Shirley MacLaine I've Had an AMAZING LIFE

THE OSCAR-WINNING ACTRESS, DANCER AND AUTHOR HAS ALWAYS LIVED ON HER OWN TERMS

- LOUISE A. BARILE

Shirley MacLaine remembers the moment she found her signature hairstyle in 1954, while appearing on Broadway in The Pajama Game. “One day, very unceremoniously, the stage manager sat me down in the basement and cut off all of my beautiful, long red hair,” she recalled in her latest book. “I didn’t mind, though; I actually liked it.”

The young understudy from Virginia abruptly became a Broadway leading lady when the show’s star, Carol Haney — who sported short hair — twisted an ankle. “I never had a rehearsal,” Shirley told CBS Sunday Morning. Things continued to happen fast. During the two-and-a-half weeks she replaced the show’s star, she was spotted by a film producer. “The word got out that I was good,” Shirley said. “Alfred Hitchcock came out and asked me to do his new picture...At 18, my future had been secured.”

Now 91, the Oscar-winning actress has lived an enviable life of bright lights, romance, adventure, and yes, some heartache. Her latest memoir, The Wall of Life, shares intimate photos, memories and candid opinions about the people she has known.

Shirley recalls teaching Audrey Hepburn, her co-star in 1961’s The Children’s Hour, “a little bit about cussing.” Liza Minnelli “was a very close friend,” as was Elizabeth Taylor, “the most kind and generous of all the actresses I’ve known.” On the set of 1955’s Artists and Models, Shirley witnessed Jerry Lewis having a “tantrum,” and developed a crush on Dean Martin that never went anywhere. “No! I was sort of afraid if I got that close, he would be less funny,” she said on CBS. “And I think the humor meant more to me.”

Shirley was born and reared in Richmond, Virginia. She started ballet at age 3.

LOVES OF HER LIFE