Shelley Winters Movies
American actress Shelley Winters was the daughter of a tailor's cutter; her mother was a former opera singer. Winters evinced her mom's influence at age four, when she made an impromptu singing appearance at a St. Louis amateur night. When her father moved to Long Island to be closer to the New York garment district, Winters took acting lessons at the New School for Social Research and the Actors Studio. Short stints as a model and a chorus girl led to her Broadway debut in the S.J. Perelman comedy The Night Before Christmas in 1940. Winters signed a Columbia Pictures contract in 1943, mostly playing bits, except when loaned to United Artists for an important role in Knickerbocker Holiday (1944). Realizing she was getting nowhere, she took additional acting instructions and performed in nightclubs.The breakthrough came with her role as a "good time girl" murdered by insane stage star Ronald Colman in A Double Life (1947). Her roles became increasingly more prominent during her years at Universal-International, as did her offstage abrasive attitude; the normally mild-mannered James Stewart, Winters' co-star in Winchester '73 (1950), said after filming that the actress should have been spanked. Winters' performance as the pathetic factory girl impregnated and then killed by Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun (1951) won her an Oscar nomination; unfortunately, for every Place in the Sun, her career was blighted by disasters like Behave Yourself (1951).
Disheartened by bad films and a turbulent marriage, Winters returned to Broadway in A Hatful of Rain, in which she received excellent reviews and during which she fell for her future third husband, Anthony Franciosa. Always battling a weight problem, Winters was plump enough to be convincing as middle-aged Mrs. Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), for which Winters finally got her Oscar. In the 1960s, Winters portrayed a brothel madam in two films, The Balcony (1963) and A House Is Not a Home (1964), roles that would have killed her career ten years earlier, but which now established her in the press as an actress willing to take any professional risk for the sake of her art. Unfortunately, many of her performances in subsequent films like Wild in the Streets (1968) and Bloody Mama (1970) became more shrill than compelling, somewhat lessening her standing as a performer of stature.
During this period, Winters made some fairly outrageous appearances on talk shows, where she came off as the censor's nightmare; she also made certain her point-of-view wouldn't be ignored, as in the moment when she poured her drink over Oliver Reed's head after Reed made a sexist remark on The Tonight Show. Appearances in popular films like The Poseidon Adventure (1972) and well-received theater appearances, like her 1974 tour in Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, helped counteract such disappointments as the musical comedy Minnie's Boys (as the Marx Brothers' mother) and the movie loser Flap (1970). Treated generously by director Paul Mazursky in above-average films like Blume in Love (1974) and Next Stop Greenwich Village (1977), Winters managed some excellent performances, though she still leaned toward hamminess when the script was weak. Shelley Winters added writing to her many achievements, penning a pair of tell-all autobiographies which delineate a private life every bit as rambunctious as some of Winters' screen performances.
