WINTERS, SHELLEY

WINTERS, SHELLEY (Shirley Schrift; 1922–2006), U.S. actress. Born in East St. Louis, Ill., Winters appeared in the operetta Rosalinda (1942). Her first successful film was A Double Life (1948). Later she became famous for her interpretation of two prototypes – a street girl and a mother. In 1959 she won an Oscar for her supporting role in The Diary of Anne Frank, and in 1965 she won another Academy Award for A Patch of Blue. Her other films, which number more than 120, include The Great Gatsby (1949); Frenchie (1950); A Place in the Sun (Oscar nomination for Best Actress, (1951); Executive Suite (1954); Mambo (1954); I Am a Camera (1955); The Big Knife (1955); The Night of the Hunter (1955); The Chapman Report (1962); Lolita (1962); The Balcony (1963); Alfie (1966); Harper (1966); The Three Sisters (1966); Enter Laughing (1967); The Poseidon Adventure (Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, 1972); Blume in Love (1973); Diamonds (1975); Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976); King of the Gypsies (1978); The Magician of Lublin (1979); S.O.B. (1981); The Delta Force (1986), An Unremarkable Life (1989); Stepping Out (1991); The Pickle (1993); Heavy (1995); The Portrait of a Lady (1996); Gideon (1999); and La Bomba (1999). On Broadway, Winters appeared in such plays as Rosalinda (1942–44); Oklahoma\! (1943–48); A Hatful of Rain (1956); The Night of the Iguana (1962); Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1965); Under the Weather (1966); Minnie's Boys (1970); and The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1978). She appeared frequently at Jewish benefit rallies. Winters was married to actors Vittorio Gassman (1952–54) and Anthony Franciosa (1957–60). She wrote the autobiographies Shelley: Also Known as Shirley (1980) and Shelley II: The Middle of My Century (1989). (Jonathan Licht / Ruth Beloff (2nd ed.)