Shirley MacLaine Biography

Actress, dancer, writer. Born Shirley MacLean Beaty, on April 24, 1934, in Richmond, Virginia. She and her younger brother, actor Warren Beatty, were raised by their parents Ira and Kathlyn Beaty. After Shirley graduated from Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia, she moved to New York City to model, and occasionally landed parts in the chorus lines of Broadway shows. She adopted the professional name MacLaine and got her big break in The Pajama Game (1954), when leading lady Carol Haney broke her leg. As Haney's understudy, MacLaine stepped in, attracting the attention of Hollywood producer Hal Wallis, who signed her to a film contract. In 1955, she made her feature debut in Alfred Hitchcock’s black comedy The Trouble With Harry. Known for having an impish screen personality, MacLaine was cast in a wide variety of comedies and dramas throughout the late 1950s. She earned three Academy Award nominations in quick succession for Some Came Running (1959), The Apartment (1960), with Jack Lemmon, and Irma la Douce (1963), also with Lemmon. MacLaine was an honorary member of Frank Sinatra’s “Rat Pack,” which included Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford. She appeared with Sinatra in Can-Can (1960), and with the Rat Pack in the caper film Ocean’s Eleven (1960). A loyal Democrat, MacLaine helped the Rat Pack raise money for John F. Kennedy’s 1960 presidential campaign. She continued her political activism by campaigning for Bobby Kennedy in 1968, and for George McGovern in 1972. MacLaine starred on television in her own short-lived sitcom Shirley’s World (1971-72). She was nominated for an Academy Award for The Turning Point (1977), and won a Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of an overprotective mother in Terms of Endearment (1983), co-starring Debra Winger and Jack Nicholson. She later reprised her Oscar-winning role as Aurora Greenway in the film’s sequel Evening Star (1996). MacLaine teamed with cast members Dolly Parton, Daryl Hannah, Sally Field, and Julia Roberts in 1989’s Steel Magnolias. In the early '90s, she was featured in Postcards from the Edge (1990), co-starring Meryl Streep; and gave two eccentric performances in Used People (1992) and Guarding Tess (1994).

As the decade progressed, MacLaine stepped out of the limelight until she made her feature directorial debut in Bruno (2000), which premiered at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival.

MacLaine had one daughter, Stephanie Sachiko, with her husband Steve Parker. The couple divorced in 1982, ending their 28-year marriage. She is known (and sometimes ridiculed in the press) for her devotion to New Age spirituality, which includes a strong belief in reincarnation. She has written several best-selling works about herself and her spirituality, including Don’t Fall Off the Mountain (1971), You Can Get There From Here (1975), Out on a Limb (1983), Dancing in the Light (1986), It’s All in the Playing (1988), Dance While You Can (1992), My Lucky Stars: A Hollywood Memoir (1995), and, most recently, The Camino (2000). .