Winters, Shelley 1922(?)–2006

(Shirley Schrift)

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born August 18, 1922 (some sources say 1923 or 1920), in St. Louis, MO; died of heart failure, January 14, 2006, in Beverly Hills, CA. Actor and author. Winters, who won two Oscars for best supporting actress, became known in her later career for her gift for comedy and character acting. Getting into acting as a teenager, Winters tried out unsuccessfully for the role of Scarlet O'Hara in Gone with the Wind. The experience did encourage her acting ambitions, however. She graduated from New York's New Theater School and found work as a dress model and in summer stock theater. She took acting workshops at the New School after studies at Wayne State University and won a small part in the 1940 play Conquest in April. Her early career was a struggle and included finding work as an entertainer at hotels in the Catskills, in vaudeville, and in Off-Broadway plays. After appearing in the Broadway show Rosalinda, she was noticed by Columbia Studios head Harry Cohn, who signed her in 1942, but she only received small roles. While living in Hollywood, Winters shared an apartment with Marilyn Monroe, and in her memoirs she later credited herself for teaching Monroe how to pose seductively with her mouth slightly open, a look that became a Monroe trademark. Winters's first big movie break came with her supporting role in A Double Life (1947), in which she played a waitress who is murdered. Other notable parts came in such films as The Great Gatsby (1949) and A Place in the Sun (1951); the latter earned her an Academy Award nomination. Oscars for best supporting actress came with The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and A Patch of Blue (1965). Winters embraced strong acting roles and enjoyed her growing reputation for her comical, bawdy characters, creating memorable parts such as in 1972's The Poseidon Adventure, in which she played a kindly, heroic, middle-aged woman who sacrifices her life for others; conversely, she played a bizarrely loveable yet murderous mother figure in the 1970 cult classic Bloody Mama. She also was notable in her television appearances, winning a Cannes Festival International Television Award for best actress in 1965, and an Emmy Award in 1964 for best actress in Two Is the Number. After 1976's Next Stop, Greenwich Village and The Tenant, Winters appeared somewhat less often in movies. However, she still gained memorable roles in such films as Heavy (1995) and Portrait of a Lady (1996). She recorded her life story in two memoirs: Shelley: Also Known As Shirley (1980) and Shelley II: The Middle of My Century (1989).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Winters, Shelley, Shelley: Also Known As Shirley, Morrow (New York, NY), 1980.

Winters, Shelley, Shelley II: The Middle of My Century, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1989.

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, January 15, 2006, p. B12.

New York Times, January 16, 2006, p. A14.

Times (London, England), January 16, 2006, p. 51.

Washington Post, January 15, 2006, p. C9.