The '90s found a resurgence in Winters' career, as she was embraced by indie filmmakers (for movies like Heavy and The Portrait of a Lady), although she found greater fame in a recurring role on the sitcom Roseanne. She died of heart failure at age 85 in Beverly Hills, CA, in early 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Shelly Winters and John Randolph star in Death of Innocence as distraught small-town parents who learn that their estranged daughter is on trial for murder. They journey to New York City and attend the girl's trial, where the mother learns several details of her daughter's recent life that she'd rather not know. Filmed at the height of the "generation gap" era, Death of Innocence was based on a novel by Zelda Popkin. One of the better TV movies of 1971, the film was first telecast opposite a George Plimpton "wish fulfillment" special, thereby losing out on the large audience it deserved. Casting note: Kim Stanley was to have played the principal juror, but fell ill before shooting. She was replaced by Ann Sothern--the mother of Tisha Sterling, who plays the defendant in the case! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Ronald Colman won an Academy Award for his portrayal of an off-the-beam actor in A Double Life. A beloved stage star, Anthony John (Colman), has problems with his private life due to his unpredictable outbursts of temper. This trait has already cost him his wife, Brita (Signe Hasso), and threatens to sabotage his career. Nonetheless, Anthony makes his peace with Brita, and the two actors star in a new Broadway staging of Othello. The play is a hit, running over 300 performances, but the pressures of portraying a man moved to murder by jealousy takes its toll on Anthony. In a fit of delirium, he strangles his casual mistress, Pat (Shelley Winters), but retains no memory of the awful crime. Press agent Bill Friend (Edmond O'Brien), unaware that Anthony is the killer, uses Pat's murder as publicity for Othello. Anthony becomes enraged at this cheap ploy, and attacks Friend. At this point, Anthony realizes that he has been living "a double life" and is in fact Pat's murderer. A Double Life was written for the screen by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, who occasionally digress from the melodramatic plotline to include a few backstage inside jokes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Colman, Whit Bissell, (more)
This drama tells the true story of one of Broadway's most successful madams in the 1920s. It is loosely based on the autobiography of Polly Adler. The story begins when young Polly is seduced and raped at her job by the sweatshop foreman. When her uncle, with whom she lived, learns of the act, he blames her and tosses her out. She then moves into an apartment owned by a racketeer. It is he who encourages her into her "helping" profession when he gives her money for bringing her pals to a gangster party. Soon she is beginning to build up her own clientele. As her business prospers, she begins to choose nicer locations. Her tiny cathouse becomes a haven for sleazy politicos, mobsters, and businessmen. The madame herself has a passionate romance with a young songwriter and she helps his career. He does not know of her vocation and she eventually breaks up with him to keep his reputation intact. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shelley Winters, Robert Taylor, (more)
Shelley Winters won an Academy Award for her searing performance as Rose-Ann d'Arcy in A Patch of Blue. The star, however, is not Winters but Elizabeth Hartman, cast as d'Arcy's blind, sensitive daughter, Selina. A venomous prostitute, Rose-Ann treats both Selina and grandfather Ole Pa (Wallace Ford) like dirt. Fortunately, Selina finds a way out via the kindly Gordon Ralfe (Sidney Poitier), who befriends Hartman and tries to open up doors for her previously closed by her selfish mother. Despite the objections of the bigoted Rose-Ann and of Gordon's brother Mark (Ivan Dixon), a bond stronger than physical love is forged between Gordon and Selina. Brilliantly avoiding gooey sentiment throughout, A Patch of Blue was adapted for the screen by director Guy Green, from the novel Be Ready with Bells and Drums by Elizabeth Kata. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sidney Poitier, Shelley Winters, (more)
