Shelley Winters, 1920 - 2006.

Shelley Winters, who once described her life as a 'rocky road out of the Brooklyn ghetto to one New York apartment, two Oscars, three California houses, four hit plays, five Impressionist paintings, six mink coats and 99 films,' died yesterday. She was 83, although some sources says she was 85.

[...]

Tough-talking and oozing sex appeal, Ms Winters was blowzy, vulgar and often pathetically vulnerable in her early films. In movie after movie, she played working-class women who were violently discarded by men who had used them.... Even when she became the dominating force in many of her later movies, Ms Winters often played vulnerable monsters.... Off screen Ms Winters lived with an equal gusto.

Aljean Harmetz in the New York Times.

Updates through 1/17 below.

[W]hat first comes to my mind is the part she played in Pete's Dragon. That was one of the first movies I ever saw in a theatre. I loved it.... Man, she was a nasty piece of work in that movie.

Jeffrey Overstreet.

For some strange reason [her star in Hollywood is] on Vine Street, with Charles Laughton and Melvyn Douglas. I think all the liberal Democrats are on Vine Street. I think the Chamber of Commerce... (laughs) they put us on Vine Street.

[...]

99 percent is doing work you love. That's 99 percent of life. The people who can make a living doing what they love are indeed the fortunate of the earth.

Shelley Winters, interviewed by Harry Governick in September, 1992.

Updates: Edward Copeland and Josh R remember notable performances.

And it's good to hear that voice again in Allison Keyes's report for NPR.

Update: Campaspe: "She was an utterly fearless actress... They tried to turn her into a glamor girl, and she didn't give a damn. She wanted to act."

Updates, 1/17: Guy Flatley's 1971 interview and Veronica Horwell in the Guardian.

Posted by dwhudson at January 14, 2006 12:21 PM