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Shelley Winters

Why isn't she more on the cultural level of a Streep, Hepburn, Davis?

Her filmography is very impressive, and she's worked with many of the most important directors of the 20th century. Unlike the others, Winters really bridged the gap between old and new Hollywood.

by Anonymousreply 149July 9, 2025 2:50 AM

Wasn't she?

by Anonymousreply 1July 6, 2025 5:16 PM

I know not the point of your thread, but this appearance on Carson was so funny. The main part of the interview is Annie Potts, but Shelley takes part around 3:45 and it's hilarious.

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by Anonymousreply 2July 6, 2025 5:19 PM

I’d like to see Streep pull this off.

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by Anonymousreply 3July 6, 2025 5:20 PM

Hepburn? I don’t think this was in her wheelhouse.

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by Anonymousreply 4July 6, 2025 5:21 PM

Now Bette Davis I can see here.

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by Anonymousreply 5July 6, 2025 5:26 PM

Shelley was not a leading lady, OP, you silly goose.

She was a character actress who grabbed a few lead roles early but as the Winters' persona came forward she was left with the many successes and even more enjoyable flops from about 1958 on.

by Anonymousreply 6July 6, 2025 5:35 PM

You don't have to do it for her.

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by Anonymousreply 7July 6, 2025 5:39 PM

One of the reasons she didn't worry about getting fat in the 60s and 70s was that it helped her with getting character actress parts.

by Anonymousreply 8July 6, 2025 5:42 PM

You should have smelled how lovely she smelled when it got hot.

by Anonymousreply 9July 6, 2025 5:43 PM

She was a blowsy, whiney nag, a liar and fantasist who insisted she was the best, hardest working actor around as well as the hottest fuck.

She was a tiresome, indefatigable self-promoter. And both her memoirs are full of self-aggrandizing lies. If sue was your mother-in-law you would have wanted to kill her. With a strong director she could be good, with a weak one she was an irritating ham. There’s a reason her reputation hasn’t survived her death. She was the only one promoting her greatness.

by Anonymousreply 10July 6, 2025 5:45 PM

It seems that she never turned down a role. She has a long list of credits. The Poseidon Adventure, Next Stop Greenwich Village, Alfie, Lolita, The Diary of Anne Frank and A Place in the Sun are probably her best films. She was a character actress not a leading lady. Three of her four Oscar nominations were for supporting roles and though she was nominated for Best Actress in A Place in the Sun her role feels like a supporting role. As I recall she drowns about halfway through the film.

by Anonymousreply 11July 6, 2025 6:09 PM

I’m STILL mad she lost her Poseidon Oscar. She’s absolute perfection.

by Anonymousreply 12July 6, 2025 6:12 PM

My friend told me that when he was a kid he cried when she drowned on the Poseidon Adventure.

by Anonymousreply 13July 6, 2025 6:14 PM

She was never what you might call "subtle" or "nuanced." But she was a good old broad, as they used to be called.

Her most unlikely romantic partner (on and, supposedly, off screen) was Farley Granger.

by Anonymousreply 14July 6, 2025 6:15 PM

[quote]My friend told me that when he was a kid he cried when she drowned on the Poseidon Adventure.

She didn't drown, r13.

by Anonymousreply 15July 6, 2025 6:17 PM

Didn't realize she had TWO Oscars.

There was always something so hammy about her - on and off stage. She talked about her being a blonde bombshell - and yes there are pics of her blonde, but bombshell never quite fit. She was attractive when she was young, but she really wasn't beautiful.

Felt like she needed all attention on her at all times - just my impression.

by Anonymousreply 16July 6, 2025 6:17 PM

She is sensational in The Diary of Anne Frank , an utterly nuanced (and heart-breaking) performance like no other.

by Anonymousreply 17July 6, 2025 6:19 PM

Receiving her Oscar for A Patch of Blue

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by Anonymousreply 18July 6, 2025 6:24 PM

She’s annoying and always plays the same character with the whiny voice.

by Anonymousreply 19July 6, 2025 6:33 PM

Shelley's 4th and last Oscar nomination was for The Poseidon Adventure. Robert Duvall Inexplicably starts laughing when he reads Shelley's name

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by Anonymousreply 20July 6, 2025 7:29 PM

I could see her playing Elizabeth Taylor's part in WAOVW.

by Anonymousreply 21July 6, 2025 7:34 PM

She gave some great performances but she seemed like a pain in the ass.

by Anonymousreply 22July 6, 2025 7:42 PM

She did it in Cincinnati, r21.

