Shirley MacLaine
Acting • Born 1934-04-24
Biography
Shirley MacLaine (born Shirley MacLean Beaty; April 24, 1934) is an American actress, singer, author, activist, and former dancer. Known for her portrayals of quirky, headstrong, and eccentric women, MacLaine has received numerous accolades throughout her career spanning seven decades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, two British Academy Film Awards, and six Golden Globe Awards. Born in Richmond, Virginia, MacLaine made her acting debut as a teenager with minor roles in the Broadway musicals Oklahoma! and The Pajama Game. Following minor appearances as an understudy in various other productions, MacLaine made her film debut with Alfred Hitchcock's black comedy The Trouble with Harry (1955), winning the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress. She rose to prominence with starring roles in Around the World in 80 Days (1956), Some Came Running (1958), Ask Any Girl (1959), The Apartment (1960), The Children's Hour (1961), Two for the Seesaw (1962), Irma la Douce (1963), and Sweet Charity (1969). A six time Academy Award nominee, MacLaine won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the comedy-drama Terms of Endearment (1983). Her other prominent films include The Turning Point (1977), Being There (1979), Madame Sousatzka (1988), Steel Magnolias (1989), Postcards from the Edge (1990), The Evening Star (1996), Bewitched (2005), In Her Shoes (2005), Valentine's Day (2010), and The Little Mermaid (2018). MacLaine has been the recipient of many honorary awards. She was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2012, Gala Tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 1995, and Kennedy Center Honor in 2013 for her contribution to American culture, through performing arts. In 1998, she was awarded the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award. Apart from acting, MacLaine has written numerous books regarding the subjects of metaphysics, spirituality, and reincarnation, as well as a best-selling memoir, Out on a Limb (1983).
Filmography
170 credits
The Apartment
Movie • 1960
Fran Kubelik
Being There
Movie • 1979
Eve Rand
Irma la Douce
Movie • 1963
Irma La Douce
Rumor Has It...
Movie • 2005
Katharine Richelieu
Around the World in 80 Days
Movie • 1956
Princess Aouda
Carolina
Movie • 2003
Grandmother Mirabeau
Steel Magnolias
Movie • 1989
Ouiser Boudreaux
The Children's Hour
Movie • 1961
Martha Dobie
Terms of Endearment
Movie • 1983
Aurora Greenway
The Evening Star
Movie • 1996
Aurora Greenway
The Trouble with Harry
Movie • 1955
Jennifer Rogers
Guarding Tess
Movie • 1994
Tess Carlisle
Postcards from the Edge
Movie • 1990
Doris Mann
Two Mules for Sister Sara
Movie • 1970
Sara
What a Way to Go!
Movie • 1964
Louisa May Foster
In Her Shoes
Movie • 2005
Ella Hirsh
Cannonball Run II
Movie • 1984
Veronica
Coco Chanel
Movie • 2008
Coco Chanel
Defending Your Life
Movie • 1991
Shirley MacLaine
Bewitched
Movie • 2005
Iris Smythson / Endora
Valentine's Day
Movie • 2010
Estelle Paddington
Can-Can
Movie • 1960
Simone Pistache
Mrs. Winterbourne
Movie • 1996
Grace Winterbourne
Gambit
Movie • 1966
Nicole
Wrestling Ernest Hemingway
Movie • 1993
Helen Cooney
Closing the Ring
Movie • 2007
Ethel Ann
I Love Liberty
Movie • 1982
Self
The Sensational Shocking Wonderful Wacky 70's
Movie • 1980
Self (archive footage)
Used People
Movie • 1992
Pearl Berman
The Possession of Joel Delaney
Movie • 1972
Norah Benson
Sweet Charity
Movie • 1969
Charity
A Change of Seasons
Movie • 1980
Karyn Evans
My Geisha
Movie • 1962
Lucy Dell / Yoko Mori
Artists and Models
Movie • 1955
Bessie Sparrowbush
The Matchmaker
Movie • 1958
Irene Molloy
Woman Times Seven
Movie • 1967
Paulette / Maria Teresa / Linda / Edith / Eve Minou / Marie / Jeanne
The Turning Point
Movie • 1977
Deedee
Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning
Movie • 2008
Amelia Thomas
Some Came Running
Movie • 1958
Ginnie Moorehead
The Yellow Rolls-Royce
Movie • 1964
Mae Jenkins
Get Bruce!
