Published: May 14, 2008 03:23 pm            

Mr. Movie: Shelley Winters

Her career spanned 75 years and over 125 movies. She started as a blonde bombshell, then as she aged found a niche as a blowsy caricature.

She was Marilyn Monroe's roommate when both were starting out and taught Marilyn how to look sexier (drop your eyes, tilt your head, partially open your mouth!).

She was probably killed in more films than any other actor. Shelley Winters, who left us at 85 recently, was something else!

Ms. Winters won an Oscar for her portrayal of the ever-fearful Mrs. Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). This touching story of a young Jewish girl hiding out from the Nazis with her family still resonates today.

A Patch of Blue (1965) is about blind and white Elizabeth Hartman falling in love with sighted and black Sidney Poitier. Shelley Winters won another Oscar in her signature role as Hartman's loud, insensitive mother.

A Place in the Sun (1951) is a somewhat dated version of Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy," which nonetheless won six Oscars. Ms. Winters was nominated for her portrayal of murder victim Alice Tripp, but she didn't win this time. Vivian Leigh won for A Streetcar Named Desire.

Shelley Winters is again a victim, this time of crazy preacher-man Robert Mitchum, in the creepy Night of the Hunter (1955). This is the only movie directed by actor Charles Laughton and it is a dandy. Mitchum doggedly hunts down Winters' young children, believing they hold the key to a hidden fortune.

The Poseidon Adventure (1972) is one of those overblown disaster films from the 70s. Shelley Winters was nominated for an Oscar (she is, of course, a loud and obnoxious harridan) but she lost out to Eileen Heckart in Butterflies Are Free. Believe it or not, they remade The Poseidon Adventure in 2006. Could it be any worse? Oh, yeah. And the remake sank without a trace at the box office - deservedly.

Ms. Winters' last appearance of any note is as Olga Nobokova in the excellent and underrated Henry Jaglom film, Deja Vu (1985).

This is a fascinating movie about two people who are both connected to someone else, but keep bumping into each other. Ms. Winters' role is a small one but she does it proud.

All of the films in this column are available on video and DVD. All are for 10 and up.



Rusty Hammond has been writing the Mr. Movie column since 1996. It appears in several newspapers in North Carolina.

        

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