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Shirley MacLaine (born Shirley MacLean Beaty April 24, 1934) is an Academy Award-winning American actress well-known not only for her acting, but for her devotion to her belief in reincarnation. She is also the writer of a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her new age beliefs, such as solipsism, as well as her Hollywood career. She is the older sister of Warren Beatty (Beatty changed his name from Beaty to Beatty).

Early life

MacLaine was born in Richmond, Virginia to an American father of English descent and a Canadian mother of Irish and Scottish ancestry. Her family followed the Baptist faith. MacLaine grew up in Waverly, Virginia, graduated from high school and moved to New York City to live out her dream of being a Broadway actress. She achieved her goal when she became understudy to actress Carol Haney in The Pajama Game; Haney broke her ankle and MacLaine replaced her.

A few months thereafter, with Haney still out of commission, director-producer Hal B. Wallis was in the audience, took note of MacLaine, and signed her to go to Hollywood to work for Paramount Pictures.

She would later sue Wallis over a contractual dispute, a suit that is credited with having ended the old-style studio system of actor management.

Career

Her first film was the Alfred Hitchcock film The Trouble with Harry in 1955. Her film career is now in its fifth decade. MacLaine was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role five times: in 1958 for Some Came Running, in 1960 for The Apartment, in 1963 for Irma La Douce, in 1977 for The Turning Point and in 1983 for Terms of Endearment (which she finally won). In 1975, she also received a nomination for Best Documentary Feature for her documentary A China Memoir. She recently appeared as the maternal grandmother to Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette in In Her Shoes.

Private life

MacLaine was married to businessman Steve Parker until 1982. They had a daughter, Sachi Parker (b. 1956). Shirley filed for divorce after she learned (through her spiritual guide) that Steve had lied to her about his childhood in Japan, and that he had transferred all her money into the bank account of his Japanese mistress over the years.

In political circles, MacLaine is known for her former relationship with Andrew Peacock, a former Australian Liberal Party Prime Ministerial asiprant who was later appointed as Ambassador to the United States. She also has a close friendship with Ohio congressman, Dennis Kucinich, who was a candidate in the 2004 Democratic presidential primary.

MacLaine found her way into many law school casebooks when she sued Twentieth Century-Fox for breach of contract. She was to play a role in a film titled, Bloomer Girl, but the production was cancelled.

Twentieth Century-Fox offered her a role in another film, Big Country, Big Man, in hopes of getting out of its contractual obligation to pay her for the cancelled film. MacLaine's refusal led to an appeal by Twentieth Century-Fox to the Supreme Court of California in 1970, where the Court ruled against them. Parker v. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp., 474 P.2d 689 (Cal. 1970).

Filmography

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Shirley MacLaine".

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