Previously filmed in 1931 under its original title, Theodore Dreiser's bulky but brilliant novel An American Tragedy was remade in 1951 by George Stevens as A Place in the Sun. Montgomery Clift stars as George Eastman, a handsome and charming but basically aimless young man who goes to work in a factory run by a distant, wealthy relative. Feeling lonely one evening, he has a brief rendezvous with assembly-line worker Alice Tripp (Shelley Winters), but he forgets all about her when he falls for dazzling socialite Angela Vickers (Elizabeth Taylor). Alice can't forget about him, though: she is pregnant with his child. Just when George's personal and professional futures seem assured, Alice demands that he marry her or she'll expose him to his society friends. This predicament sets in motion a chain of events that will ultimately include George's arrest and numerous other tragedies, including a vicious cross-examination by a D.A. played by future Perry Mason Raymond Burr. A huge improvement over the 1931 An American Tragedy, directed by Josef von Sternberg, A Place in the Sun softens some of the rough edges of Dreiser's naturalism, most notably in the passages pertaining to George's and Angela's romance. Even those 1951 bobbysoxers who wouldn't have been caught dead poring through the Dreiser original were mesmerized by the loving, near-erotic full facial closeups of Clift and Taylor as they pledge eternal devotion. A Place in the Sun won six Oscars, including Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Cinematography, although it lost Best Picture to An American in Paris. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, (more)
Thousand and One Nights is an occasionally strident but generally successful satire of the popular Universal Jon Hall/Maria Montez epics. Cornel Wilde stars as a twentyish Aladdin, whose magic lamp yields two genies: Collosus-like Rex Ingram (repeated the role he played in 1940's Thief of Baghdad) and ravishing redhead Evelyn Keyes (who, like future TV genie Barbara Eden, was seemingly born without a navel). Wilde uses his new-found wealth and magical powers to woo princess Adele Jergens, but not without the opposition of villainous Dennis Hoey. Phil Silvers plays Wilde's comic sidekick, a man "born 2000 years ahead of his time" who wears glasses, spouts jive-talk ("Slip me some skin, Abdul!") and cracks anachronistic jokes. The final gag in Thousand and One Nights, in which the genie gives Phil Silvers the voice of Frank Sinatra, has been removed from many TV prints. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cornel Wilde, Evelyn Keyes, (more)
Wanna see a movie in 3 minutes? Then Adventure 1: Trailers on Tape is right up your alley. Here is a collection of some of Hollywood's finest "trailers" -- not the mobile-home variety, but instead those "previews of coming attractions" reels that have whetted viewers' appetites over the past six decades. This volume features the original theatrical trailers for such classics as Lost Horizon (1937), The Wild One (1954), From Russia With Love (1964), Torn Curtain (1965) and Wild in the Streets (1968). Forty titles in all are represented in this entertaining blast from the past. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Michael Caine's first starring role was a foray into dramatic irony, scripted by Bill Naughton from his novel and play. Alfie (Caine) is a charming, rogueish Cockney who cannot get his fill of women. He uses them without shame or malice, jumping from one promiscuous female's bed to another without much thought or feeling. Of course, Alfie's not as carefree as he would have the audience -- to whom he often speaks directly -- think: he treats his pregnant, common-law wife, Gilda (Julia Foster), quite shabbily, and has an affair with a married woman (Vivien Merchant) that leaves her pregnant, for which Alfie arranges an abortion. In the end, Alfie never finds lasting meaning or pleasure but remains an unrepentant, if low-class, Don Juan. Caine was Oscar-nominated for his performance. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Caine, Shelley Winters, (more)
This 1982 made-for-TV version of the Lewis Carroll classic Alice in Wonderland features an all-star cast. Such celebrities as Donald O'Connor, Maureen Stapleton and Eve Arden struggle to perform while buried under mounds of makeup and tons of eccentric costuming as Carroll's alternate-world loonies. Alice in Wonderland was first telecast Oct 3, 1983, on PBS' Great Performances. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this film, sisters Frances and Evelyn McEllany (Patricia Neal and Shelley Winters) are two older women who have put aside their differences to set up a comfortable life together. However, when shy, retiring Frances falls in love with an Asian mechanic (Mako), her stuffy, intolerant sister falls into a rage that threatens to destroy their relationship. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Neal, Shelley Winters, (more)