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by Anonymousreply 23July 6, 2025 7:48 PM

What would I do without DL? Great minds think alike!

Thanks, R23.

by Anonymousreply 24July 6, 2025 7:56 PM

She was my best friend and mentor. I owe it all to her.

by Anonymousreply 25July 6, 2025 7:57 PM

Because she was a white trash hog.

by Anonymousreply 26July 6, 2025 8:00 PM

[quote]My friend told me that when he was a kid he cried when she drowned on the Poseidon Adventure.

Like any red blooded heterosexual.

by Anonymousreply 27July 6, 2025 8:01 PM

Here she is being told to shut the fuck up on Carson.

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by Anonymousreply 28July 6, 2025 8:02 PM

R22 Yes, she was! So many of her costars have commented about the trouble she could be. She must have been a nightmare on 'The Poseidon Adventure' because some of them had not so nice things to say about her. Granted, working conditions were miserable for cast and crew on that film because they were wet and dirty for most of it, and for a woman of girth, it must have exacerbated the discomfort and difficulties. Did you know she put 35 pounds specifically for TPA? She said she never managed to lose that weight. I think Belle Rosen was one of her finest performances.

Her costar Jack Albertson, who played her husband Manny Rosen on TPA, was referring to her when he said, "The happiest moment making the movie for me was when she died." Yet, they managed to portray with sincerity a loving, devoted couple onscreen.

R13 Belle Rosen died of a heart attack after rescuing a drowning Reverend Scott (Gene Hackman). See video clip below.

R20 Robert Duvall made an ass of himself and ruined an important moment for Shelley, even if she wasn't the one to get the Oscar.

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by Anonymousreply 29July 6, 2025 8:33 PM

Stella Stevens didn't have any trouble working with Shelley on 'The Poseidon Adventure' because she made sure she wouldn't have any scenes working directly with her, one on one, before she signed on. Stella had a bad experience working with Shelley on a previous film, 'The Mad Room' .

From an online film forum:

[Quote] Stella Stevens said in a 1994 interview that she hated working with Shelley Winters in the 1969 film THE MAD ROOM so much, she swore she'd never work with her again. Winters had been under a lot of stress because Robert Kennedy was assassinated during the filming of it and she had a very bad reaction to it. She began soothing her nerves with white wine and was drunk most the time. A year later Stevens was cast in this role and soon found out Winters had been cast too. She told the producers she wasn't going to do the film. They told her she wouldn't have to be in any scenes with Winters one-on-one, so she agreed to do it and was glad she did. Winters wasn't drinking anymore, and they got along fine.

[Quote] Stevens said in a 2006 interview that when she first read the script, she could tell by the writing that whichever actress played the "fat lady" (“Belle”) in the movie would end up getting an Oscar nomination. And she was right. The role went to Shelley Winters, and she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Photo below is from the1969 camp thriller 'The Mad Room'

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by Anonymousreply 30July 6, 2025 9:12 PM

I saw her in Gamma Rays. A fine but unsurprising performance.

by Anonymousreply 31July 6, 2025 9:16 PM

The Mad Room is one fucked up movie. I loved it. And it looks like Lauri LIESEL Peters played Honey opposite Shirl in WAOVW.

by Anonymousreply 32July 6, 2025 9:43 PM

Didn't she dump a drink on Oliver Reed? I can't remember if he had it coming or not.

by Anonymousreply 33July 6, 2025 10:04 PM

R11 It has to be at least 2/3 of the way through.

by Anonymousreply 34July 6, 2025 10:14 PM

R33 You decide.

