Shelley Winters, 1920 - 2006

Shelley Winters, the famous actress often remembered for her dramatic underwater swim through the bowels of the S.S. Poseidon in 1972's The Poseidon Adventure, died today at the age of 85. She received an Oscar nomination for her performance in that film.

Winters won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and A Patch of Blue (1965). In addition to her Oscar nomination for The Poseidon Adventure, she also received a nomination for her role in the 1951 film A Place in the Sun.

But for those of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s, Winter's turn as former competitive swimmer Belle Rosen in The Poseidon Adventure was her signature role. Who can forget the scene in which she propels her overweight frame through a section of the flooded ship to reach safety on the other side. Sadly, in spite of her heroic swim, her character didn't survive to see eventual daylight when the remainder of the survivors reached the propeller room at the bottom/top of the capsized ocean liner. Veteran character actor Jack Albertson played her husband in the film.

Another grand lady from the golden days of Hollywood has passed on. But her image and talents will live forever on film. RIP.