Shelley Winters: biography, personal life, career

Hollywood star 50-ies of the last century Shelley Winters for his more than half a century career in Hollywood and on the stage of the theater was awarded two Oscars, Emmy and Golden Globe. The best directors (Stanley Kubrick, Roman Polanski, Sidney Pollack) worked with her, partners on the set were stars like Bert Lancaster, Kurt Russell, Elizabeth Taylor, and roommate in the acting studio - Merlin Monroe.

The actress herself compared her life with a long rocky road from the Brooklyn ghetto to a luxurious apartment in New York, two of the most important cinematographic awards, three houses in California, four successful plays, five Impressionist paintings, six mink coats and 99 films.

Shelley Winters: Biography

The future actress was born August 18, 1920 in St. Louis (Missouri) in a creative family. Shelley's father was engaged in the design of men's clothing, and her mother worked as a singer. When the girl was three years old, the whole family moved to New York, and six years later her father was put in jail for arson. In her memoirs, the actress later said that it was during this period that she plunged into the fantasy world, which helped her in the acting profession. She regularly skipped school for the sake of attending performances on Broadway.

When national auditions were conducted in search of an actress for the role of Scarlett in Gone with the Wind, she was a teenager. Borrowing from her older sister shoes with heels and breast height with fluffy lining, Shelley Winters went to the casting. It was then that director George Cukor advised her to go to the acting school and become famous in New York.

After receiving secondary education, she began work at a garment factory and attended an evening acting school, as well as courses by Charles Lawton and the legendary acting studio in Manhattan.

Career of the actress

Actor debut Shelley Winters took place at the age of twenty-three in the film "What a woman!". However, her fame came after the victim's role in George Cukor's film Double Life, released in 1943. Then followed the films "Winchester-73" and the drama "Great Gatsby", which opened her way to Hollywood. Eight years later, in 1951, she starred in the film "Place in the Sun" and received her first Oscar nomination as the best actress. The prize went to another nominee, but she attracted the attention of directors to her person and firmly established herself in the American film industry.

50-ies of the last century revealed her talent in full, the actress was filming a lot, was in the public eye and in secular chronicles. In 1960, she received her first Oscar for a secondary role in the film Diary of Anne Frank. In parallel with the work in the movie Shelley Winters actively performed on Broadway. The second "Oscar" she received in 1966 and again for the role of the second plan in the film "The Blade of Blue".

In the 70s, the most notable work was the film "The Adventure of Poseidon" (another nomination for a gold statuette, a shot from the film in the photo above) and a play at the theater - "The Night of the Iguana." The viewer of the next decade knows the actress mainly on television and autobiographical projects, as well as the book she published. S. Winters has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Personal life

Charming, cheerful and never discouraged, this is what the actress remembered not only by the viewer, but also by colleagues in the shop, by numerous interviewers. She was loved by men. In the press, now and then there were articles about the novels of the actress with the most beautiful actors of Hollywood: Clark Gable, Robert de Niro, Marlon Brando, Bert Lancaster. Married Shelley Winters (photo - under the text) was four times. The first marriage was early and began during World War II, and ended in 1948. The military captain MP Meyer became the chosen actress. He wanted a strong family and a "home" wife. The latter was absolutely impossible in the light of the successfully developing career of the Hollywood actress. The engagement ring, donated by him, was worn by W. Winters until her death. The second husband was the famous Italian actor and director Vittorio Gassman (pictured below). In marriage, the couple had a child. The girl was named Victoria, she got a doctor's profession and has two children. The third husband, Winters, is an American actor Anthony Franchoza, who is familiar to the audience on the film "The Hat Full of Rain."

With her fourth husband, Jerry Deford, the actress lived together for 19 years, and officially married a few hours before her death at the Beverly Hills Rehabilitation Center. She died at the age of 85 from paralysis of the heart.

"A place under the sun"

The painting "The Place in the Sun" brought the actress the first nomination for a prestigious award and popularity. The film is based on T. Dreiser's novel "American Tragedy" and is included in the national registry. This is a story about love and cold calculation. A guy brought up in the Puritan style, comes to work in the city. He helps to get a job uncle, but sets the condition - no novels with co-workers. However, the relationship happens, and the young man quickly cools and finds a lady from high society. Fearing the publicity and threats of the former lover, he decides to kill her.

"The Diary of Anne Frank"

"Anne Frank's Diary" is a dramatic film based on the diary of a girl from a Jewish family that she led during the fascist occupation of the Netherlands. The tragic history of the family and the whole people through the eyes of the child. Sh. Winter for the role of the second plan received an "Oscar". Promising to hand over the statuette to the Anne Frank museum at the ceremony, she did it 16 years later.

"The blue shoe"

Shelley Winters also has a challenging character in the drama of Gaius Green, "The Bluebird", for which she was awarded the second "Oscar". This is a dramatic story about a blind girl who suffers from domestic violence and her dark-skinned friend in the person of an adult male.

The three tapes mentioned above are just a scrap of Shelley Winters' works and legends, the films that have become key episodes of her career, but there are others that are equally interesting. She played deep roles, avoiding the plane and the primitive on the screen. The brilliant talent and the bright personality of the actress have always remained in the history of world cinema.