Shelley Winters 1920 - 2006

Academy Award winning actress Shelley Winters died early Saturday at a nursing home in Southern California. She was 85.

Readers of this blog know what I fan I am of "The Poseidon Adventure" - and of Shelley Winters by extension. After seeing her performance in that film at the age of 7, I was an instant fan and made sure to catch more of her movies whenever I could.

This past May I had the opportunity to see the Academy Award Ms. Winters won for "The Diary of Anne Frank" when touring the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam. (She donated the statuette to the museum.) Her roll in that film, and in others such as "A Place in the Sun," "The Poseidon Adventure" and, most recently "Heavy," are studies in the art of character acting.

My grandmother, who sat in her recliner and smiled in amazement as I watched "The Poseidon Adventure" when it aired on ABC in 1974 (and who loved the Paul Gallico novel), died this past Tuesday morning. I can't help but think she's up there telling Ms. Winters what a fan her grandson was.

And I can't help but think of the symmetry. The two women were alike in so many ways. I'm not religous by any stretch, but knowing that two such wonderful gals are up there makes me feel a little better about being down here.

Shelley and Sally...take good care of each other.