for one minute she had a long term affair with Burt Lancaster. Watching her in her1960s+ films was cringeworthy.

R27 She was ROBBED of an Oscar nomination for her fine work in a hat great film “What’s the Matter with Helen?”!

He enjoyed hanging out with her and has fun reminiscing. She seemed to be on the verge of entering a Norma Desmond phase, but jollier and in a caftan. That street looks like a nice spot to have an apartment, which probably costs a fortune...

5-story/6-unit condo is coming, as Shelley predicted.

Poor Jordan has had to give up his Hollywood dreams and moved to Florida and is living off his YouTube channel.proceeds.

R17 You mean Natalie Wood

I saw her in Gamma Rays and got her to sign my program.

Imagine growing up gay in a small town and watching old movies on TV to escape your life, and then moving to LA and befriending an Oscar-winning actress from Old Hollywood. What a dream that would be. He said that he would go 3 or 4 times a week after work and spend an hour visiting with her each time. That would be heaven.

WHET her daughter?

[quote] [R14] physical therapy rehab or Amy Winehouse Rehab?

The latter.

R34 Jordan is deep in the closet. He’s gained at least 40 pounds since the video we’re talking about and he has a beard with boobs the size of watermelons.

He says he's straight? He was a 20something year old hanging out with an 80 year old actress!

I saw Shelly Winters in NYC with her daughter and granddaughter. She had peaches and cream complexion. When younger even though chubby, she must have had the same look as a young Marilyn.

She was probably Marilyn Monroe's only true friend.

I am female growing up I was very “yearning”!- And romantic - I devoured everything connected to old Hollywood. I wanted to a big Broadway and Hollywood star - I even took classes from Susan Strasberg when I was a teen. I wanted to be “Marjorie Morningstar.”!I grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles. I DEVOURED Shelly Winters book - I LOVED it. I was young and innocent - I took it as gospel. I really believed all of her romances and stories. It seemed so exciting. Well - I also wanted to be Mary Martin - but Shelly Winters had all of the chutzpah and great sex and “the method.” …..?I read all of the autobiographies and. Biographies that came out back then - Shelly’s book was my Bible. I haven’t read it in years because I would probably be disappointed. Like when you drive by your childhood home and it looks so much smaller than you remembered.

"a beard with boobs the size of watermelons"

r37 How does a beard have boobs?

[quote]She was probably Marilyn Monroe's only true friend.

No wonder she offed herself.

Jordan must have done pretty well for himself with his YouTube channel. He went from living in that tiny efficiency apartment in Hollywood, scraping for acting gigs, to buying what looks like a nice home with pool somewhere down south (I'm guessing Florida from the looks of his property).

I used to follow his channel, but once he left Hollywood I lost interest. I just took a look and he has definitely gained weight, but he's not a walrus. Looks to have gained about 40 lbs. or so.

He definitely looks yuuuuge but he's careful to hide his body in his vids (which is why he usually films himself from the neck up).

I hope Shelley left him a couple of her plus-sized vintage caftans.

R4, thank you so much for linking to the Skip E. Lowe interview. Really fabulous watching!

I met her once. She was adorable, a total mensch. She came into the ER at UCLA where I was working accompanying a friend and she called in pizzas and Cokes for the entire staff, and then she sat down to talk to us as if we were all her friends. Lovely.

She was Lee Grant’s nemesis in some anecdotes in her book from when they worked together on The Balcony in 1963. Lee called her a cunt to her face at the Playboy Club party for the film.

I watched a bunch of Jordan the Lion’s videos a while back. When he was younger and lived in LA he had some good content going places with old Hollywood stories. Agree r37 I always thought he was gay when I first started watching him. He was kind of churchy, but seemingly not in a homophobic way. He moved to Florida, I think, and now travels around the US and his content is OK. The brassy girlfriend is gross. She seems like a phony to me.

[quote]I met her once. She was adorable, a total mensch. She came into the ER at UCLA where I was working accompanying a friend and she called in pizzas and Cokes for the entire staff, and then she sat down to talk to us as if we were all her friends. Lovely.

Sure, but then she ate all the pizzas--right?

She didn't touch them.