Movie • 1999
Self
American Dreamer
Movie • 2022
Astrid Fanelli
Bernie
Movie • 2012
Marjorie Nugent
Barbra Streisand: Timeless - Live in Concert
Movie • 2001
Herself
The Sheepman
Movie • 1958
Dell Payton
Ask Any Girl
Movie • 1959
Meg Wheeler
Two for the Seesaw
Movie • 1962
Gittel 'Mosca' Moscawitz
Bruno
Movie • 2000
Helen
These Old Broads
Movie • 2001
Kate Westbourne
Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There
Movie • 2003
Self
All in a Night's Work
Movie • 1961
Katie Robbins
John Goldfarb, Please Come Home!
Movie • 1965
Jenny
Waiting for the Light
Movie • 1990
Aunt Zena
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Movie • 2013
Edna Mitty
Bella!
Movie • 2023
Self
The Other Half of the Sky: A China Memoir
Movie • 1975
Self
Madame Sousatzka
Movie • 1988
Madame Yuvline Sousatzka
Hot Spell
Movie • 1958
Virginia Duval
Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay
Movie • 2002
Mary Kay Ash
Career
Movie • 1959
Sharon Kensington
The Shirley MacLaine Special: Where Do We Go from Here?
Movie • 1977
Self
Loving Couples
Movie • 1980
Evelyn
Two Loves
Movie • 1961
Anna Vorontosov
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies
Movie • 1995
Self
Elsa & Fred
Movie • 2014
Elsa
Men of Granite
Movie • 2015
Sophia Prather
Irving Berlin's 100th Birthday Celebration
Movie • 1988
Self
The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom
Movie • 1968
Harriet Blossom
Ocean's Eleven
Movie • 1960
Tipsy Girl (uncredited)
Rat Pack
Movie • 2022
Self (archive footage)
You're the Top: The Cole Porter Story
Movie • 1990
Self (archive footage)
Be Pretty and Shut Up!
Movie • 1981
Self (archive footage)
Baryshnikov: The Dancer and the Dance
Movie • 1983
Self
Baryshnikov in Hollywood
Movie • 1982
Self - Cameo Performance
Desperate Characters
Movie • 1971
Sophie Bentwood
Mike Wallace Is Here
Movie • 2019
Self (archive footage)
Richard Attenborough: A Life in Film
Movie • 2014
Self
Salem Witch Trials
Movie • 2002
Rebecca Nurse
The Last Word
Movie • 2017
Harriet Lauler
People Not Places
Movie
Clare
Wild Oats
Movie • 2016
Eva
Happy Birthday Elizabeth: A Celebration of Life
Movie • 1997
Self
A Heavenly Christmas
Movie • 2016
Pearl
Year of the Woman
Movie • 1973
The Little Mermaid
Movie • 2018
Eloise
The West Side Waltz
Movie • 1995
Margaret Mary Elderdice
Sammy Davis, Jr. 60th Anniversary Celebration
Movie • 1990
Self
Billy Wilder: The Human Comedy
Movie • 1998
Self
The Celluloid Closet
Movie • 1996
Self
Vittorio D.
Movie • 2009
Self
A Smile Like Yours
Movie • 1997
Martha (uncredited)
Best Sellers or: Peter Sellers and 'Dr. Strangelove'
Movie • 2004
Self
Wide-Awake
Movie • 2012
The Pianist
Shirley MacLaine: Gypsy in My Soul
Movie • 1976
Self
The Shirley MacLaine Show
Movie • 1985
Herself
Noelle
Movie • 2019
Elf Polly
Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists
Movie • 2018
Self
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History
Movie • 2008
Self
The Unknown Peter Sellers
Movie • 2000
Self
Forever Hollywood
Movie • 1999
Self
Chita Rivera: A Lot Of Livin' To Do
Movie • 2015
Self (archive footage)
Jack Paar: Smart Television
Movie • 2003
Self
Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu
Movie • 1998
Narrator (voice)
That's Dancing!
