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Shelley Winters

Shelley Winters

Attended Thomas Jefferson High School in New York City.

Born at 12:05am-CDT

Daughter with Vittorio Gassman, Vittoria Gassman AKA Vittoria-Gina is a physician.

Fan of the TV show "Babylon 5" (1994).

Godmother of Laura Dern.



Godmother of actor Sally Kirkland. Kirkland, also an ordained minister, conducted the wedding ceremony between Winters and Gerry DeFord ten hours before Winters died.

Has the distinction of currently being the highest ranked female performer on The Oracle of Bacon's list of the top 1000 performers based upon their "center of the film universe" average number. Winter's average link number is 2.696842, placing seventeenth on the list. This places her well above Kevin Bacon, who is currently ranked 1161st, despite being the original focus of the quirky game of linking actors through their co-stars.

Her early acting training was under the tutelage of actor Charles Laughton.

Her father was Jonas Schrift, her mother was Rose Schrift, and her sister was Blanche Schrift.

Her marriage to Anthony Franciosa broke up when he had an affair with Lauren Bacall. During their affair, Bacall called up Winters and complained, "I've been waiting for Tony for an hour. Where the hell is he?" Shelley said, "You're complaining to me because my husband is late for a date with you?" Bacall answered, "If your husband doesn't respect your marriage, why should I?"

In The Poseidon Adventure (1972), she plays an award winning swimmer and in A Place in the Sun (1951), she can't swim and drowns.

In her most important films such as A Place in the Sun (1951), The Night of the Hunter (1955), Lolita (1962), A Double Life (1947), The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and many others, her character is murdered.

In Italy, most of her films were dubbed by either Lidia Simoneschi, Dhia Cristiani or Rosetta Calavetta. She was once dubbed by Wanda Tettoni in Cry of the City (1948) and once by Miranda Bonansea in Behave Yourself! (1951). Gabriella Genta lent her voice to Winters in the role of Belle Rosen in The Poseidon Adventure (1972).

Is one of ten actresses to win an Academy Award for portraying a prostitute. The others in chronological order are Helen Hayes (The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931)), Donna Reed (From Here to Eternity (1953)), Susan Hayward (I Want to Live! (1958)), Elizabeth Taylor (BUtterfield 8 (1960)), Shirley Jones (Elmer Gantry (1960)), Jane Fonda (Klute (1971)), Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite (1995)), Kim Basinger (L.A. Confidential (1997)) and Charlize Theron (Monster (2003)).

Made her Broadway debut as Ado Annie in "Oklahoma!" - five years into its run.

Measurements: 37-26 1/2 -36 (as a pin-up starlet in the 1950s)

On the 6 July, 1972 episode of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962), she grew tired of Oliver Reed's attitude towards women. They had a heated conversation and, after Winters told Reed what she thought of his opinions, she left the set. The show continued with Reed going on about women while Johnny Carson looked at him in a daze. Shortly afterward, Winters appeared from stage left, unannounced to Reed and to the shock of Carson. She was carrying a champagne bucket of ice and water and surprised Reed by dumping it over his head. Reed was furious over this and tried to attack her but crew members intervened. The show broke for commercial break. When it resumed, both actors were gone.

Played the Marx Brothers' mother Minnie in the Broadway musical "Minnie's Boys," which ran at the Imperial Theatre for 80 Performances from Mar 26 to May 30, 1970. It was the penultimate performance of her eight Broadway appearances. She appeared in only one more Broadway show, "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds," which ran at the Biltmore Theatre for 16 performances March 14-26, 1978.

She donated her Oscar for The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) to the Anne Frank museum.

She had a part in Always (1985) and filmed a few scenes, but at one point she had a tantrum and left the set. Her agent pleaded with her to go back and resume her role, but she refused and her character was replaced. She does not appear in the final film.

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