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by Anonymousreply 35July 6, 2025 11:50 PM

As if ANYBODY even remembers Stella Stevens was in The Poseidon Adventure.

by Anonymousreply 36July 7, 2025 12:09 AM

r36 - No, you aren't.

by Anonymousreply 37July 7, 2025 12:10 AM

She couldn’t hold a candle

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by Anonymousreply 38July 7, 2025 12:15 AM

Winters made some real drek during the 70s and many people like me remember her for playing hagsploitation roles, Roger Corman films, etc. She eventually did a good job on Roseanne, but it was apparent that a little Shelly went a long way.

by Anonymousreply 39July 7, 2025 12:17 AM

r33 He certainly did.

by Anonymousreply 40July 7, 2025 12:17 AM

I know this has been posted before, but I find it interesting. This guy that we've discussed - Larry Randolph - recounting his work with Shelley. He was NOT a fan.

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by Anonymousreply 41July 7, 2025 12:19 AM

She was a fattie.

by Anonymousreply 42July 7, 2025 12:21 AM

Swim, Shelley, Swim!

by Anonymousreply 43July 7, 2025 12:25 AM

R41 Jesus. He is both long winded and scattered.

by Anonymousreply 44July 7, 2025 12:30 AM

Shelley did some okay stuff in the 70s. Poseidon (Oscar nom), Blume in Love, and Next Stop Greenwich Village (both directed by Paul Mazursky)...she was brilliant in the latter. A Roman Polanski movie, The Tenant. King of the Gypsies.

by Anonymousreply 45July 7, 2025 12:32 AM

Too fat

by Anonymousreply 46July 7, 2025 12:37 AM

What is the context for that guy's story about Shelley? Did he work on a TV series with her? And what was his job? I listened to about 8 minutes and then gave up.

by Anonymousreply 47July 7, 2025 12:46 AM

I suspect Larry Randolph's issues with Shelley are a textbook case of "you spot it, you got it." She was in at least three films where her character was murdered by the good looking male lead: A Place in the Sun, The Night of the Hunter, and Lolita. Loved her as Nana Mary on Roseanne. I'm sure she was a piece of work in real life, but I didn't know her so don't care. She was a very gifted actress.

by Anonymousreply 48July 7, 2025 12:49 AM

I do remember her telling Johnny Carson a story about her attending a reunion at the Actors Studio. She returned knowing that she would be one of the big success stories of the graduates and was looking forward to being there. When she arrived, she went to the check-in desk and spoke to one of the volunteers, a bald-headed older man.

"Hi, I'm Shelley Winters!"

"Shelley, darling, so nice to see you! I'm glad you could make it."

"Thank you. Do I need to wear that name tag? What do I do now?"

"Shelley, don't you recognize me? It's Tony,"

"Ah, err, why yes, Tony?, Ah, yes, TONY. Nice to see you again, ah, Tony. When did we last talk?"

"Shelley, dear Shelley. Look. It's me. Me. Tony. Anthony. Anthony Franciosa. Anthony Franciosa, YOUR SECOND HUSBAND!!!"

The Carson audience laughed for about a minute, with Shelley protesting, "He wasn't bald when I was married to him!"

by Anonymousreply 49July 7, 2025 12:57 AM

I liked her book! I figured it was embellished but it was fun.

by Anonymousreply 50July 7, 2025 1:00 AM

Back in the day when David Letterman's show had their top 10 lists, one of the lists was, "Top 10 Least Popular Shows Playing on Broadway at the moment." One of them listed was: Shelley Winters wordlessly consumes and entire roast to the to strains of Cole Porter."

by Anonymousreply 51July 7, 2025 1:02 AM

R2, brilliant

It was the first thing I though of when I saw this thread

by Anonymousreply 52July 7, 2025 1:03 AM

Gary Coleman, Ricky Schroeder, and Rin Tin Tin

Three people Shelley Winters hasn't slept with

by Anonymousreply 53July 7, 2025 1:07 AM

R49 That's a funny story, but Tony Franciosa never became bald.

by Anonymousreply 54July 7, 2025 1:07 AM

I thought it happened in the Green Room at the Tonight Show. Don't remember the bald part either.

by Anonymousreply 55July 7, 2025 1:14 AM

I thought it was Vittorio.

by Anonymousreply 56July 7, 2025 1:24 AM

Ever see this gem? "Revenge!" One of those ABC TV Movie of the Week jobs, which would then be rerun on the afternoon movies forever! This was a family fave, watching Shelley go wild as a deranged woman who has Bradford Dillman locked in her San Fran mansion basement. And Stuart Whitman is a psychic who's trying to find him. Very watchable and Shelley works up a head of steam, whining, shrieking, and generally carrying on, as she matches wits with her two adversaries. It's on YouTube and here's my look at Shelley:

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by Anonymousreply 57July 7, 2025 1:25 AM

Shelley is, of course, included...

