Day 10 - Shirley MacLaine

I am still trying to recover my notes from yesterday's post, but as today is Shirley MacLaine day on TCM, I decided to just go ahead and plunge into the next entry.  What's ironic is that I don't even like Shirley MacLaine, but I'm not sure why.  Maybe it was the kind of ditzy, mettling sorts of roles she sometimes played or the rumors of her trying to break up Dean Martin's marriage, but who knows if that was even true.  Even if you don't know Shirley MacLaine from some of her roles on film, you probably recognize her name from all of the air-time she logged talking about her past lives.

Right now I'm watching Some Came Running (1958), which I've always liked for Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin's acting.  What I didn't know is that Shirley MacLaine received her first (of six) Oscar nominations for her role as a not-so-bright, loose woman who follows Dave (Sinatra) from Chicago to his hometown of Parkman, Indiana after a one-night stand.  Even though he tries to get rid of her, she keeps showing up, and her ties to the Chicago mob eventually bring all sorts of trouble and eventual tragedy.  Shirley MacLaine acts as a counter to Dave's other love interest: intelligent, conservative school teacher Gwen French (Martha Hyer).  The two women, both in love with Dave, have the most touching conversation in the film about love.

The kooky Shirley MacLaine in Steel Magnolias (MGM 1958)

The more I think about her, the more I start to admire Shirley's roles.  Not only did she break out in Some Came Running, but she went on to shine in films like Billy Wilder's The Apartment (1960), The Children's Hour (1961), Irma la Douce (1963), Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970) and Steel Magnolias (1989).  She also starred in one of my guilty-pleasure comedies, What a Way to Go! (1964), where she played Louisa May Foster, a woman who married Dick Van Dyke, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum and Gene Kelly.  Maybe what keeps Shirley MacLaine so interesting in these films is her ability to play a kook or an annoying neighbor (like Steel Magnolias) and still manage to portray a sense of vulnerability.  You don't know if you should take care of her or write her off as a nutcase.

So not all movie stars are ones we all love, but they each have their own followings.  And while I don't like MacLaine in some films, I do enjoy watching her in others.  Are there any stars that you both like and dislike?