Donald Pleasence, Shelley Winters, Tammy Grimes, and Terry-Thomas star in the obscure British black comedy Arthur!! Arthur? Pleasence plays a henpecked, introverted little nebbish, unhappily wed to Winters. Escaping into fantasy, Pleasence conjures up an extroverted alter-ego, which eventually overtakes his "real" self. Newly emboldened, he murders his wife, cashes in her insurance policies, and runs off with Grimes. But she proves a bit too clever for both of Pleasence's personalities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Backfire! aspires to the tradition of Jim Abrams and brothers Jerry and David Zucker with this chaotic spoof of Ron Howard's Backdraft (1991). Set in New York, the story centers on the attempts of Jeremy Jackson to join the city's all-female fire department. Finally making it onto the force, he finds himself constantly victimized by his curvaceous but concrete tough colleagues. Meanwhile, someone begins setting toilets ablaze all over the Big Apple. Fire Marshal Marshall investigates. Back at the firehouse, Jackson encounters his former sweetheart, Jessica Luvintryst, a close personal secretary of the Mayor. Matters heat up when Jackson accidentally discovers that the bathroom arsonist is using jet fuel to burn his bowls. This clue in turn leads Jackson and company to the mysterious Most Evil Man, a villain behind a horrific plan. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kathy Ireland, Mary McCormack, (more)
One of the oddest comedies of the 1950s, Behave Yourself! stars Farley Granger and Shelley Winters as a pair of none-too-bright newlyweds. Granger and Winters adopt a stray pooch named Archie, who unbeknownst to them has been trained as a go-between for a couple of underworld gangs. To the ever-mounting amazement of our hero and heroine, corpses begin to pile up all around them as one gang endeavors to rub out the other during a million-dollar smuggling operation. While it's quite possible to treat murder as a farcical situation-remember Arsenic and Old Lace?--the killings in this film are sometimes too graphic to induce laughter (there's nothing terribly mirth-provoking about gang flunkey Hans Conried lying dead in a bathtub with a bullet hole between his eyes). Another detriment is the casting of Granger and Winters, both of whom are woefully unsuited to their roles. In fact, such veteran villains as Lon Chaney Jr., Sheldon Leonard, Francis L. Sullivan and Elisha Cook Jr. come off funnier than the stars! The film's best sequence occurs during the closing cast credits, so try to stick around after the "THE END" title. Behave Yourself was the first coproduction between Wald-Krasna Productions and RKO Radio. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Farley Granger, Shelley Winters, (more)
Shelley Winters is appropriately cast as Big Rose, a rough 'n' tough private detective. Nobody messes with Big Rose, least of all her new young partner (Barry Primus), who likes to joke his way through dangerous situations. The two detectives are hired to thwart a gang of confidence tricksters who specialize in blackmail. Though she makes an conspicuous target, Big Rose heads directly into the line of fire, with her younger assistant barely keeping pace. The pilot film for an unsold TV series, Big Rose is currently advailable under its alternate title, Double Trouble. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shelley Winters, Barry Primus, (more)
Shelley Winters, who once played the spoofish "Ma Parker" on Batman, brings the same larger-than-life approach to her portrayal of real-life Ma Barker in Bloody Mama. Presiding over her outlaw gang, consisting mainly of her goonish sons, Ma goes on a Depression-era rampage of bank robbery, murder and kidnapping. Obviously filmed in a hurry-watch as the Barker mob drives past modern shopping centers-- Bloody Mama strives for an entertaingly sleazy aura, especially when dealing with the incestuous subtext of Ma's relationship with her boys. And look who plays the Barker brood: Clint Kimbrough, Robert Walden and Robert De Niro! Bloody Mama was scripted by Robert Thom, whose previous collaboration with producer Roger Corman was the cult classic Wild in the Streets (former 1950s ingenue Diane Varsi appears in both films). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shelley Winters, Pat Hingle, (more)
In the Los Angeles of yoga, therapy, and well-off liberals, a divorcé decides that his ex-wife is the love of his life in Paul Mazursky's romantic comedy. Beverly Hills divorce lawyer Stephen Blume (George Segal) becomes his own client when his social worker wife Nina (Susan Anspach) throws him out for sleeping with his secretary. Only then does Blume realize that he can't live without Nina, even though she seems fine without him, and he has a new sex partner in divorcée Arlene (Marsha Mason). So what does he do to win Nina back? Befriend her laid-back musician beau, Elmo (Kris Kristofferson), show up at her house with breakfast bagels, eavesdrop on her therapy sessions, and forcibly impregnate her, of course. Banished to their former honeymoon site in Venice, Italy while Nina thinks things over, Blume reflects on his past and his obsession, as