Question 1

True or false: Shirley MacLaine was a professional dancer on Broadway before her film career.

Accepted Answer

True. She began as a chorus dancer in Broadway shows like 'Oklahoma!' before being discovered for film in 1955.

Question 2

True or false: Shirley MacLaine believes she has lived past lives, including as a male Roman gladiator.

Accepted Answer

True. MacLaine is a well-known advocate of reincarnation, claiming past lives as a gladiator, a courtesan, and even a 10th-century Mongolian leader.

Question 3

True or false: She turned down the lead role in 'The Sound of Music' because she disliked musicals.

Accepted Answer

False. MacLaine never turned down the role; Julie Andrews was always the top choice. MacLaine has performed in musical films like 'The Apartment'.

Question 4

True or false: Shirley MacLaine is a trained astrologer who wrote a bestselling book on horoscopes.

Accepted Answer

False. She is deeply into spirituality and wrote about astrology in her books, but she is not a trained astrologer; her focus is reincarnation and metaphysics.

Question 5

True or false: At age 90, she still practices daily ballet barre exercises to maintain flexibility.

Accepted Answer

True. MacLaine credits her lifelong dance training with keeping her agile; she continues to do barre work and stretching into her 90s.

Question 6

True or false: She is the only actress to win an Oscar for a role directed by her brother.

Accepted Answer

False. Her brother is Warren Beatty, but she never won an Oscar for a film he directed; she won Best Actress for 'Terms of Endearment' (1983).

Question 7

True or false: She was a close friend of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and debated him about capitalism.

Accepted Answer

False. MacLaine visited the USSR in the 1960s and met Khrushchev, but they had a friendly chat, not a debate; she gave him a signed photo.

Question 8

True or false: MacLaine wrote a memoir claiming she once danced with a ghost at a party in the 1960s.

Accepted Answer

True. In her book 'Out on a Limb', she described a paranormal experience dancing with a ghostly figure at a Hollywood party.

Shirley MacLaine Trivia Questions