Why Was Shelley Winters Famous?!!

She was quite dishy when younger.

But basically, she was a good actress with a strong, earthy persona.

You can’t tell stories with just princessy types.

She was famous because she sounded just like Mobility Mary.

She was a fun brassy Broad

Even when shelley Winters was young, she was white trash.

Shelly was ahead of her time in social standing and telling folks like you OP to fuk off.She cussed like a sailor (according to sal mineo and drank like one too).Don't let the color of her skin fool you fool.She gave no fuks and made no excuses...but Hollywood loved her for it.My favorite story,Shelly and Pearl Baily bar hopping....can you imagine.I definitely can.

she was a pretty good b actress bombshell in my opinion. She was smart, clever, and witty and that goes a long way in this world. Plus she was an excellent guest on talk shows and could tell a great entertaining story. The woman was never boring

Fabulous Christopher Riordan said Shelley was one of the most beautiful gals in the business, and I always believe Christopher.

She made a million movies because she had a wide range - she could do comedy or drama, and look either plain or conventionally sexy.

She even did some musicals (OKLAHOMA on Broadway)

"She was quite dishy when younger."

SAID HER.

My favorite Shelley Winters movie is "The Devil's Daughter."

It was made in the early 70s. Unfortunately, it hasn't been released on DVD.

Whoever is trying to push "Shelley is white trash" needs to fuck themselves with a rusty chainsaw.

She did her most entertaining work in the 70s

Shelley was a good time girl had by all. And she won 2 Oscars.

[quote]R10 My favorite Shelley Winters movie is "The Devil's Daughter." It was made in the early 70s. Unfortunately, it hasn't been released on DVD.

No matter how famous she got, she always looked like white trash

[R14]

Thank you! I had no idea. have you seen this movie?

Oliver Reed put Shelley Winters in her place

Shelley was a good actress (2 Oscars) but many people found her difficult because of her eccentric ways and her Method acting.

Debbie Reynolds stated in her memoir that Shelley was almost unbearable in the movie they made together (What's The Matter With Helen?) and they wanted to fire her but she had already shot too many scenes so they were forced to keep her. Shelley was very much a Drama Queen.

[quote] My favorite Shelley Winters movie is "The Devil's Daughter." It was made in the early 70s. Unfortunately, it hasn't been released on DVD.

Yes it has. It's now out of print.

r4, what's with the letter "a" nose ring? ...that must have been considered trashy back in the day.

R16 yes! It has an unusually good cast for a TV movie.

She’s arch and funny in it. LILITH!

Shelley Winters trashing Germany

[R21]

I'm glad you like it. I was 14 when it aired, and I haven't seen it since.

It scared the hell out of my sister. She was scared to death of ever running into Shelley Winters after seeing it.

Shelley coming after Debbie with a knife in What's The Matter With Helen.

It was supposed to be a prop knife but Debbie had a dream that told her to check it the next day - and someone had replaced the prop with a real knife. Debbie had strong suspicions who that person was...….

this is the only thing I know about her

R1 Frank Sinatra loathed her

[quote]R16 Debbie Reynolds stated in her memoir that Shelley was almost unbearable in the movie they made together (What's The Matter With Helen?)

I’ve heard some crazy stories from later in her life. A friend of mine had a small role in one of her films from the mid 90s...and he says Winters came out of her trailer, pulled her sweater around herself and yelled, “YOU’RE STARING AT MY TITS!! STOP STARING AT MY TITS!!”

I swear to god. Seriously.

There is the long standing rumor that Shelley's role in A PATCH OF BLUE was actually just excellent editing of her old home movies.

[quote]what's with the letter "a" nose ring? ...that must have been considered trashy back in the day.

I hope you're not serious.

[quote]...someone had replaced the prop with a real knife. Debbie had strong suspicions who that person was....

Eddie Fisher?

She talks about that film (Meet Danny Wilson) in r1 in this interview. The film almost didn't get finished because they began fighting during its production, but they eventually managed to compromise and get the job done. They became friendly years later, and she even went to some of his shows.

Oh, God, Skip E. Lowe, that little weasel.

Shelley was not white trash. She was a bowlegged bitch of a Brooklyn blonde!

