Shirley MacLaine actually got her big break, in The Pajama Game, after the leading lady broke her leg. Hollywood producer Hal Wallis was in the audience the night she took over, and he signed her up. Adopting a 'kooky' screen persona, she quickly racked up a trio of Oscar nominations (for Some Came Running, The Apartment, and Irma La Douce). An active member of the Democratic party and Frank Sinatra's 'Rat Pack,' the freckled redhead was married for years to an American who spent most of his time in Asia and with him had a daughter (whom MacLaine believes was her mother in an earlier life). Busy traveling, acting, writing best-sellers, perfecting her Vegas act, enjoying visions and past lives, and having affairs with writer Pete Hamill and a British M.P., she rarely saw her husband and kid. The hard work paid off professionally, however, with another Oscar nomination (for The Turning Point) and, finally, the Best Actress statue in 1983 for Terms of Endearment. In 1996, MacLaine reprised her Oscar-winning characterization of Aurora Greenway in the sequel to Terms, The Evening Star.
Shirley MacLaine