Trivia of Shelley Winters

Trivia of Shelley Winters (18 August 1920 - 14 January 2006)

*During a nationwide search in 1939 for Gone With The Wind's Scarlett O'Hara, Shelley Winters was advised by auditioning director George Cukor to get acting lessons, which she did.

*Roommates with Marilyn Monroe when they were both starting out in Hollywood.She was taught Marilyn Monroe how to "act" pretty by tilting her head back, keeping her eyes lowered and her mouth partly opened.When they were roommates, one of their favorite pastimes included making list of men they wanted to sleep with.According to Winters, Monroe had a thing for Albert Einstein, and may even have slept with him.

*It was George Cukor who gave Winters her first big break in 1947’s A Double Life.Although this was not Shelley Winters' first screen role, it is considered to be the picture that launched her film career, and was the first of many films she made for Universal. Winters claimed for years afterward she thought she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for the film but she wasn't.

*Winters considered A Place in the Sun (1951) was her best.She changed her image from blonde bombshell to a factory brown haired girl with dowdy clothes.When the time came for Winters’ audition, she was a little hard to find. The film’s director, George Stevens, arrived at their pre-arranged meeting place but didn’t see the blonde actress that he was looking for anywhere. Winters had changed her appearance so completely that Stevens hadn’t recognized her sitting in a corner. Her role in this movie got Winters be nominated in Oscar for the first time, though she upset with the film director for making her appear “unglamorous” next to her super-sultry co-star, Elizabeth Taylor.

*Often played neurotic, needy women in movies: A Place in the Sun (1951), The Night of the Hunter (1955), and Lolita (1962).

*In 1960, she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Mrs. Van Daan in George Stevens' film adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank (1959). She donated her award statuette to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.It remains on permanent display in the museum to this day.

*On the September 26, 1975 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), she grew tired of Oliver Reed's attitude towards women. They had a heated conversation and, after Winters told Reed what she thought of his opinions, she left the set. The show continued with Reed going on about women while Johnny Carson looked at him in a daze. Shortly afterward, Winters appeared from stage left, unannounced to Reed and to the shock of Carson. She was carrying a beverage glass and surprised Reed by dumping it over his head. Reed went on to finish his statement as if nothing had happened and later claimed the beverage was whiskey.