R26 Frank and Shelley made a movie called Meet Danny Wilson and they battled on the set. Shelley stated that she refused to finish the movie until Frank's wife, Nancy Sr. phoned her up and begged her to return and complete the movie because they really needed the money. And Shelley went back and the movie was completed. Clash of the titans.

Shelley threatened to hire a hitman to kill Ava Gardner if she didn't stop sleeping with her husband, Tony Franciosa.

Shelley wrote 2 memoirs and the second one finished in the mid 1960's. She stated that she was working on #3 to finish up everything - but it never came about and she died.

I wish that someone would write the definitive book about Shelley and her entire life.

I have Parts 1 & 2 but I want to read about her entire life.

She is a great actress and she had many famous lovers.

Shelley, Part 1.

Loved her as Nana Mary on [italic]Roseanne.[/italic]

Shelly called Sinatra a skinny hoboken bastard after he branded her a no talent blond bitch.Rumor goes he tried to bed her while she was intoxicated and she did not appreciate it.No they never slept together and she hated him with a passion.

Shelley, real name Shirley Schrift.

Have you all seen Shelley in Next Stop, Greenwich Village?

What was the story with her physician daughter preventing Shelly from marrying her longtime companion?

I’m not surprised there came a time when Shelley’s family had to step in and protect her from herself.

Shelley's one and only peer was Estelle Parsons. Both gals bagged 27 Oscars, 18 Emmys, 14 Tonys, 10 Grammys, seven Sarah Siddons awards, five Pulitzers and three Nobel prizes.

Poor Shelly, always ending up in the water

[QUOTE]Shelley was not white trash. She was a bowlegged bitch of a Brooklyn blonde!

TEAR DOWN that bitch of a bowlegged Brooklyn blonde and put up a naked man where he out to be !!

Early on she was a good actress but you know that, OP. Jesus Christ you are tiresome.

R25 ah yes, fond memories of Showtune Sundays at Sidetrack.

"Jump, you fat bitch! Jump!"

R46 reminded me - she was wonderful in Night of the Hunter

Three words: "The Poseidon Adventure."

"Night of the Hunter," "A Place in the Sun," "Lolita"---all had great parts for Shelley with water related deaths! I think my favorite performance of hers is in "Lolita." She is just a perfect Frau with her French affectations and prints, hard-selling Humbert Humbert on her lodgings. Once they are married, in her belted leopard dress she seethes with Cha-Cha venom at Lolita, then sends L away to Camp Climax and lurks outside the bathroom door while her husband feverishly fantasizes about his absent Teen Queen. She moans, "Hum, baby, I'm looooonely!" It's Fucking Brilliant.

She was struck by a car in "Lolita."

Debbie Reynolds also wrote in her autobiography that she observed Shelley at a party in Malibu one evening sitting with two young men who took turns diving under her peasant skirt to eat her out.

R53 On a rainy god damned day.

[quote]She was struck by a car in "Lolita."

But it was drizzling outside.

She was not easy to categorize. There was the loud, opinionated Shelley who did the talk shows and then the Shelley I saw recite Shakespeare dialogue on Inside The Actor’s Studio many years ago. It was strangely moving.

She just dashed out into the road and he couldn't stop in time!

One of the great lines of all time in "Lolita"

Charlotte: You just make me go limp

Humbert: I know the feeling

R59---We're both VERY open minded!

OP is clearly a troll because if anyone should be popular on here it’s Shelley. 2 Oscars plus roles in classics like Lolita, The Poseidon Adventue, Night of the Hunter and A Place in the Sun ...

Her autobiographies are among the best ever Hollywood memoirs. If you haven’t read them, they’re GREAT reads.

She was smart, funny, a fantastic interview, roomed with Marilyn, basically didn’t give a shit about the powers that be and dated tons of Hollywood heartthrobs.

She’s one of the all time best.

She is an icon for a number of gay men. I have a friend who loves her and admitted to crying as a kid when she died in The Poseidon Adventure. In an era of glamour Shelley always played the more tawdry, troubled female characters in a number of her early films. Coupled with her off-screen "I don't give a fuck" personality she came off as a bit of a rebel in Hollywood. She's someone John Waters would appreciate.

I think she is awesome, btw, and completely agree with everything R61 said.

She had a nose ring with an "a" on it.

Was she the one eating fried chicken in bed? Was that in "The Loved One" or some other movie?

Did she cause the Poseidon to sink?

