Shirley MacLaine opens up about being turned down by Morgan Freeman in tell-all tome

Hollywood actress Shirley MacLaine admitted to hitting on Morgan Freeman. File image.

Hollywood actress Shirley MacLaine admitted to hitting on Morgan Freeman. File image.

Published Oct 22, 2024

Share

Shirley MacLaine was in an open relationship with her ex-husband but admits the one famous star she failed to attract was Morgan Freeman.

She has claimed that the Hollywood star "shook his head" when she "propositioned him".

In her new tell-all tome, “The Wall of Life: Pictures and Stories from This Marvelous Lifetime”, the 90-year-old Hollywood star - who was in an open relationship with ex-husband Steve Parker from 1954 to 1982 - confesses to trying to hit on the 82-year-old actor.

She wrote: "I propositioned him and he turned me down."

Expanding on the confession in an interview with "People“, she shared: "Oh, I really liked him right away. I thought his acting was brilliant. I barely said anything, and he just shook his head. Isn't that interesting?"

The Academy Award-winning star insisted her “Terms of Endearment”, co-star Jack Nicholson, 87, was not her "type".

She said: "He just made me laugh all the time. He was one of my favourite people.

"I don't think he would've been my type to have an affair with anyway. I would laugh too much."

As for the late Peter Sellers, who she starred alongside in 1979's “Being There”, she admitted she never got to know the real man because he was always in character on set.

She said of the British star - who died a year later in 1980 at the age of 54 - that: "Peter Sellers was [always] in his character, so you never really got to meet him."

MacLaine also shared her encounter with the late King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, and recalled giving the '’Love Me Tender'’ hitmaker some advice about how to act on set.

She recounted: "His dressing room was two doors down and he didn't know how to behave as he needed to on the set.

"I just told him to be nice to people and kind, because he was a huge star then. But we didn't hang out, I didn't know him that well."

MacLaine - who has 68-year-old daughter Sachi Parker with her former spouse - had affairs with Lord Mountbatten and Australian politician Andrew Peacock.