Marlon Brando reached out to Marian Seldes when he first began to write his autobiography. Marlon had admired Marian’s The Bright Lights, and he wanted—he hoped—to combine her elegance and discretion with his honesty about himself and others. Marlon never sent any pages to Marian, but he would call her and talk about sections of the book; about moments in his life. “He wants to do it right,” she told me, “and I want to help him.”
One conversation, however, disturbed Marian, and she felt compelled to talk about it. Marlon had been critical of Shelley Winters.
This conversation took place in early 1991, and this is what Marian said.
It hurts me when people are critical of Shelley. People can be cruel. So many jokes. I think I understand how Shelley aggravates people: She’s loud and unafraid to promote herself, but she is a dear and loyal friend. Her devotion to me and to Garson [Kanin, whom Marian had married in 1990] is consistent and lovely. There have been tributes to Garson, and Shelley is the first to reach out and volunteer to speak. Shelley has always been eager to help me in times when I needed the advice of an agent or a producer. Shelley shares fully.
Shelley laughs at herself. She told me—and everyone—that Robert Wise had said to her, in front of a very impressive cast [during the making of “Executive Suite”] that she was the type of person who would learn to tell time and then run out and explain it to everyone, never thinking that anyone else might have mastered this skill. I think he was wrong about Shelley. She wasn’t showing off: She was eager to share the wonderful thing she had discovered, and it was not telling time. It was studying with Charles Laughton. It was learning a new language. It was an incredible foreign film she had seen before anyone else. Shelley wanted to share her hunger. Talk to Paul Mazursky about her, I told Marlon. I sat next to him at a party, and all we talked about was Shelley. Paul said that Shelley was a generator of passion.
Shelley also laughs at herself because she came to love Garson and Ruth [Gordon] during the making of “A Double Life,” and she rarely left their sides. Shelley studied their script, asked questions, and her scenes were improved from these conversations and the generosity of the director, George Cukor. Shelley wanted to play Billie Dawn in Garson’s “Born Yesterday.” She was too shy to ask in person, so she decided to wait and call Garson on the phone. I forget who was where: I don’t know if Garson was back in New York and Shelley was in Los Angeles, but when Garson answered the phone, Shelley said ‘Hello! This is is Shelley Winters. It’s warm and lovely here,’ and Garson said, ‘That’s nice. Its a bit cloudy but cool here,’ and hung up. Shelley was stunned and called back. Garson said, ‘Shelley, if you want or need something, just ask. We’re friends.’ And that’s how Shelley got to play Billie Dawn in “Born Yesterday.”
You’ve met Shelley. Wasn’t she easy to reach? Wasn’t she honest? Yes, she can be loud, but I find her utterly genuine, and I know that she is devoted to being a good friend and a good actress. Shelley has a persona she adopts to go on television, to sell herself, but a lot of actors do. She’s my friend. I don’t like to hear her ridiculed. Please don’t do it.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F20fba9b5-00ab-4b1c-83dd-3657292463b0_622x760.jpeg)
And so I won’t.