Shelley played Montgomery Clift's dowdy love interest in A Place In The Sun, and he dumped her in a terrible way for the beautiful Elizabeth Taylor.

A Place in the Sun was her first nomination but she lost to Vivien Leigh for Streetcar. She recounts in her first memoir how she was certain she heard her name called as Best Actress and was halfway up to the stage before someone grabbed her and told her she hadn’t won.

I wasn't white trash. I was white recyclable.

It's to match Tony Franciosa's "A" nose ring.

Shelley knew when she was in camp and played it that way. Watch her in "Cleopatra Jones" and I defy you to not smile at her rantings.

[quote]Shelley played Montgomery Clift's dowdy love interest in A Place In The Sun, and he dumped her in a terrible way for the beautiful Elizabeth Taylor.

When TCM showed "A Place in the Sun" several years back, Robert Osborne (whose commentary I usually liked) went on and on about how annoying Shelley Winters' character was and how anyone would have wanted to push her into the lake. I disagree. I think Shelley makes you feel for her sad plight and for her shabby treatment at the hands of Clift.

She was heartbreaking in “A Place in the Sun.” That should have been her third supporting Oscar but for some reason they nominated her as a lead.

She emerged at the end of WW2, when Rosie The Riveters needed a brassy broad they could identify with. She was a refreshing change from the stiff actresses of yesteryear.

She took charge of her situation, studied and became a fine actress- with a career spanning 6 decades.

Re OP's picture: tragic how she morphed into Sumner Redstone.

She was so annoying, r73, that it was hard to find fault with. Sylvia Sidney. Now SHE was heartbreaking!

R17 Yes The fabulous Ollie Reed made Ms Winters look like a common fool. There was someone so gay and campy about Oliver Reed though he was straight as an arrow.

^ Should be:

hard to find fault with Monty

R75, Separated at birth?

Her pussy stunk!

There was something so gay and campy about Oliver Reed.

Classic moment at 39:20.

[quote]R74 She emerged at the end of WW2, when Rosie The Riveters needed a brassy broad they could identify with. She was a refreshing change from the stiff actresses of yesteryear.

Some performers have a certain magnetism that makes you want to watch them. For better or worse, Winters was one of them. She really threw herself into things (almost lacking dignity) and even her subtler performances had a sense of immediacy where all the moments connected together. She didn’t just SIT there.

This is a very simple scene from a fairly bad movie, but she is ALIVE in it.

Oliver Reed was boorish and tiresome in that Tonight Show clip.

Shelley dumping water on him was the best possible response. I love her!

She was talented, funny, and pushed the envelope without being too vulgar. Compare her to someone like Jennifer Lawrence, whose idea of humor is saying “I pee in sinks” and “I like it when my boyfriends fart in front of me.” That is white trash—crude behavior without any wit behind it.

Shelley Winters was a white trash cunt, I honestly didn't know that Shelley was a DL Icon.

Regarding A place in the sun, Monty Clift didn't like Shelley's performance in the movie.

Hilarious, r82. Thanks!

[quote]R84 Oliver Reed was boorish and tiresome in that Tonight Show clip.

Not to mention, drunk off his ASS.

My favorite performance of his is in THE THREE/FOUR MUSKETEERS. He seems so regretfully still in love with the evil Faye Dunaway from his past. So few performers really match up well as totally believable married couples, but in their scenes together you get such a sense of their push/pull attraction...and his anguish.

Her mouth always sounded wet. Too wet. I'm surprised she could speak as well as she does in the clip at R83. She was always braying or slobbering or whining in everything I saw her in. You just know she had gummy spittle in the corners of her mouth. Most old broad actresses that have been around a half century can pull of dignified or aristocratic. Not Shelley. But she was vibrant and yes alive, in a sloppy kind of way. One suspects she wasn't very clean.

Love her.

Shelley’s turn on Here’s Lucy is unforgettable.

She and Lucy SCREAM lines at each other for 22 solid minutes.

She was a drag to do acid with.....

She revealed in her autobiography that she and William Holden met each December for sex for years. Lucky bitch.

I wonder if Shelley Winters and Brett Somers ever appeared together on a talk show.

Imagine being Oliver Reed on that show!

Beauty And The Beast.

It's difficult to imagine Shelley and Montgomery Clift as a couple.

