Shirley MacLaine

I recently watched an interview with 90-year-old Oscar-winning actress and bestselling author Shirley MacLaine on CBS' Sunday Morning program. She talked about her life and new book, The Wall of Life. 

I was reminded that it was about time to feature her in Northwest Prime Time, the Puget Sound area's online publication for people over age 50. After all, in addition to being a stellar senior, from 1985 until 1993, Shirley MacLaine owned a deluxe ranch house in Graham along with 105 acres (most of which is a protected wildlife sanctuary). According to a Seattle Times article, MacLaine spent three or four months a year in her Graham retreat and wrote six books there. "It's like my books are in each one of those trees and I just have to look at the trees and decide which one to do next and then the tree writes it ..." she revealed in the article. Another Times article quoted her as saying, "I'm just so hung up about Washington, I may have made this state my guru!"

Although Washington did not remain her permanent guru, just like fellow Hollywood elite, Linda Evans, Shirley MacLaine was drawn to the rural spaces south and east of Tacoma to radiate in the New Age spiritual energy of the area, centered around JZ Knight (who famously went into trance states to channel the spirit, Ramtha). Shirley MacLaine has written extensively about her spiritual pursuits and belief in past lives. In one of her books, MacLaine called her relationship with Ramtha "deep, seeming to speak to another time and place." 

MacLaine eventually decided that Graham was just too far from the demands of Hollywood. When she put her property up for sale, she was making one movie after the other. At that same time, she was also selling her Malibu oceanfront estate in order to relocate to New Mexico (and to settle on 7,500 acres). "I feel the high desert calling me," she said. 

With nearly seventy years on the silver screen and more than 77 film and television credits (and counting), Shirley MacLaine is known for her ability to portray quirky, strong-willed and eccentric women. She has garnered too many awards and honors to list, but they include that Academy Award for her starring role in Terms of Endearment, numerous Golden Globes, two BAFTAs, the AFI Life Achievement Award, Cecil B. DeMille Award, and Kennedy Center Honors in 2013 for her contributions to American culture. 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Mrs. Teresa Heinz Kerry pose for a photo with the 2013 Kennedy Center honorees -- Shirley MacLain, Martina Arroyo, Billy Joel, Carlos Santana, and Herbie Hancock at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on December 7, 2013 

 

Early in her Sunday Morning interview, we see a photo of her seated on the hood of a Cadillac on the Paramount lot. "I wanted to see how my legs photographed." Having gotten her start as a dancer, her legs photographed great. "Well, I was born with good legs," she admitted to CBS' Lee Cowan. He describes her as a pixie-haired triple threat: singer, dancer, actor. 

In addition to her award-winning acting career, Shirley MacLaine has written multiple bestselling memoirs, including her spiritually focused books, Out on a Limb and Dancing in the Light. In Dance While You Can, she wrote about aging and family relationships, and her book Sage-ing While Age-ing explores topics such as health and nutrition, spirituality, and the greatest mystery of all, what happens to us after we die. 

Her latest book, released last month, is The Wall of Life, Pictures and Stories from This Marvelous Lifetime. Her new book chronicles an extraordinary life with more than 150 images from her personal photo collection, along with family memories and stories about some of the most significant figures from entertainment and politics, including growing up with her brother, actor/director Warren Beatty, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin (MacLaine called him the funniest person she ever met), Bob Fosse, Jack Nicholson, the Dalai Lama, Fidel Castro, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Elvis Presley, her good friend, Elizabeth Taylor and so many others.

The future star of "The Apartment" with her younger brother, the future star of "Bonnie and Clyde." From "The Wall of Life"/Crown 

Shirley MacLaine was born in Richmond, Virginia on April 24, 1934 as Shirley MacLean Beaty (named after Shirley Temple). Her father was a psychology teacher, her mother a drama teacher. Wikipedia tells us that Shirley MacLaine played on an all-boys baseball team, and held the record for most home runs, earning the nickname "Powerhouse." 

She didn't stay in Virginia for long. She started ballet lessons as a toddler, left home for New York City at age sixteen and was soon dancing on Broadway. But her teachers told her she thought too much for a dancer, had too much expression in her performances and should pursue acting. So, she did. She landed a role in the chorus of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! But her big break came when she was cast as the understudy in the original Broadway production of The Pajama Game. The star, Carole Haney, injured her ankle and MacLaine had to go onstage with five-minutes notice. "I never had a rehearsal," she said. She must have nailed it, because Alfred Hitchcock caught her performance and called her in for her first movie, the black comedy, The Trouble with Harry, for which she won the Golden Globe award / new actress of the year! She never looked back after that first film and is considered one of the last remaining actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood. IMBD lists her credits as 77 roles, plus two in production. 

The Trouble with Harry was followed by numerous films including Around the World in 80 Days, The Apartment (which earned her an Academy Award nomination), Ocean's Eleven, Irma la Douce, Sweet Charity, and so many more.

 Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine in from the film "The Apartment" (1960). MacLaine received her first of six Academy Award nominations. 

 

In addition to being a new movie star when she first entered Hollywood, she was newly married to the only man she ever married, businessman Steve Parker. The couple had one child, daughter, Sachi Parker. While MacLaine described her husband as the love of her life, they lived mostly apart. 

She admits to being an unconventional wife and mother. She has also widely admitted to her past affairs and also those she'd never been with (like Dean Martin and Jack Nicholson -- even though she described her time with him on the set in Terms of Endearment as such middle-aged joy. Take a look at those scenes they had in bed together). She was able to continue her career even as she grew older in such films as Steel Magnolias, Postcards from the Edge, and Guarding Tess. Nearing 80, she created fresh fans for her role in the phenomenally popular PBS television series, Downton Abbey. She was fully into her 80s when she appeared on the hit streaming show, Only Murders in the Building. 

Now 90, Shirley MacLaine is not planning to go anywhere soon. However, she has stated that she has no fear of death. "I'm looking forward to being part of the heaven experience," she told Lee Cowan on Sunday Morning. "I really am."