Entertainment
The Best Shirley MacLaine Movies
List Rules
Vote for your favorite movies, regardless of critic reviews or how big the role was.
List of the best Shirley MacLaine movies, ranked best to worst with movie trailers when available. Shirley MacLaine's highest grossing movies have received a lot of accolades over the years, earning millions upon millions around the world. The order of these top Shirley MacLaine movies is decided by how many votes they receive, so only highly rated Shirley MacLaine movies will be at the top of the list. Shirley MacLaine has been in a lot of films, so people often debate each other over what the greatest Shirley MacLaine movie of all time is. If you and a friend are arguing about this then use this list of the most entertaining Shirley MacLaine films to end the squabble once and for all.
If you think the best Shirley MacLaine role isn't at the top, then upvote it so it has the chance to become number one. The greatest Shirley MacLaine performances didn't necessarily come from the best movies, but in most cases they go hand in hand.
List films range from Joan of Arc to Terms of Endearment.
"This list answers the questions, "What are the best Shirley MacLaine movies?" and "What are the greatest Shirley MacLaine roles of all time?"Ranked by
1Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray- Released: 1960
- Directed by: Billy Wilder
Insurance worker C.C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) lends his Upper West Side apartment to company bosses to use for extramarital affairs. When his manager Mr. Sheldrake (Fred MacMurray) begins using Baxter's ...more
2Sally Field, Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine- Released: 1989
- Directed by: Herbert Ross
M'Lynn (Sally Field) is the mother of bride-to-be Shelby Eatenton (Julia Roberts), and as friend Truvy Jones (Dolly Parton) fixes the women's hair for the ceremony, they welcome a helping hand from ...more![Terms of Endearment]()
3Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, Jack Nicholson- Released: 1983
- Directed by: James L. Brooks
Widow Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine) and her daughter, Emma (Debra Winger), have a strong bond, but Emma marries teacher Flap Horton (Jeff Daniels) against her mother's wishes. When the marriage ...more![The Children's Hour]()
4Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner- Released: 1961
- Directed by: William Wyler
Longtime friends Martha (Shirley MacLaine) and Karen (Audrey Hepburn) run a boarding school for girls. When an unruly child, Mary (Karen Balkin), is punished for lying, she concocts a story that ...more![Being There]()
5Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Warden- Released: 1979
- Directed by: Hal Ashby
Simple-minded Chance (Peter Sellers), a gardener who has resided in the Washington, D.C., townhouse of his wealthy employer for his entire life and been educated only by television, is forced to ...more![Two Mules for Sister Sara]()
6Clint Eastwood, Shirley MacLaine, Armando Silvestre- Released: 1970
- Directed by: Don Siegel
Two Mules for Sister Sara is an American-Mexican western film starring Shirley MacLaine set during the French intervention in Mexico. The film was released in 1970 and directed by Don Siegel. It was ...more![The Turning Point]()
7Shirley MacLaine, Anne Bancroft, Mikhail Baryshnikov- Released: 1977
- Directed by: Herbert Ross
Forced to give up ballet after becoming pregnant, Deedee (Shirley MacLaine) moved from New York to Oklahoma to raise a family with her husband (Tom Skerritt). When her old friend and fellow ...more![Irma la Douce]()
8Shirley MacLaine, Jack Lemmon, Lou Jacobi- Released: 1963
- Directed by: Billy Wilder
This entertaining comedy finds disgraced former police officer Nestor Patou (Jack Lemmon) falling for beautiful Parisian prostitute Irma La Douce (Shirley MacLaine). Though Nestor becomes Irma's ...more![Some Came Running]()
9Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine- Released: 1958
- Directed by: Vincente Minnelli
Hard-drinking novelist Dave Hirsh (Frank Sinatra) returns home after being gone for years. His brother (Arthur Kennedy) wants Dave to settle down, and introduces him to English teacher Gwen French ...more![Sweet Charity]()
10Shirley MacLaine, John McMartin, Ricardo Montalban- Released: 1969
- Directed by: Bob Fosse
Charity Hope Valentine (Shirley MacLaine) always tries to look on the bright side of life, despite working in a rundown dance hall and contending with a seemingly endless run of bad dates. Determined ...more![The Trouble with Harry]()
11Edmund Gwenn, Shirley MacLaine, John Forsythe- Released: 1955
- Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