he dreamily hopes for the best. Cutting between Blume's musings on love and loss in Venice's Piazza San Marco and the events in L.A. that brought him there, Mazursky humorously yet sharply dissects the complications of marriage in the let-it-all-hang-out Me Decade of the 1970s. Blume and Nina face the same dilemma as the couples in Mazursky's 1969 hit Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice: how to mesh traditional vows with the new freedom and its temptations. In this case, it takes a divorce to convince the solipsistic Blume that the woman he wants most is his own wife. Considered by some critics one of the decade's best interrogations of contemporary coupledom, Blume in Love astutely captured the absurdity of Blume's self-involved romantic quest, while slyly celebrating the operatic spirit of love that drives him. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Segal, Susan Anspach, (more)
Gina Lollobrigida delivers a bright comic turn in Melvin Frank's farce concerning Carla, an Italian woman who, during World War II, had affairs with three American soldiers who served in the U.S. Army Air Force -- Phil Newman (Phil Silvers), Justin Young (Peter Lawford), and Walter Braddock (Telly Savalas). Finding that she is pregnant after the squadron is transferred, she convinces each of the three soldiers that he is the father of her child. Phil, Justin, and Walter react to Carla's pregnancy by sending her child-support checks -- checks that Carla has been receiving every month from each of them for the past 20 years. Meanwhile, in order to save face in her village, Carla concocted the story that the father was the fictitious Captain Eddie Campbell, who was killed in action. But Carla's deceptions are about to be exposed when she finds out that all three soldiers are returning to her village with their wives and children for a reunion of the squadron. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gina Lollobrigida, Shelley Winters, (more)
Time is of the essence in this comedy when an American cabaret singer learns that she is in line for a large inheritance. The money will be hers if her ex-husband cannot produce a son by a given date. She immediately takes off to London to find him. Unfortunately, she discovers that his new wife is due to give birth any day. The situation grows complicated as they deal with the unborn's unknown gender, and the fact that neither the man's new marriage, nor the divorce may be legal. The time difference between New York and London is also a factor. At the last possible minute, the new wife bears twins: one girl, and one boy. The singer still gets the money, as the newlyweds did not consider the ramifications of Daylight Savings Time. Fortunately, she shares the wealth. Songs include "Give Me a Man" and "You're the Only One." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shelley Winters, John Gregson, (more)
City on Fire, a disaster thriller filmed in Canada with dialogue in both French and English, tells the story of an oil-refinery explosion in a small town. Dr. Frank Whitman (Barry Newman) and his co-workers, including Nurse Harper (Shelley Winters) and Dr. Matwick (Donald Pilon), fight bravely to save the victims even when they, themselves are endangered by the fire. The film also features cameos by Ava Gardner and Henry Fonda. The film moves at a fast pace and creates a great deal of suspense as the fire closes in on the survivors. Director Alvin Rakoff uses creativity instead of a big budget and, aided by the splendid cinematography of Rene Verzier, succeeds in creating an exciting disaster film. ~ Linda Rasmussen, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Barry Newman, Susan Clark, (more)
Tamara Dobson stars as Cleopatra Jones in Jack Starrett's blaxploitation programmer that, in its own way, deals effectively with the ravages of drugs in inner-city black communities. Cleopatra Jones is a jive female James Bond, a special drug agent for the United States government who wears sleek and hip clothes, drives a fancy car with a submachine-gun compartment in the front door, and travels all over the world to stomp out drugs at their source. Cleopatra has a loving relationship with Ruben (Bernie Casey), the well-meaning head of a drug rehabilitation clinic in Los Angeles. When Cleopatra travels to Turkey to oversee the destruction of poppy fields owned by Mommy (Shelley Winters) -- a lesbian drug dealer -- Mommy becomes upset. She exacts her revenge on Cleopatra by having the police close down Ruben's drug clinic. Nevertheless, Cleopatra continues to wreak havoc upon Mommy's drug business, and Mommy continues to try to do Cleopatra in, until finally there is a major confrontation between Cleopatra and Mommy and her minions. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tamara Dobson, Bernie Casey, (more)
