I wasn’t all that familiar with Shirley Knight, so I nearly bypassed getting an autographed photo of her when she appeared at the Chicago Hollywood Celebrities Show on Saturday, September 18, 2010. Although I had seen her in a few films over the years – As Good As It Gets, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and Color of Night, for example – I had not seen her in either of the two films for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs nor Sweet Bird of Youth.
Of the two, Sweet Bird was probably more critically acclaimed and more widely known. The star of this film was Paul Newman and during my encounter with her, Shirley told me a story about her last encounter with Newman, which was a dinner with him and his wife Joanne Woodward just a few weeks before his death. As he sat there reminiscing, he remarked “remember how young and attractive we used to be?” Both turned to Joanne to hear her remarks on this, and she jokingly responded, “I know you’re wanting me to say that you both still look great, but I’m not going to…” Naturally, I told her that yes indeed, she still looked great. What else could I say?
It was a pleasure to meet Shirley Knight and I’m sure one day I’ll be checking out those films for which she was nominated.
This concludes the celebrity encounter from the Fall 2010 Chicago collectors show. Return to the show here…
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