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by Anonymousreply 58July 7, 2025 1:32 AM

Shelley did bridge old and new Hollywood in her own way as OP notes. A lot of her later career though consisted of grindhouse and exploitation films which may have cheapened her "brand", so to speak. She was a terribly eccentric woman. I enjoy a lot of her crime/horror flicks she did later on ("Who Ever Slew Auntie Roo?" and "Bloody Mama" are great), but she also is a bonafide legend in my eyes for "The Night of the Hunter" and "A Place in the Sun", both of which I regard among the best films ever made—and she was great in them.

by Anonymousreply 59July 7, 2025 1:35 AM

R54, maybe not bald but his hair was definitely receding.

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by Anonymousreply 60July 7, 2025 1:42 AM

Has anyone mentioned that movie she did where she was an addict and James Darrin played her son? Burl Ives and Ella Fitzgerald (also playing an addict) were in it, as well as Jean Seberg and Ricardo Montalban.

Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1960)

Just looked it up.

by Anonymousreply 61July 7, 2025 1:44 AM

R60 Receding? Maybe a little. But far from bald. He had more hair than most actors his age.

by Anonymousreply 62July 7, 2025 1:45 AM

Sure, but Shelley being Shelley, she probably fudged the facts a bit for a good story.

by Anonymousreply 63July 7, 2025 1:53 AM

Yeah but it wasn't like Tony was a complete unknown and she could make up something like that and no one would know.

Another story: when she was on Tonight, with Carson, and Paul Newman, Carson asked if they had ever made a movie together, and she said no. Newman had to remind her they had made a movie together--Harper (1966).

She could be a dingbat.

by Anonymousreply 64July 7, 2025 2:07 AM

From Blume in Love—“I hope the plane crashes.” One line, hilarious and pathetic, showed what Shelley Winters at her best could do. Credit to Paul Mazursky, too, for the line and, possibly, picking the perfect take.

by Anonymousreply 65July 7, 2025 2:09 AM

One fact I can never forget is that Shelley's parents were third cousins. I know in some cultures this is not uncommon, but it's truly one step away from inbreeding.

by Anonymousreply 66July 7, 2025 2:10 AM

Mr. and Mrs. Franciosa on What's My Line @14:35

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by Anonymousreply 67July 7, 2025 2:14 AM

R23 Wow, “Formost Kosher Smoked Meats. Beef—All Beef!” got billing over Shirley, err Shelley and in much bigger and bolder font when she appeared in Cincinnati in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” I hope they at least had a deli platter ready for her in her dressing room after each show!

by Anonymousreply 68July 7, 2025 2:21 AM

She was wonderful in A Patch Of Blue.

by Anonymousreply 69July 7, 2025 2:21 AM

r62 Maybe that was a good toupée?

by Anonymousreply 70July 7, 2025 2:24 AM

She basically WAS Nana Mary.

by Anonymousreply 71July 7, 2025 2:30 AM

Once upon a time, Shelley was making the rounds on the talkshow circuit telling all that she was Oscar nominated for "A Double Life" (1947), forcing Robert Osborne to confront her on "Dinah!", and tell her she was wrong. I don't think Shelley was too concerned with facts.

by Anonymousreply 72July 7, 2025 2:32 AM

[quote]One fact I can never forget is that Shelley's parents were third cousins. I know in some cultures this is not uncommon, but it's truly one step away from inbreeding.

What a fucking idiot. It's a long way from inbreeding. Two of sixteen forbears were married to each other. Her parents shared one set great-great grandparents. Do any of you even know any of your third cousins?

by Anonymousreply 73July 7, 2025 2:32 AM

R28, I remember watching Carson as a kid and rarely did a previous guest interrupt the next guest that it come out the camera stayed on the new guest and Johnny after may be a wide shot when they came on, but this guy I don't even know who he is he had had enough of Shelly I think when Joanne guest hosted there was more interaction. This show is less rigid.

by Anonymousreply 74July 7, 2025 2:44 AM

Oliver Reed is the guest. A sexy British actor back in the 70s.

by Anonymousreply 75July 7, 2025 2:46 AM

R72 No, she was not nominated, but she easily could have been. She stands out in the kind of role she specialized in—but without the whine that crept in as soon as “A Place in the Sun.” Shelley Winters for “A Double Life,” Elizabeth Taylor for “A Place in the Sun” (and “Giant” too).

by Anonymousreply 76July 7, 2025 3:15 AM

Talented but also a lot to deal with. And, like many actors, she started coasting as she got older.