Movie • 1985
Palme
Movie • 2012
Self
Shirley Maclaine: Kicking Up Her Heels
Movie • 1996
Self
Circasia
Movie • 1976
Clown
Inside 'The Apartment'
Movie • 2008
Self
The Car That Became a Star
Movie • 1965
Self
From Stage to Screen---A Director's Dilemma
Movie • 1969
Shirley MacLaine: '...Every Little Movement'
Movie • 1980
Self
Shirley MacLaine... Illusions
Movie • 1982
Self
Private Screenings: Shirley MacLaine
Movie • 2003
Self
Rescued from the Closet
Movie • 2001
Self
Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age
Movie • 2021
Self
Shirley MacLaine's Inner Workout
Movie • 1989
self
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1920s: The Dawn of the Hollywood Musical
Movie • 2008
Self
Shirley MacLaine: If They Could See Me Now
Movie • 1974
Self
The Nutcracker
Movie • 1973
Narrator (English version) (voice)
Dame Maggie Smith - A Celebration
Movie • 2024
Martha Levinson (archive footage)
The All-Star Christmas Show
Movie • 1958
Self
Discovering Audrey Hepburn
Movie • 2015
Self (archive footage)
Lucy Boomer
Movie
Lucy Boomer
That's Dancing!
Movie • 1985
Self (archive footage)
Shirley MacLaine, comme un torrent
Movie • 2026
Self (archive footage)
Margret and Stevie
Movie
Margret Rey
The Royal Variety Performance 1977
Movie • 1977
MCAINE: An Anagram of Cinema
Movie • 2023
Self - Actress (archive footage)
Inside the Actors Studio
TV • 1994
Self
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
TV • 1988
The View
TV • 1997
Self
The Early Show
TV • 1999
Self
Intimate Portrait
TV • 1993
Self (archive footage)
Shirley's World
TV • 1972
Shirley Logan
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
TV • 1956
Self
Harty
TV • 1983
Self
The Steve Allen Show
TV • 1956
Self - Guest
V Graham Norton
TV • 2002
Self
Pebble Mill
TV • 1991
Self
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
The Emmy Awards
TV • 1949
Self
Downton Abbey
TV • 2010
Martha Levinson
Talking Pictures
TV • 2013
Self (archive footage)
Intimate Portrait
TV • 1993
Self - Narrator (voice)
Joan of Arc
TV • 1999
Madame de Beaurevoir
The Bob Hope Show
TV • 1950
Self
Out on a Limb
TV • 1987
Shirley MacLaine
V.I.P. Schaukel
TV • 1971
Self
Only Murders in the Building
TV • 2021
Rose Cooper
Goldene Kamera
TV • 1984
Self
The Carol Burnett Show
TV • 1967
Self
Entertainment Tonight
TV • 1981
Self
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
TV • 1975
Self - Guest
Glee
TV • 2009
June Dolloway
Système 2
TV • 1975
Self
Champs-Elysées
TV • 1982
Self
The Dick Cavett Show
TV • 1968
Self - Guest
Beckmann
TV • 1999
Self
Please Turn the Page
TV • 1977
Self
Der große Preis
TV • 1974
Self
Laugh-In
TV • 1977
Guest Performer
Reflets de Cannes
TV • 1954
Self
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Presenter
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Cecil B. DeMille Award Recipient
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Nominee / Presenter
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV • 1962
Self
The Mike Douglas Show
TV • 1961
Self
CBS News Sunday Morning
TV • 1979
Self
Golden Globe Awards
TV • 1944
Self - Winner