The Quotable Shelley Winters

Shelley Winters (1920-2006) was a film actress, noted for her roles in "The Diary of Anne Frank," and "A Place in the Sun." She won two Oscars for "The Diarly of Anne Frank," and "A Patch of Blue." She is probably most known for her role in "The Poseidon Adventure," the 1972 action/disaster flick. She was nominated for a Best Supporting Oscar in that role as a champion swimmer that drowns.

She never achieved leading lady status, but is most remembered for her character roles. Her most memorable roles were usually as the second banana that meets with an untimely end- drowning and strangulation the preferred form of demise.

She was married four times and divorced three. Her take on Hollywood has become the stuff of legend.

Shelley Winters quotes:

In Hollywood, all the marriages are happy. It's trying to live together afterwards that causes all the problems.

I think on-stage nudity is disgusting, shameful and damaging to all things American. But if I were 22 with a great body, it would be artistic, tasteful, patriotic and a progressive religious experience.

I have bursts of being a lady, but it doesn't last long.

The best way to find out about a man is to have lunch with his ex-wife.

I'll never forget the night I brought my Oscar home and Tony took one look at it and I knew my marriage was over. (On Anthony Franciosa, an ex-husband)

You gotta play mothers. If you don't you won't get a long career in Hollywood.

Every now and then, when you're on stage, you hear the best sound a player can hear. It's a sound you can't get in movies or in television. It is the sound of a wonderful, deep silence that means you've hit them where they live.

I'm not overweight. I'm just nine inches too short.

It's sad that people are so open about their sexuality. Sex is much more fun when you have to sneak around and cover it up.

Bobby needs someone to watch over him. He doesn't even know enough to wear a coat in the wintertime. When we did "Bloody Mama" he didn't even know how much money they were paying him. I found out how little it was and insisted they at least give him some expense money. (On Robert De Niro).