I remember one time on the Tonight Show when she was hounding Johnny to produce a movie version of The Gingerbread Lady for her to star in...she wouldn't shut up about it.

Johnny loved having her on but you could tell he was getting annoyed with her.

by Anonymousreply 77July 7, 2025 3:30 AM

She was trash!

by Anonymousreply 78July 7, 2025 3:31 AM

[quote]r77 = she was hounding Johnny to produce a movie version of The Gingerbread Lady for her to star in

Marry the playwright, bitch.

by Anonymousreply 79July 7, 2025 3:39 AM

Wasn't she a holy terror on the set of "The Love Boat"? They flew her somewhere on a 747 but she didn't like her seat so she sat on the floor bitching about it.

by Anonymousreply 80July 7, 2025 3:55 AM

R80, Bernie Kopell talks about her on the Gilbert Gottfried podcast. She was a fucking nightmare! The stories are hilarious, though.

I think she was on one of those 2-hour episodes where they actually went on a cruise ship on location, IIRC. There was little escape.

by Anonymousreply 81July 7, 2025 4:07 AM

I read one of her books and she claimed to have fucked Brando.

by Anonymousreply 82July 7, 2025 4:14 AM

Bobby had her on speed-dial, consulting with her before every role.

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by Anonymousreply 83July 7, 2025 4:43 AM

She is VERY whiny in A Place in the Sun and Pauline Kael was right when she says killing her character was like euthanasia. She was better in Lolita. She's one of the very few women who gave a good performance in a Kubrick movie which is certainly a testament to her character since he obviously hated women.

by Anonymousreply 84July 7, 2025 4:52 AM

Shit. One set of my great grandparents were first cousins. The fucking Irish ones.

by Anonymousreply 85July 7, 2025 5:11 AM

My parents ARE first cousins. Irish, of course.

by Anonymousreply 86July 7, 2025 7:15 AM

You don't really get into trouble with inbreeding unless you KEEP doing it. First cousins fucking isn't going to produce monster babies right off the bat.

by Anonymousreply 87July 7, 2025 7:18 AM

Exactly, R87, I'm fine, just a little gay.

by Anonymousreply 88July 7, 2025 7:37 AM

R80, it was the 2-part Italian Cruise episode, and Shelley bitched about everything, the script, the wardrobe, her hair & makeup, etc. Her co-star Ernest Borgnine had had enough and ripped into her. She finally behaved after that. Sometimes these spoiled Hollywood divas need a good dressing down to remind them they ain't doing Chekhov.

by Anonymousreply 89July 7, 2025 1:47 PM

There's no biological reason for third cousins not to marry and have kids.

by Anonymousreply 90July 7, 2025 1:53 PM

By the way, whoever posted that her character (Charlotte Haze) was murdered in the movie of Lolita--she wasn't.

by Anonymousreply 91July 7, 2025 2:01 PM

Now Ernie and Shelley as George and Martha, in Virginia Woolf, that would have been somethin'! The Love Boat Dinner Theater!

by Anonymousreply 92July 7, 2025 2:05 PM

I remember a sketch when she was a guest on the ABC comedy show from LA (and SNL ripoff), Fridays, where she played the agent to the impressionists. I just remember the fancy costumes, and that it wasn't funny.

by Anonymousreply 93July 7, 2025 2:11 PM

Ernie Borgnine described shooting The Poseidon Adventure as "a wonderful time"; however... "Shelley Winters was a pain in the ass, but that was Shelley Winters."

by Anonymousreply 94July 7, 2025 2:15 PM

Her final years were sad and lonely.

