Shelley Winters, one of only two women to win two Oscars for Best Supporting Actress, died on the morning of Jan. 14, 2006, in Beverly Hills, California. She was 85.
For the animation community, Winters played Lena Gogan in Disneys 1977 live-action animated hybrid PETE'S DRAGON. She lent her voice to Crystal the Snowgirl (Mrs. Frosty) in the 1976 Rankin-Bass Prods. special FROSTY'S WINTER WONDERLAND and reprised the role in the 1979 feature, RUDOLPH AND FROSTY'S CHRISTMAS IN JULY.
Born Shirley Schrift on Aug. 18, 1920, in East St. Louis, Illinois, she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her role as a pregnant factory girl in 1951's A PLACE IN THE SUN. Her performance as Jewish refugee Petronellla Van Daan, mother of Peter Van Daan, in THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (1959) won her an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, which she later donated to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Her second Best Supporting Actress Oscar was given for her villainous role as the foul-mouthed mother of a blind woman in A PATCH OF BLUE (1965).
Shelley Winters is survived by daughter Vittoria and two grandchildren, as well as by longtime companion Jerry DeFord.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
