Monday, Dec. 25, 2006
Shelley Winters
For me, The Poseidon Adventure was the greatest and most moving performance by any woman actor ever. I wanted her to play my grandmother, who in real life was also a force of nature. Aside from picking Shelley's brain constantly to make her tell me what she used as inspiration/motivation for her various roles and just being able to watch her act, I loved hearing about the men she had liaisons with — that was a hoot! She was a raging feminist too, and a freethinker. And she was also a fearless presence in the fight for civil rights on behalf of black people in Hollywood — and therefore culture at large.
Barr is a comedian whose grandmother on her eponymous 1990s sitcom was played by Oscar winner Winters