R93 Eww

Is no one going to talk about her bravura yet heart-breakingly poignant portrayal of Mrs. Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank, for which she won her first Oscar?

And, upon winning, she donated that Oscar to the Anne Frank Museum in Holland which was enormously unselfish of her.

DLers have such strange fixations. "OMG, Shelley Winters was WHITE TRASH!!"

Regardless of what you personally think of her, you've got to be pretty stupid if you can't figure out why she was famous.

It’s one loon, R98, not DL

Her pussy was all stretched out.

Poor Shelley being humiliated in front of the whole world at the Oscars.

My favorite Shelley Winters performance is in “Lolita”, she’s outstanding as Charlotte Haze.

That clip at R82 was a hoot, and Carson and Potts played it up for all it was worth!

R101 I wish Jeannie Berlin or Susan Tyrell had won. Then maybe we would have seen them make more films.

I’ve never seen FAT CITY, but Berlin is fantastic in THE HEARTBREAK KID.

But she simply couldn't sing it, r102!

R103, Berlin never would have made more films. People thought she was mentally ill when working with her. Roy Scheider said if she were a man, he would have punched her.

Oh dear.....what did she DO? You rarely hear about costars actually wanting to PUNCH each other (??)

R106, Scheider said something like "you don't do a movie with her unless you have a stake in it. She's very disturbed and it was difficult for Sidney Furie".

Well that’s pretty vague - -

Poor thing [bold] : (

Her appeal was in her trashiness. She shouldn’t be a famous movie star with that voice and those looks, but she is. It’s like Ellen Barkin’s weird face. She shouldn’t be hot, but she is.

Shelley Winters was primarily a character actress. There are a lot of roles requiring more offbeat than traditional leading lady qualities.

She played some sexpots early on, but really flourished when the character had to be odd or vulgar or demanding in some way.

I so wish that “Lolita, My Love” had come to Broadway and been properly recorded, R104 — its score is wonderful, with “Sur Le Quais” a highlight.

As far as Jeannie Berlin goes, she was terrific in “The Heartbreak Kid” and richly deserved her Oscar nomination (even though Neil Simon wanted Diane Keaton for the part and maintained for years afterward she would have been a better choice to play the jilted wife). But I’m glad Eileen Heckart won the Oscar that year — she was WONDERFUL in “Butterflies Are Free”, not only nailing each zinger and insult, but showing the love and maternal concern underneath.

And Berlin set her career back with some reputed horrible behavior during the making of the execrable “Sheila Levine is Dead and Living in New York”.

R97 I made it through the whole Anne Frank House without breaking down. Then descending the steps on the way to the shop, the alcove had Shelly Winters Oscar in it and I burst out in tears. Having just been in Anne’s bedroom and seeing all the movie star images she had put up on her walls, she would have loved the fact that the Oscar was in her house.

R97 R113 YAWN

[quote]R113 Having just been in Anne’s bedroom and seeing all the movie star images she had put up on her walls, she would have loved the fact that the Oscar was in her house.

Thanks for posting...I never thought of that before!

Yes, it is very sweet. And moving.

Shelley craved Italian dick.

Vittorio Gassman, Shelley's second husband.

The one before Vittorio....Mr. Anthony Franciosa.

(I think there was one before and one after both of them, tho?)

Tony Franciosa came after Gassman in Shelley's marital lineup, and unlike Gassman, who was beloved in the entertainment industry in his native Italy, Franciosa was despised by his co-stars due to his toxic personality and unprofessionalism.

Thanks : ) Was it Franciosa she practically had a fistfight with outside a court house? I can’t find those pictures online...they’re black and white, and she’s wearing dark glasses.

Ah yes,but Franciosa was an incredible lover according to Shelly

Sorry....here’s pic I was talking about.

Diva!

If only shelley didn't look like ravishing rick rude, that would be an iconic photo R122.

Battling movie stars...

I’d heard that, too, R119, Franciosa was rumored to be a nightmare on the set of “The Name of the Game” , causing innumerable headaches for his colleagues and bosses.

She wasn't bad looking when she started out.She looked like she was an animal in bed. Most guys would have fucked her rotten back then. By the time of the Ollie Reed incident, she was just like the fugly crazy cat lady who needed to be committed.