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by Anonymousreply 95July 7, 2025 2:15 PM

She never seems to have been a pain in the ass to Jordan.

by Anonymousreply 96July 7, 2025 2:18 PM

It's sad how she told him that he didn't need to come visit her anymore, and then she died shortly thereafter. She knew her time was up.

by Anonymousreply 97July 7, 2025 2:31 PM

Shelley being introduced on Fridays in a bit about Reagan’s impending inauguration. What a time capsule!

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by Anonymousreply 98July 7, 2025 2:51 PM

[Quote] By the way, whoever posted that her character (Charlotte Haze) was murdered in the movie of Lolita--she wasn't.

Nor was she murdered in a Place in the Sun

by Anonymousreply 99July 7, 2025 3:38 PM

R91 and R99 - I guess people are confusing thus performances with the one she gave in The Night of the Hunter, in which her character was murdered and drowned.

by Anonymousreply 100July 7, 2025 3:57 PM

Oliver Reed was one of the English Actors who stripped naked and wrestled in "Women in Love" in 1969. It was very homoerotic. The movie was an English period piece.

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by Anonymousreply 101July 7, 2025 4:34 PM

Doesn't Monty push her over the side of the rowboat? And refuse to save her? If that's not murder, I don't know what is.

by Anonymousreply 102July 7, 2025 7:58 PM

No R102 she fell and she was no Mrs. Rosen

The conclusion of the film in which the hero and presumably the audience is supposed to be convinced that a man should pay with his life for a murder he didn't commit- but wanted to commit- is bizarre-Pauline Kael

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by Anonymousreply 103July 7, 2025 8:36 PM

Shelley's fine whine in the row boat...

by Anonymousreply 104July 7, 2025 10:19 PM

[quote]Wasn't she a holy terror on the set of "The Love Boat"? They flew her somewhere on a 747 but she didn't like her seat so she sat on the floor bitching about it.

[quote]Bernie Kopell talks about her on the Gilbert Gottfried podcast. She was a fucking nightmare!

R80 & R81, I found a Kopell’s Television Academy interview where he talks about this. This is from the YouTube transcript:

[quote]We had Academy Award winners like you wouldn't believe we had Ernie Borgnine, “Marty,” we had Eva Marie Saint, “On the Waterfront,” we had Shirley Jones, “Elmer Gantry,” we had Ray Milland, “Lost Weekend”, and we had Shelly Winters. Shelly Winters.

[quote]We're going to the Mediterranean, and Eva Marie Saint and Shirley Jones are sitting in First Class. 747. Giggling like school girls. Oh we're going to have a great adventure in the Mediterranean, this is going to be great.

[quote]So, I was upstairs, they used to have this lounge upstairs, very opulent, and I hear some kind of a fuss down below. What is it? I come down the stairs. Shelly Winters is sitting in first class on the floor. What's what's the problem? She's unhappy with her seat in first class. It went on this way. Disruptive. Look at me, look at me, but very counterproductive.

[quote]So one day we're on the island of Capri. We have to come in, it gets to be very difficult for the crew and the cast to do something that's on on a location because at Capri, the dock was not large enough to accommodate our big ship.

[quote]So, we had to take all of our equipment and all of all of the actors and all the all the crew on tenders, these little little ships, little boats, and take all the all of the equipment, take it to the to the island and unload it, put it on trucks, and take it to the location, very difficult. So, Shelley Winters, she gets… and we have to be back on the ship at 4:00, and there are paying passengers, the ship has got to go.

[quote]And Shelly Winters doesn't like the way her hair is, and she doesn't like the lines, and she wants to change things.

[quote]Ernie Borgnine, who had experience with her on Poseidon, ripped into her with every Italian curse that no one in the world had ever heard of, and I think that's what she was aiming for. But that was the one fly in the ointment that we had, but Eva Marie Saint was a dream throughout the whole thing.

Then he goes on, talking about Eva Marie Saint.

