- She donated her Oscar for The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) to the Anne Frank museum.
- On the September 26, 1975 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962), she grew tired of Oliver Reed's attitude towards women. They had a heated conversation and, after Winters told Reed what she thought of his opinions, she left the set. The show continued with Reed going on about women while Johnny Carson looked at him in a daze. Shortly afterward, Winters appeared from stage left, unannounced to Reed and to the shock of Carson. She was carrying a beverage glass and surprised Reed by dumping it over his head. Reed went on to finish his statement as if nothing had happened and later claimed the beverage was whiskey.
- Was roommates with Marilyn Monroe when they were both starting out in Hollywood.
- Taught Marilyn Monroe how to "act" pretty by tilting her head back, keeping her eyes lowered and her mouth partly opened.
- Her marriage to Anthony Franciosa broke up when he had an affair with Lauren Bacall. During their affair, Bacall once called up Winters and complained, "I've been waiting for Tony for an hour. Where the hell is he?" Winters said, "You're complaining to me because my husband is late for a date with you?", to which Bacall replied, "If your husband doesn't respect your marriage, why should I?" Coincidentally, Winters and Anthony Franciosa died five days apart in 2005.
- Gave birth to her only child at age 32, a daughter Vittoria Gassman on February 14, 1953. Child's father was her 2nd ex-husband, Vittorio Gassman.
- Winters considered A Place in the Sun (1951) her best work.
- Godmother of actresses Laura Dern and Sally Kirkland. Kirkland, also an ordained minister, conducted the wedding ceremony between Winters and Gerry DeFord ten hours before Winters' death.
- Showed up drunk on her first day of shooting of The Linguini Incident (1991) and was fired by director Richard Shepard.
- Winters' early acting training was actor Charles Laughton's tutelage.
- Turned down the role of prostitute Alma Burke in From Here to Eternity (1953) as she had just given birth to her daughter, Vittoria Gassman. Donna Reed, who would win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance, was cast instead.
- Made her Broadway debut as Ado Annie in "Oklahoma!" - five years into its run.
- For the majority of her life she had only one ovary, having undergone an oophorectomy at 8-years-old.
- She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1752 Vine Street in Hollywood, California on February 8, 1960.
- She considered Ralph Richardson the greatest actor with Laurence Olivier and Marlon Brando both second to him.
- In her most important films such as A Place in the Sun (1951), The Night of the Hunter (1955), Lolita (1962), A Double Life (1947), The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and many others, her character dies, is killed off, or is murdered.
- She had a role in Always (1985) and filmed a few scenes, but at one point she had a tantrum and left the set. Her agent pleaded with her to go back and resume her role, but she refused. She was replaced and the scenes reshot. She does not appear in the finished film, unsurprisingly.
- As of 2023, she is one of only two actresses (along with Dianne Wiest) to have won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress twice: Winters won for The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and A Patch of Blue (1965) and Wiest won for Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and Bullets Over Broadway (1994).
- As of 2023, she is one of ten actresses to win an Academy Award for portraying a prostitute. The others in chronological order are Helen Hayes (The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931)), Donna Reed (From Here to Eternity (1953)), Susan Hayward (I Want to Live! (1958)), Elizabeth Taylor (BUtterfield 8 (1960)), Shirley Jones (Elmer Gantry (1960)), Jane Fonda (Klute (1971)), Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite (1995)), Kim Basinger (L.A. Confidential (1997)) and Charlize Theron (Monster (2003)).
- Winters got her first screen test after Columbia studio boss Harry Cohn saw her on Broadway in Max Reinhardt's "Rosalind" in 1942. He met her on a Saturday night backstage and asked that she audition the following day during a blizzard. Although she was only 16, she told Cohn she was 21, and he personally directed her test. Cohn left immediately afterward for Hollywood, and three weeks later she received two train tickets with an order to report to Columbia Studios for a role in Cover Girl (1944). Cohn personally called Washington to free up Winters' husband, who was finishing basic training in Louisiana. Unfortunately, she arrived too late for Cover Girl (1944).
- She was a huge fan of the television series Babylon 5 (1993).
- Underwent two abortions as a teenager, the first occurring when she was just age 15.
- Suffered a non-fatal heart attack on October 14, 2005. She died three months later of heart failure. Interred at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. She died five days before her former husband, actor Anthony Franciosa.
- She was a lifelong progressive Democrat who was active in the campaigns of Adlai Stevenson, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton; she also attended every one of the Democratic National Conventions until her death.
- Father owned a haberdashery at 171-03 Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica, Queens, New York. A month after the 1929 stock market crash he took out $10,000 insurance on his business and proceeded to torch it for the insurance money. He was arrested, convicted and sent to prison at Sing Sing in 1931.
- Appeared with Telly Savalas in five films: The Young Savages (1961), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell (1968), The Scalphunters (1968) and Alice in Wonderland (1985).
- Was the 50th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) at The 32nd Annual Academy Awards (1960) on April 4, 1960.
- Has the distinction of currently being the highest ranked female performer on The Oracle of Bacon's list of the top 1000 performers based upon their "center of the film universe" average number. Winter's average link number is 2.696842, placing seventeenth on the list. This places her well above Kevin Bacon, who is currently ranked 1161st, despite being the original focus of the quirky game of linking actors through their co-stars.
- Grew up at 90-38 170th Street in Jamaica, Queens, New York.
- Attended and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in New York City.
- She has appeared in four films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Red River (1948), Winchester '73 (1950), A Place in the Sun (1951) and The Night of the Hunter (1955).
- Winters played the Marx Brothers' mother Minnie in the Broadway musical "Minnie's Boys", which ran at the Imperial Theatre for 80 Performances from March 26 to May 30, 1970. It was the penultimate performance of her eight Broadway appearances. She appeared in only one more Broadway show, "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds", which ran at the Biltmore Theatre for 16 performances from March 14 to March 26, 1978.
- Was originally considered for the female lead in Forbidden (1953), which went to Joanne Dru.
- In The Poseidon Adventure (1972), she plays a former award-winning swimmer and in A Place in the Sun (1951), she cannot swim at all.
- Her father was Jonas Schrift, her mother was Rose Schrift, and her sister was Blanche Schrift.
- In November 2020, she was honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month.
- In Italy, most of her films were dubbed by either Lydia Simoneschi, Dhia Cristiani or Rosetta Calavetta. She was once dubbed by Wanda Tettoni in Cry of the City (1948) and once by Miranda Bonansea in Behave Yourself! (1951). Gabriella Genta lent her voice to Winters in the role of Belle Rosen in The Poseidon Adventure (1972).
- Born at 12:05am-CDT
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