The Five Best Shirley MacLaine Performances

1. The Apartment (1960) - While Shirley MacLaine often played strong, independent women later in her career, her finest performance was as the vulnerable, lonely, and borderline-desperate Fran Kubelik in Billy Wilder’s classic comedy-drama. Fran is smart enough to guess that the slimy business executive, played by Fred MacMurray, has no intention of leaving his wife. Yet, the scene where she admits this to herself is poignant and tragic. It helps, too, that MacLaine and Jack Lemmon make a near-perfect onscreen couple, with her cynicism evenly balanced by his earnestness.

2. Terms of Endearment (1983) - After four previous Best Actress nominations, Shirley MacLaine won the Oscar for playing an independent-minded mother opposite an equally feisty daughter (Debra Winger) in James L. Brooks' popular hit. MacLaine has called Terms a "singularly difficult experience" in which "maybe the shooting circumstances contributed to its artistic success." She is referring, of course, to her on-set friction with Debra Winger. The on-screen result is an incredibly natural mother-daughter relationship that allows MacLaine to show the full range of her acting talent as a dramatic actress and (especially in her scenes with Jack Nicholson) as a comedienne.

Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine.

3. The Children's Hour (1961) - William Wyler's underrated drama stars Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine as two teachers who are accused of being in a lesbian relationship by a student. While it is untrue, MacLaine's character harbors unspoken love for her colleague and friend. The scene is which she openly admits her feelings for the first time is the most emotionally-wrenching scene in MacLaine's career.

4. Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970) - I suspect many readers consider this is an odd choice. The reality, though, is that Shirley MacLaine may have been Clint Eastwood's best female co-star. She is certainly tough enough to go toe to toe with him and their interplay is the highlight of the film. Director Don Siegel once said that Shirley was "a hard, hard woman." Although she now speaks highly of Eastwood, MacLaine and Siegel routinely clashed on the set. Perhaps, this is another case of off-screen friction leading to on-screen success.

In one of her "roles" in Gambit.

5. Gambit (1966) - This may seem like another offbeat selection, but hear me out. It makes the list because it features what amounts to two delightful Shirley MacLaine performances. In the first half of the film, con man Michael Caine imagines a heist that features Shirley as an accomplice who doesn't have a word of dialogue. MacLaine's acting consists solely of facial expressions and gestures--and she's marvelous. In the film's second half, she plays a talkative accomplice who's much smarter than Caine's character. Her performances are masterful examples of light comedy and serve as a reminder she could have been a much bigger star if that was her goal.

Honorable Mentions: The Turning Point, Irma La Douce, Some Came Running, and Steel Magnolias.

The Five Best Fred MacMurray Performances

A versatile performer in film and television for five decades, Fred MacMurray deserved more opportunities to display his acting talents. Still, when he got the chance to bite into a good role, he did so convincingly--whether it was in a Billy Wilder film noir or a Walt Disney family comedy. Below are our picks for his six best performances--yes, there's a tie for the fifth spot. Do you agree? Disagree? As always, all feedback is welcomed.

1. Double Indemnity - Fred gave a career-defining performance as the cynical protagonist of Billy Wilder's classic film noir. His insurance salesman is no fool; he realizes that Barbara Stanwyck's femme fatale is up to no good from their first meeting. However, he also knows that he can't resist her and thus is pulled into a web of deceit and murder. Amazingly, MacMurray keeps the audience from despising his character. His genuine friendship with nice guy Edward G. Robinson helps, as does the feeling that he knows he's doing wrong, but is powerless to do anything about it.

2. The Apartment - There is nothing redeeming about Jeff Sheldrake, a corporate executive that uses his position for personal gain, cheats on his wife, and lies to his mistress. MacMurray, reteaming with Billy Wilder, plays Sheldrake with a hard edge. The only time he displays what appears to be genuine emotion is when he tells his mistress that he's leaving his wife--and, of course, that turns out to be a ploy, too. Sheldrake is a jerk and Fred plays him beautifully.

3. Murder, He Says - I'm surprised this cult comedy hasn't gained a more mainstream reputation over the years. Fred plays a pollster trying to find a missing co-worker who was sent to interview the backwoods Fleagle clan (headed by matriarch Marjorie Main). MacMurray grounds the film as the bewildered hero plopped into a plot about hidden gold, murder, assumed identities, and a seemingly nonsensical song. He and Marjorie Main play off each other extremely well. They later appeared together in the more popular The Egg and I, which led to the Ma and Pa Kettle film series.

4. Remember the Night - Prior to Double Indemnity, Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck starred in this charming romance about a prosecutor and a shoplifter who fall in love over the Christmas holidays as she awaits trial. It's an unlikely premise, of course, but the two stars pull it off nicely and Preston Sturges' script carefully navigates through the film's more sentimental scenes. Though some people find the ending disappointing, I love it--primarily because it's true to MacMurray's character.

5. Quantez - The best of MacMurray's 1950s Westerns is a nifty character drama about an outlaw gang hiding out in a ghost town en route to Mexico. MacMurray's bandit, while the toughest and most rugged of the lot, is also the one least prone to condone violence. It's no surprise that he's harboring a secret past, but the way in which it's revealed is the highlight of this intriguing little picture.

5. The Absent-Minded Professor - Fred is perfectly cast as an (what else?) absent-minded college professor who gets so caught up with his experiments that he forgets his own wedding. Fortunately, his latest invention, Flubber, eventually saves the day. During the latter part of his career, Fred specialized in family films, often playing occasionally befuddled fathers in comedies like The Shaggy Dog and The Happiest Millionaire and on TV in My Three Sons. It's fascinating to watch him playing those parts with such ease after a recent viewing of Double Indemnity or The Apartment.

Honorable Mentions: The Caine Mutiny; Take a Letter, Darling; and Alice Adams.