A Shelley Winters Memory

Farewell to Shelley Winters, who died Saturday at age 85. The Shelley I grew up with was the blowsy, muu muu clad Poseidon Adventure lady who’d arrived at “The Tonight Show” looking like she knocked off a few Jack Daniels before showtime. It wasn’t until much later when I saw her in stuff like A Place in the Sun and The Night of the Hunter that I realized what a multifaceted actress she was. In these days of vapid magazine-cover celebrities, she was and will remain a true talent.

My favorite memory of Shelley was an early ’80s “Tonight Show” appearance. Shelley had finished her spot with Johnny Carson and they’d moved on to the next guest, a pre-Designing Women Annie Potts. Annie and Shelley were happily chatting away when Shelley suddenly asked “Haven’t we met somewhere before?” Well, it turned out that the two had actually made a movie together which Shelley had completely forgot. Her gradual realization, on national TV, that Annie Potts was one of her former co-stars was unforgettably hilarious.