Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#6924
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Shirley MacLaine represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 68 years in, and Shirley is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Shirley MacLaine appears in 23 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Shirley. Rat Pack is the clearest case: a film rated 9.0 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for documentary, comedy, romance. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Jeffrey Schwarz, Avi Belkin, Mark Pellington and others, Shirley MacLaine helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Rat Pack (2022) as Self (archive footage) · The Apartment (1960) as Fran Kubelik · Being There (1979) as Eve Rand
Career snapshot
Ranked #6924 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
23
1955–2023
Career length
68 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
9.0
Rat Pack
Average Nutevio score
6.1
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
9.0
Rat Pack
Most frequent director
Billy Wilder
2 films together
Longest collaboration
2×
With Billy Wilder
Most common genre
Comedy
17 titles
Average runtime
1h 49m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
6.9
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.9
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1970s
7.0 average MV
The 1970s are where the work and the material meet. Being There, Two Mules for Sister Sara — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1970s
7.0
Across 2 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1970s
7.3
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1950s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Around the World in 80 Days, The Trouble with Harry.
Most productive era
2010s
6 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | — | 7.23 films | 7.31 film | 6.82 films | — | 6.34 films | — |
| Thriller | — | 6.41 film | — | — | — | — | — |
| Comedy | 6.72 films | 7.05 films | 7.31 film | 6.82 films | 5.42 films | 6.64 films | 6.01 film |
| Crime | — | 6.72 films | — | — | — | 6.61 film | — |
| Romance | 6.61 film | 7.23 films | — | 6.91 film | 5.42 films | 5.52 films | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Jennifer Rogers.
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
2022Rat Pack
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 9.0 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
The current state of the argument, as Self (archive footage).
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
23 of 23 films
as Fran Kubelik
Directed by Billy Wilder
as Irma La Douce
Directed by Billy Wilder
as Eve Rand
Directed by Hal Ashby
as Nicole
Directed by Ronald Neame
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Self (archive footage)
Rat Pack (2022)
Performance score8.9
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Self (archive footage) gives Shirley MacLaine a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Fran Kubelik
The Apartment (1960)
Performance score8.2
The Apartment asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Fran Kubelik is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Irma La Douce
Irma la Douce (1963)
Performance score7.7
Irma la Douce asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Irma La Douce is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Eve Rand
Being There (1979)
Performance score7.6
Being There asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Eve Rand is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Self (archive footage)
Start here. Rat Pack is the clearest statement of what Shirley MacLaine does — accessible, 0 minutes, and rated 9.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Shirley at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
The Apartment (1960)
A deliberate change of key after Rat Pack — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Irma la Douce (1963)
Same director as The Apartment, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Gambit (1966)
Keeps the comedy register of Irma la Douce but asks for a colder reading of it.
Being There (1979)
Keeps the comedy register of Gambit but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Billy Wilder
Director
2 films together
Notably The Apartment
Alfred Hitchcock
Director
1 film together
Notably The Trouble with Harry
Michael Anderson
Director
1 film together
Notably Around the World in 80 Days
Lewis Milestone
Director
1 film together
Notably Ocean's Eleven
Ronald Neame
Director
1 film together
Notably Gambit
Bob Fosse
Director
1 film together
Notably Sweet Charity
Don Siegel
Director
1 film together
Notably Two Mules for Sister Sara
Hal Ashby
Director
1 film together
Notably Being There
Mike Nichols
Director
1 film together
Notably Postcards from the Edge
Albert Brooks
Director
1 film together
Notably Defending Your Life
Nora Ephron
Director
1 film together
Notably Bewitched
Rob Reiner
Director
1 film together
Notably Rumor Has It...
Garry Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably Valentine's Day
Richard Linklater
Director
1 film together
Notably Bernie
Ben Stiller
Director
1 film together
Notably The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Mark Pellington
Director
1 film together
Notably The Last Word
Avi Belkin
Director
1 film together
Notably Mike Wallace Is Here
Jeffrey Schwarz
Director
1 film together
Notably Commitment to Life
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Billy Wilder
Director
2 films together · 7.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The ApartmentHal Ashby
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Being ThereBen Stiller
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Secret Life of Walter MittyRonald Neame
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GambitAlbert Brooks
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Defending Your LifeDon Siegel
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Two Mules for Sister SaraAlfred Hitchcock
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Trouble with HarryMark Pellington
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Last WordRichard Linklater
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BernieMike Nichols
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Postcards from the EdgeBob Fosse
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Sweet CharityMichael Anderson
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Around the World in 80 DaysAvi Belkin
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mike Wallace Is HereLewis Milestone
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ocean's ElevenGarry Marshall
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Valentine's DayRob Reiner
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Rumor Has It...Nora Ephron
Director
1 film together · 5.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BewitchedJeffrey Schwarz
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Commitment to LifeSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
The Apartment
as Fran Kubelik
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
The Apartment
as Fran Kubelik
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Rat Pack
as Self (archive footage)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Ocean's Eleven
as Tipsy Girl (uncredited)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Rat Pack
as Self (archive footage)
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Shirley MacLaine has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
68 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Comedy Legend
Awarded
17 catalogue titles in comedy, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Rat Pack
as Self (archive footage)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Rat Pack
as Self (archive footage)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
The Little Mermaid
as Eloise
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
The Trouble with Harry
as Jennifer Rogers
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Rat Pack
as Self (archive footage)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Two Mules for Sister Sara
as Sara
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Sweet Charity
as Charity
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
American Dreamer
as Astrid Fanelli
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
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Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: family and comedy
Jamie Harris
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: crime and drama
Have your say
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Reference
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