Shirley MacLaine shared time on the silver screen alongside dozens of leading actors.
In MacLaine’s new memoir, “The Wall of Life: Pictures and Stories from This Marvelous Lifetime,” the Academy award-winning actress wrote about one rising star needing a little pep talk while on set.
MacLaine, 90, began in the entertainment industry as a contract player at Paramount, which is where she connected with Elvis Presley, who had also just embarked on his own acting career.
“His dressing room was two doors down, and he didn’t know how to behave as he needed to on the set,” MacLaine wrote, per People magazine.
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Shirley MacLaine met Elvis Presley when they were working together on the Paramount lot in the ’50s. (Getty Images)
“I just told him to be nice to people and kind, because he was a huge star then.”
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She added, “But we didn’t hang out, I didn’t know him that well.”
“I just told him to be nice to people and kind, because he was a huge star then.”
MacLaine was a contract player with Paramount in her early acting days. (Getty Images)
MacLaine also revealed that Morgan Freeman wasn’t too interested in her charm, either.
“I propositioned him, and he turned me down,” she wrote. When asked for more details, MacLaine said, “Oh, I really liked him right away. I thought his acting was brilliant. I barely said anything, and he just shook his head. Isn’t that interesting?”
MacLaine, who had an open marriage with her husband of 28 years, Steve Parker, claimed that she had affairs with all of her leading men except two — Jack Nicholson and Jack Lemmon.
Though MacLaine and Nicholson played love interests in James L. Brooks’ 1983 film “Terms of Endearment,” the Emmy Award winner explained why their real-life relationship remained platonic.
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“He just made me laugh all the time. He was one of my favorite people,” she said. “I don’t think he would’ve been my type to have an affair with anyway. I would laugh too much.”
Jack Nicholson and Shirley MacLaine both earned Oscars for their roles in “Terms of Endearment.” (Fotos International/Getty Images)
In the movie, MacLaine starred as widow Aurora Greenway, who embarks on a romance with her next-door neighbor, promiscuous retired astronaut Garrett Breedlove (Nicholson).
Nicholson won the best supporting actor Academy Award for his performance in the film, while MacLaine finally took home her first best actress Oscar for her portrayal of Aurora after four previous nominations.
“He just made me laugh all the time. He was one of my favorite people.”
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During her acceptance speech, MacLaine noted that she had been looking forward to working with Nicholson, and said, “to have him in bed was such middle-aged joy.”
MacLaine later joked that she found “middle-aged joy” being in bed with Nicholson. (Getty Images)
MacLaine also wrote about introducing Elizabeth Taylor to her third husband, Mike Todd, a producer for “Around the World in 80 Days” in which MacLaine starred.
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“I suspected they would get along,” she told People. “I asked one of them to come to where I was so they could meet … and there was attraction right away.”
Fox News Digital’s Ashley Hume contributed to this report.
