Shirley MacLaine: Hollywood Career, Oscar History, and New Film Releases in the US

Born on April 24, 1934, in Richmond, Virginia, Shirley MacLaine has built a film career spanning over seventy years, ranging from classic Hollywood to the most recent productions. Her debut dates back to 1955 with Alfred Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry, which earned her the Golden Globe as a new rising star. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, MacLaine appeared in films such as Around the World in 80 Days, Some Came Running, Billy Wilder’s The Apartment, The Children’s Hour, and Irma la Douce.

The collaboration with Billy Wilder in The Apartment (1960) marks a crucial point: MacLaine received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, in addition to winning the Golden Globe and the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival. The second nomination came in 1958 for Some Came Running, while the third was for Irma la Douce in 1963. In 1977, The Turning Point earned her a fourth Academy Award nomination, in a film that received eleven total nominations.

The most significant success came in 1983 with Terms of Endearment, directed by James L. Brooks. MacLaine played Aurora Greenway, a role that earned her the Oscar for Best Actress, as well as the Golden Globe in the same category. The film received eleven Oscar nominations and won five awards, including Best Picture. After this triumph, MacLaine continued to work steadily, taking on prominent roles in Madame Sousatzka (1988), which earned her a second Golden Globe, and in Steel Magnolias (1989), for which she received a BAFTA.

In the 1990s, MacLaine acted in Postcards from the Edge (1990), Used People (1992), and Guarding Tess (1994). In 2005, she returned with In Her Shoes, earning another Golden Globe nomination. Her television career includes an Emmy win in 1976 for Gypsy in My Soul and roles in productions such as Coco Chanel (2008) and the Hulu series Only Murders in the Building.

Recent films include Bernie (2011), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013), Elsa & Fred (2014), The Last Word (2017), Noelle (2019), and American Dreamer (2023). She is currently finishing filming Lucy Boomer, a road comedy directed by Howard Deutch, in which she plays a ninety-three-year-old woman who escapes from a nursing home with the help of a writer. Additionally, Margret and Stevie, directed by Matthew Weiner, is scheduled; it tells the story of the co-creator of Curious George.

Throughout her career, Shirley MacLaine has received six Oscar nominations, six Emmy nominations, twenty Golden Globe nominations (with six wins), and eight BAFTA nominations (two wins). She has been honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award (1998), the AFI Life Achievement Award (2012), and the Kennedy Center Honor (2014). Sister of Warren Beatty, she remains a prominent figure in American cinema, active both on the big screen and on streaming platforms.