The famous story is that during the Actors Studio Private Moments, Shelley pulled her dress up, pulled her panties down, took a shit on the floor, took a kleenex out of her purse, wiped, pulled her panties up and left a hell of a surprise for the janitor.

While still married to Shelley, Anthony Franciosa began fucking Lauren Bacall. One evening, Franciosa was late for a date and Bacall called looking for him. Shelley answered the phone and expressed annoyance at Bacall's call. Bacall responded, "If Tony doesn't respect your marriage, why should I?".

R129, Years later, when that story was relayed to Bacall's ex, Jason Robards, Robards chuckled and said, "Yup, that sounds like something she would say."

R122, Similar to soon to be ex-wife Anna Kashfi smacking Marlon Brando at their divorce court hearing.

[quote] I so wish that “Lolita, My Love” had come to Broadway and been properly recorded, [R104] — its score is wonderful, with “Sur Le Quais” a highlight.

I don't know where you're located, but York Theatre Co. in NYC is doing Lolita, My Love as one of their Musicals in Mufti productions this year. In Feb. I've been obsessing over this musical for years and I might travel in from LA to see it.

The story in Winters’ book that made me sympathize with her was when she married Gassman (I think) and moved to Italy for a year, and was surprised she had to live in a big gloomy apartment with his mother, sister and 2 old bag servants....who all doted on him and froze her out.

She got bored and had expensive new satin curtains make for all through the house, since the old ones were dull and shabby. Then the whole household erupted into deep, major, weeping, wailing shock and mourning...as if it were a national tragedy that she hadn’t consulted them. She apologized over and over, but the whole time she was thinking, “God, [italic]I PAID FOR THEM!!”[/italic]

When the husband didn’t take her side and tell all the old bats to just GET A LIFE and get OVER IT, I knew as a reader that the marriage was doomed.

Heartbreaking R133.

Italian guys listen to their mother over their wife and multiple concubines! She should have known that before marrying two of them. Fidelity is only a suggestion as well.

She and Marilyn were roommates.

R133, And yet she proceeded to have a child with him.

Well, marriages don’t break up over one incident, or a single set of curtains. It’s cumulative.

But they were married for just two years.

I’m in Chicago, R132, and will likely not get to NYC to see “Lolita, My Love”, alas. But great to hear that it’s being done. — would love to hear how it goes!

I can't think of another actor that directors wanted to sack as often as Shelley Winters.

Kubrick was fed up with her diva behaviour during the making of Lolita but too much shooting had taken place and it was too late to replace her so he just grinned and bared it.

Winters was very difficult with Jane Campion in Portrait of a Lady. Constantly complaining about hip pain and who was going to pay for her hip replacement and kicking staff when they are adjusting things around her. Campion wanted to replace her but didn't want to hurt Winters feelings but also didn't want to stress Winters out as physically she was in decline. She worked out ways around to shoot scenes to make it easier for Shelley.

Still, I'm I big fan for Shelley's, always have been and I enjoyed her two fictional books on her life.

R140, She drove George Cukor crazy during filming of "A Double Life", her first film. For years, she would lie in interviews that she was Oscar nominated for it.

Shelley winning her second Oscar.

She looks great there. An actress could wear that exact same dress today and land on a best dressed list.

[quote] I’m in Chicago, [R132], and will likely not get to NYC to see “Lolita, My Love”, alas. But great to hear that it’s being done. — would love to hear how it goes!

If I make it there, I will definitely be talking about it on the theatre gossip thread!

My goodness, Vittorio Gassman was a beautiful man. Go Shelley.

[R101]

Robert Duvall should've apologized on stage to Shelley Winters .

I don't buy the BS excuse he gave that James Caan made him laugh.

Winters looked hurt, the other actresses did look stunned, and Leachman did give him a dirty look.

[R101]

Exactly,under Winters brass ball exterior she had a tender heart.Duvall is forever trash to me for what he did.Jerk.

Character actress, someone had to play those blowzy, frumpy roles because blowzy, frumpy women exist.

You're vile, R54. That is a lie and a disgusting one at that.

They made him out to be a joke on his first appearance on Laugh-In.

Rowan introduced Tiny Tim in the New Talent segment.

Martin spent the entire skit staring at Tiny Tim in horror. At one point, when Rowan made a comment about their commitment to finding new talent, Martin said "Yeah, you really searched hard and long for this talent."

Ha! Wrong thread at 150.