Thanks to its Jerome Kern/Ira Gershwin/Yip Harburg score and the luminescence of stars Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly, Cover Girl has taken on a legendary status in recent years. In truth, the film has a banal and predictable premise: a chorus girl (Hayworth) is given a chance for stardom by a wealthy magazine editor (Otto Kruger), who years earlier had been in love with the girl's mother. Offered an opportunity to be a highly-paid cover girl, our heroine would faithfully remain with her tacky nightclub act if only the club manager (Kelly), whom she pines for, would ask her. He loves her too, but doesn't want to stand in her way, so he fakes an argument to send her packing. You don't need a crystal ball to known that the girl and her guy will be reunited for the finale. Phil Silvers, everybody's best friend, and Eve Arden, Kruger's acid-tongued assistant, provide comic relief. The story sags badly at times, but the fans went home happy thanks to the powerhouse musical numbers, including Long Ago and Far Away and Kelly's famous "alter-ego" dance. The film skyrocketed both Hayworth and Kelly to superstardom, and didn't do Silvers any harm, either. Cover Girl is an extraordinarily lavish Technicolor production from the usually parsimonious Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rita Hayworth, Gene Kelly, (more)
The opening scene of Robert Siodmak's grim film noir depicts police lieutenants Candella (Victor Mature) and Collins (Fred Clark) observing wounded cop killer Martin Rome (Richard Conte) receive last rites. Though Rome recovers, he still must elude Candella and Collins in his desperate attempt to escape his fate. Rome has two visitors in the hospital: his girlfriend, Teena (Debra Paget), who goes into hiding, and Niles (Berry Kroeger), a crooked lawyer. Niles tries to bribe Rome to take a jewel theft and homicide rap for a client of his since Rome is facing the electric chair anyway. When Rome refuses, Niles threatens to frame Teena as the client's female accomplice. Worried that Candella might find Teena, Rome breaks out of jail and goes to Niles' office to accept the offer, but he actually plans to leave the country with Teena. When Niles reneges, Rome kills him, but not before learning the accomplice's identity and discovering the stolen jewels in the lawyer's safe. Rome finds the accomplice, Rose Given (Hope Emerson), and offers to trade the jewelry for the means to leave the country. She agrees, and they arrange a meeting in the subway, but Rome informs Candella of the plan. When the police arrive, Candella is shot, Rose is arrested, and Rome escapes to meet up with Teena in a church. As he is trying to convince Teena to run away with him, a wounded Candella shows up and tells Teena how Rome uses people and that everyone who helped in his escape will be paying a price. Teena rejects Rome, and he runs again, only to be shot down by Candella. The moral order is ultimately restored, but no one has been left unscarred. ~ Steve Press, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Mature, Richard Conte, (more)
Similar to the 1991 Dead Again starring Kenneth Branagh, this story of reincarnation and murder also features two couples who meet again in a new lifetime. Brooke Ashley (Jaclyn Smith) is a ballerina and Michael Richardson (Nigel Terry) is her lover, and they both perish in a fire that destroys their home. Fifty years go by, and Gregory Thomas (Terry), a screenwriter, sees an old film clip of Ashley who could easily pass for his fiancee Maggie Rogers (Smith). Intrigued by this coincidence, he starts to research a screenplay on the ballerina's life, and to help get more material, he visits a medium (Shelley Winters) who used to know her. The medium reveals that Gregory is the reincarnation of the dead Richardson -- which means the former couple is back together again. Before any celebration is in order, some of the increasingly sinister mystery of how and why the couple died in the long-ago fire has to be cleared up. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jaclyn Smith, Nigel Terry, (more)
Menahem Golan directed this low wattage heist movie enlivened by Robert Shaw in a dual role as twin brothers. Shaw plays a jaded British aristocrat who decides to become a jewel thief in order to get back at his brother (also played by Shaw), a security expert who has constructed an impregnable vault in Israel where a cache of diamonds are stashed. The tired plot concerns the intricate preparations for the diamond theft and the time-consuming task of cracking the safe. Shaw organizes a gang consisting of Richard Roundtree and Barbara Hershey. Shelley Winters is also on hand as an American widow who tries to seduce Shaw. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Shaw, Richard Roundtree, (more)


