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by Anonymousreply 105July 7, 2025 10:23 PM

What's the Matter With Helen? is my guilty pleasure

by Anonymousreply 106July 7, 2025 10:57 PM

She did a HERE'S LUCY playing herself, kind of, as a character named Shelley Summers, an actress with a weight problem and Lucy is assigned to help her stick to her diet. That's about all I remember.

by Anonymousreply 107July 7, 2025 11:00 PM

In the water she's a very skinny lady.

by Anonymousreply 108July 7, 2025 11:01 PM

R105, Shelley and Ernie were in the Italian Cruise episodes, Season 6, Eps 1 & 2, while Shirley and Eva were in the Greek Cruise episodes, Season 6, Eps 18 & 19. Is Bernie misremembering or were these episodes shot back to back? If they were all flown in together and were allowed to stick around the Mediterranean for the duration of the long shoot, I would not be complaining.

by Anonymousreply 109July 8, 2025 12:17 AM

The Here’s Lucy episode is fucking amazing.

Lucy has to babysit Shelley and make her stick to a diet. During an astonishingly long sequence, Lucy discovers that Shelley has hidden food all over the house - all set to this bizarre Theremin creepy music.

I LOVE this episode.

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by Anonymousreply 110July 8, 2025 12:47 AM

The thing is Shelley wasn't even that heavy, especially compared to today's standards. And yet she was treated horribly.

People thought that Duvall was making fun of Shelley Winters, Fat City was read before her name was. But Robert Duvall insisted that wasn't the case and publicly apologized.

by Anonymousreply 111July 8, 2025 12:53 AM

Didn't Duvall blame it on James Caan making funny faces in the audience?

I never believed it. It never affected his career.

by Anonymousreply 112July 8, 2025 1:06 AM

[quote]Is Bernie misremembering or were these episodes shot back to back? If they were all flown in together and were allowed to stick around the Mediterranean for the duration of the long shoot, I would not be complaining.

R109, based on what he said about having difficulty with the size of the ship, I’m guessing they were filmed back-to-back, and the casts traveled together.

by Anonymousreply 113July 8, 2025 1:24 AM

Why didn’t Shelley Winters reprise her role from the Broadway production of Hatful of Rain when it was made into a movie?

by Anonymousreply 114July 8, 2025 2:09 AM

Shelley was zaftig for years before "officially" porking up for Poseidon.

She used it as her excuse.

by Anonymousreply 115July 8, 2025 2:37 AM

R114, and why wasn't Ben Gazzara cast? It was yet another role he originated on Broadway that he lost to someone else.

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by Anonymousreply 116July 8, 2025 2:46 AM

Especially odd that Gazzara was replaced by the not-so-Italian Don Murray as Tony Franciosa's brother.

Nothing against Murray who I happen to love.

by Anonymousreply 117July 8, 2025 3:09 AM

Franciosa died five days after his ex-wife Shelley.

by Anonymousreply 118July 8, 2025 3:35 AM

She wasn't a scene stealer. In 'Night and the Hunter,' she was perfectly cast and played her part well. However, Robert Mitchum and Lillian Gish, an unlikely pairing in the 50s, stole the show.

by Anonymousreply 119July 8, 2025 3:59 AM

Gish wrote of shooting "The Night of the Hunter":

[quote]I have to go back as far as D. W. Griffith to find a set so infused with purpose and harmony . . . there was not ever a moment’s doubt as to what we were doing or how we were doing it. To please Charles Laughton was our aim. We believed in and respected him. Totally.

Apparently, Mitchum initially wasn't happy about Winters being cast opposite him, but they were both on their best behavior and gave great performances.

by Anonymousreply 120July 8, 2025 4:08 AM

I just always found her to be a predictable actor and a bit trashy to boot.

by Anonymousreply 121July 8, 2025 4:19 AM

Wasn't Gazarra often denied roles for being too short?

by Anonymousreply 122July 8, 2025 4:45 AM

I always thought Ben Gazzara was hot. I wondered why he wasn't bigger

by Anonymousreply 123July 8, 2025 4:48 AM

R122, Ben Gazzara and Paul Newman were the same height.

by Anonymousreply 124July 8, 2025 5:37 AM

[r-10] But Shelly got to screw Anthony Franciosa and in my young elementary school mind, he made me feel like a woman. and I dreamyt of screwing him for many years.

Anyone other Tony Franciosa fans? Or anti -fans?

To answer OP’s question, SW ‘s career quickly devolved in the overweight, blowsy, supposedly humorous tactless, overbearing & always unattractive embarrassing chick, serving as a cringey, awful stereotype for young Jewish women for decades after her arrival on film.

