Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role 1960
Shelley Winters The Diary of Anne Frank 1960
SEX WORKER ROLE
Madame Irma in The Balcony 1963
Polly Adler in House Is Not A Home 1964
Both Characters Are Madams
Shelley Winters in The Balcony 1963 and House Is Not A Home 1964
It’s fitting that Simone Signoret and Shelley collectively won their first Academy Award in the same year. They are among the female Oscar winners who have played the most prostitutes. Sophia Loren has played the most hooker roles, with seven. Simone Signoret is in second place with six. Shelley ties with Anne Baxter for third place. Both of those ladies have played a prostitute five times.
One of her prostitute roles includes “The Balcony,” where Shelley plays Madame Irma. Her character runs a bordello that allows men to act out their S&M fantasies.
Watch clip of the film “The Balcony” with fellow Oscar Winner Lee Grant
The following year Shelley played yet another brothel madam. “In House Is Not A Home,” Shelley plays the real-life Polly Adler, who ran the most successful brothel in New York City’s history.
Watch trailer of the film “House Is Not A Home”
Shelley Winters also won a second Oscar for playing a hooker in the film “A Patch of Blue.”
Go to Shelley Winters A Patch of Blue 1966 to read about her Oscar winning prostitute role.
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