Active Years: 1934-today

Position: American dancer and actress for the big screen, television and theater. Best-selling author.

Career Highlights: MacLaine’s dancing in the 1954 The Pajama Game is remembered by many. In recent times, she is probably best known for her film roles, including Postcards from the Edge and Steel Magnolias.She won an Oscar for her starring performance in the 1983 movie Terms of Endearment. With several best-selling books, she has also become a major figure in the New Age movement.

Career Totals: The year 1950 brought MacLaine to New York in a revival of the musical Oklahoma. A few years later Alfred Hitchcock cast the young MacLaine in The Trouble With Harry. Since then she has acted in over 40 films, danced in many shows and appeared frequently on television. Her writing career began in the 1980s.

Scouting Report: A film director discovered MacLaine as a fill-in for the lead of The Pajama Game and served to launch her career.

Teammates and Contemporaries: MacLaine has worked on films with Hermes Pan and Paul Godkin and done numerous films with Hitchcock. On Broadway she has had contact with Bob Fosse among others, and in the world of television, MacLaine has worked frequently with Alan Johnson. As a young woman she was part of the “Rat Pack,” a group of entertainers who included Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, and Frank Sinatra. MacLaine’s brother is Warren Beatty.

Fun Statistic: When 19-year-old MacLaine auditioned for the first time in front of Hitchcock, he is said to have commented: “My dear, you have the guts of a bank robber.” (MacLaine reports that she had no idea what he was talking about.)