I hated that bitch. She really did a nasty number on the self - image of young Jewish girls. Book idea! “ From Shelly Winters to Natalie Portman : ( insert clever subtitle).

by Anonymousreply 125July 8, 2025 5:41 AM

Shelley makes her entrance

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by Anonymousreply 126July 8, 2025 5:45 AM

“Little Darlene has boobies!”

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by Anonymousreply 127July 8, 2025 6:08 AM

Shelley as Polly Adler in A House is Not a Home. The title song became a standard.

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by Anonymousreply 128July 8, 2025 6:33 AM

Another Tony Franciosa fan here, all the way back to my young teen years where I discovered him in TV showings of The Long Hot Summer and then in a TV sitcom called Valentine's Day (must have been mid-1960s). He was so hot and somehow gave off pansexual vibes like he's happily do it with just about anyone.

I think Ben Gazzara's problem may have been that he came off as too ethnic for 1950s film audiences and Hollywood, at least as a leading man. He might have had a much bigger film career had he been young in the late 1960s. But he was always a consistently working and well-respected actor.

by Anonymousreply 129July 8, 2025 3:21 PM

R99 Correct.

by Anonymousreply 130July 8, 2025 3:26 PM

In this short clip from "Harper," Robert Wagner gives the reason why one-time starlet played by Shelley never made it. From 1966, FYI.

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by Anonymousreply 131July 8, 2025 6:03 PM

Choosing not to attempt to save someone when they're drowning is murder to most people.

by Anonymousreply 132July 8, 2025 7:23 PM

She stunk up a pig costume in the original Broadway production of "Minnie's Boys."

by Anonymousreply 133July 8, 2025 7:39 PM

R132 It doesn't matter what most people think; it's not murder. It was an accidental drowning.

by Anonymousreply 134July 8, 2025 7:50 PM

R134, yes it does matter what people think and not assisting someone when they are about to drown is murder.

by Anonymousreply 135July 9, 2025 12:01 AM

R135 Maybe you think you saw something you didn't see. Both of them fall out of the boat accidentally. There's a long shot of the boat capsized in the lake. Then there's a shot of a dead tree, that dissolves into a shot of Clift coming out of the water onto the shore. We don't see him choosing not to attempt to save her.

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by Anonymousreply 136July 9, 2025 12:08 AM

How is it described in the book?

by Anonymousreply 137July 9, 2025 12:09 AM

She was amazing. A goodess with real talent. And she was best friends with the ultimate kook and windbag Sally Kirkland!

by Anonymousreply 138July 9, 2025 12:14 AM

What Dreiser intended to portray in the book and what Stevens intended to portray in the movie weren't the same thing.

by Anonymousreply 139July 9, 2025 12:33 AM

They both fall into the water in the same place so Clift clearly made the decision not to save her. It's not like they were caught in a roaring tidal wave in the ocean. They were immersed in a calm lstill lake.

by Anonymousreply 140July 9, 2025 12:36 AM

R140 How is that proof of anything? I don't get it. You can't tell if he tried to save her, didn't try to save her, tried and failed, or what. It's left ambiguous.

by Anonymousreply 141July 9, 2025 12:44 AM

[Quote] yes, it does matter what people think and not assisting someone when they are about to drown is murder.

no it isn't

by Anonymousreply 142July 9, 2025 12:59 AM

[quote]What Dreiser intended to portray in the book and what Stevens intended to portray in the movie weren't the same thing.

That wasn't the question, r139.

by Anonymousreply 143July 9, 2025 1:06 AM

R143 Why don't you look it up? People aren't here to be your personal library staff.

by Anonymousreply 144July 9, 2025 1:09 AM

What r144 said

by Anonymousreply 145July 9, 2025 1:14 AM

She was not a fan of auditions.

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by Anonymousreply 146July 9, 2025 1:58 AM

I thought it was Jo Van Fleet who her carried her Oscar around for identification.

by Anonymousreply 147July 9, 2025 2:01 AM

...........

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by Anonymousreply 148July 9, 2025 2:23 AM

I never can figure out Debbie Reynolds. Who was she, really? Always "on". Did we ever have a thread about this koo koo chick?

by Anonymousreply 149July 9, 2025 2:50 AM
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