Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role 1953
Shirley Booth Come Back, Little Sheba 1953
SEX WORKER ROLE
Annie Duval in Coastwise Annie 1931
Character Is A Prostitute
Shirley Booth In Coastwise Annie 1931
In the Broadway play “Coastwise Annie,” Shirley portrays the title character, a weary hooker with a kind heart. Where have we heard that one before? One day on the street, she encounters a homeless man from England. She takes him in and gets him all cleaned up. Once rehabilitated, the Englishman asks Annie to go to England with him. She declines, knowing she will never fit into upper English society alongside him. It seems that Annie never read “Pygmalion” by George Bernard Shaw. The play would flop, only running 37 performances in 1932.
Publicity Still of Coastwise Annie
To read more about other Oscar-winning actresses playing characters working in the sex trade industry, please continue perusing Oscar Hookers