Shirley MacLaine is cementing her legacy as one of Hollywood's greats, and a star from one of its most iconic families, with the help of her upcoming memoir and photo album The Wall of Life: Pictures and Stories from this Marvelous Lifetime.
The memoir is a first for the screen icon, as it marks the first time she'll be sharing a deeper look inside her childhood and years on the screen with several unseen family photos from her personal archives, a departure from her previous memoirs that have also focused heavily on her spiritual beliefs.
The star grew up in Virginia, with baby brother Warren Beatty, and made her film debut at the age of 21 with a Golden Globe-winning turn in The Trouble With Harry in 1955.
MacLaine spoke with People about the idea to do a photo album as a memoir and reflected on the idea of preserving her memories while acknowledging she doesn't know how much life she has left to live, having turned 90 in April.
"One day, I was looking at my wall of pictures and just taking everything into consideration specifically, and I thought I should write about this — and that's what happened," she told the publication.
She further added: "I've had an enchanted life…By looking at my wall that day, I realized the enchantment. I really have, and I really mean it; I felt that way. So it's something that comes out of appreciation."
The Only Murders in the Building star also spoke about always "looking forward" in life rather than fixating on the past. "I've always known I'd have a long life, so I was looking forward. I'm an optimist anyway. I look forward to the next day rather than — well, I must say, now I wonder how much longer."
MacLaine previously told the outlet that she was "feeling good" about turning 90, adding that she was grateful "that I can keep working," saying she had "friends and I am really healthy."
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In her new book, which comes out on October 22, she also recalled some of her favorite and most memorable run-ins with Hollywood's most elite, including a failed romantic link-up with Morgan Freeman.
"I propositioned him and he turned me down," she wrote, telling People: "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?"
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She previously also addressed rumors of an affair with her Terms of Endearment co-star Jack Nicholson, who was famously in a nearly two-decade long on-again off-again romance with actress Anjelica Huston at the time of filming the 1983 drama.
"He just made me laugh all the time. He was one of my favorite people," MacLaine gushed, clarifying that despite their on-screen chemistry, she didn't feel that spark in real life. "I don't think he would've been my type to have an affair with anyway. I would laugh too much."