Shirley Maclaine: Kicking Up Her Heels

Shirley MacLaine was the product of a strict middle-class background from which she and her brother, the future actor Warren Beatty, escaped into the fantasy world of show-biz. Her ballet training and her long-legged pixie charm led to rapid success on Broadway in musical comedy.
Inevitably, Hollywood called and by 1955 Shirley was cast in Hitchcocks The Trouble With Harry. It wasn’t too long before the fine dramatic roles also came to her opposite the most popular leading men of the time, like Fred MacMurray, Jack Lemmon, Frank Sinatra, Clint Eastwood and Robert Mitchum. It was apparent that this once perky gypsy of Broadway would leave her mark as one of the finest actresses of her day, an Academy-Award winner, who is ready and able to tackle any role that seems equal to her intelligence and talent. Her widely varied interests encompass the political, the literary and the mystical.