When a local man's corpse appears on a nearby hillside, no one is quite sure what happened to him. Many of the town's residents secretly wonder if they are responsible, including the man's ex-wife, ...more![Guarding Tess]()
12Shirley MacLaine, Nicolas Cage, Austin Pendleton- Released: 1994
- Directed by: Hugh Wilson
Doug Chesnic (Nicolas Cage), an agent with the Secret Service Uniformed Division, is assigned to protect former first lady Tess Carlisle (Shirley MacLaine). Chesnic finds the job demeaning and a ...more![Postcards from the Edge]()
13Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Quaid- Released: 1990
- Directed by: Mike Nichols
Hollywood actress Suzanne Vale is on a slippery slope as a recovering addict. On exit from rehab, it is recommended she stay with her mother, who has become a somewhat champion drinker herself. ...more![What a Way to Go!]()
14Shirley MacLaine, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum- Released: 1964
- Directed by: J. Lee Thompson
After attempting to donate $200 million to the Internal Revenue Service, Louisa (Shirley MacLaine) finds herself in the care of a psychiatrist, Dr. Stephanson (Bob Cummings). She relates the ...more![Desperate Characters]()
15Shirley MacLaine, Kenneth Mars, Gerald S. O'Loughlin- Released: 1971
- Directed by: Frank D. Gilroy
Sophie Brentwood (Shirley MacLaine) is depressed, and not without good reason. Her group of friends is disintegrating, her Brooklyn. N.Y., neighborhood is in sharp decline and her marriage to an ...more![Madame Sousatzka]()
16Shirley MacLaine, Navin Chowdhry, Peggy Ashcroft- Released: 1988
- Directed by: John Schlesinger
In London, eccentric piano instructor Madame Sousatzka (Shirley MacLaine) takes on a new prize protégé, Manek (Navin Chowdhry), a teenage Bengali immigrant who displays incredible talent. Manek forms ...more![Used People]()
17Shirley MacLaine, Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy- Released: 1992
- Directed by: Beeban Kidron
Relatives, their problems and a secret admirer overwhelm a Jewish widow (Shirley MacLaine) in 1969 Queens, N.Y.![In Her Shoes]()
18Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, Shirley MacLaine- Released: 2005
- Directed by: Curtis Hanson
Irresponsible party girl Maggie (Cameron Diaz) is kicked out of her father's (Ken Howard) and stepmother's (Candice Azzara) home, where she lives for free, and is taken in by her hard-working sister, ...more![Coco Chanel]()
19Shirley MacLaine, Malcolm McDowell, Barbora Bobuľová- Released: 2008
- Directed by: Christian Duguay
Coco Chanel is a 2008 television film directed by Christian Duguay and written by Ron Hutchinson, Enrico Medioli and Lea Tafuri. It stars Shirley MacLaine as Coco Chanel, the pioneering French ...more![Two for the Seesaw]()
20Robert Mitchum, Shirley MacLaine, Edmond Ryan- Released: 1962
- Directed by: Robert Wise
After leaving his wife, lawyer Jerry Ryan (Robert Mitchum) moves from Omaha, Neb., to New York City to start a new life. While studying for the New York Bar Examination and working to finalize his ...more![Mrs. Winterbourne]()
21Shirley MacLaine, Ricki Lake, Brendan Fraser- Released: 1996
- Directed by: Richard Benjamin
Connie (Ricki Lake), unwed and pregnant, is heading to Boston by train when she meets wealthy newlyweds Hugh (Brendan Fraser) and Patricia (also Lake). The train crashes, and when Connie comes to in ...more![My Geisha]()
22Shirley MacLaine, Edward G. Robinson, Yves Montand- Released: 1962
- Directed by: Jack Cardiff
My Geisha is a 1962 American comedy film directed by Jack Cardiff, starring Yves Montand, Shirley MacLaine, and Edward G. Robinson, and released by Paramount Pictures. The film was produced by ...more![These Old Broads]()
23Elizabeth Taylor, Carrie Fisher, Shirley MacLaine- Released: 2001
- Directed by: Matthew Diamond
These Old Broads is a 2001 television film written by Carrie Fisher and starring her mother Debbie Reynolds, as well as Shirley MacLaine, Joan Collins, and Elizabeth Taylor in her final film role. In ...more![The Possession of Joel Delaney]()
24Shirley MacLaine, Perry King, Míriam Colón- Released: 1972
- Directed by: Waris Hussein
The Possession of Joel Delaney is a 1972 American horror film directed by Waris Hussein and starring Shirley MacLaine and Perry King. It is based on the 1970 novel of the same name by Ramona ...more![The Yellow Rolls-Royce]()
25Ingrid Bergman, Omar Sharif, Shirley MacLaine- Released: 1964
- Directed by: Anthony Asquith
The Yellow Rolls-Royce is a 1964 dramatic composite film written by Terence Rattigan, produced by Anatole de Grunwald and directed by Anthony Asquith, the trio responsible for The V.I.P.s. Apparently ...more
