Shirley Stoler was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actress best known for her roles in The Honeymoon Killers

The Honeymoon Killers

The Honeymoon Killers is a 1970 American film written and directed by Leonard Kastle, and starring Shirley Stoler and Tony Lo Bianco. It tells the story of Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez, the notorious "lonely hearts killers" who murdered at least 12 women in the 1940s...

and Lina Wertmuller

Lina Wertmüller

Lina Wertmüller is an Italian film writer and director of aristocratic Swiss descent. In 1976, she became the first woman ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing with the film Seven Beauties.-Biography:...

's Seven Beauties

Seven Beauties

Pasqualino Settebellezze is a 1975 Italian language film written and directed by Lina Wertmüller and starring Giancarlo Giannini in the main role. Fernando Rey and Shirley Stoler are also featured...

.

Career

Throughout her career, Stoler was large and often played villainesses (such as in The Honeymoon Killers and on TV in an episode of Charlie's Angels

Charlie's Angels

Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...

) whose scariness often derived from Stoler's physical strength and size. A character actress as well as an occasional lead, Stoler appeared in small roles in classic films including Klute

Klute

Klute is a 1971 film which tells the story of a prostitute who assists a detective in solving a missing persons case. It stars Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi and Roy Scheider. The movie was written by Andy Lewis and Dave Lewis and directed by Alan J. Pakula.Klute was the first...

, The Deer Hunter

The Deer Hunter

The Deer Hunter is a 1978 drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian American steel worker friends and their infantry service in the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, Meryl Streep, John Savage, John Cazale, and George Dzundza...

, and Desperately Seeking Susan

Desperately Seeking Susan

Desperately Seeking Susan is a 1985 American comedy-drama film directed by Susan Seidelman and starring Rosanna Arquette and Madonna.-Plot:...

.

The highlight of her film career arguably was her turn as the repulsive Nazi female prison commandant in Lina Wertmüller

Lina Wertmüller

Lina Wertmüller is an Italian film writer and director of aristocratic Swiss descent. In 1976, she became the first woman ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing with the film Seven Beauties.-Biography:...

's Pasqualino Settebellezze

Seven Beauties

Pasqualino Settebellezze is a 1975 Italian language film written and directed by Lina Wertmüller and starring Giancarlo Giannini in the main role. Fernando Rey and Shirley Stoler are also featured...

(1975) (Seven Beauties), in which she plays a cat and mouse game

Cat and mouse

Cat and mouse, often expressed as cat-and-mouse game, is an English-language idiom dating back to 1675 that means "a contrived action involving constant pursuit, near captures, and repeated escapes." The "cat" is unable to secure a definitive victory over the "mouse", who despite not being able to...

 of seduction with the concentration camp inmate played by Giancarlo Giannini

Giancarlo Giannini

Giancarlo Giannini is an Italian actor and dubber.Giannini was born La Spezia, Liguria, Italy. He studied at the Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica in Rome, and made his film debut in a small part in Fango sulla metropoli in 1965...

. Though a profile of Stoler was featured on the front page of the New York Times Arts section, her performance was ignored during the awards season, likely as her dialogue had to be dubbed into Italian. The film, the success of which depended a great deal on her, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...

 of 1976, and garnered Wertmüller nominations as Best Director (a first for a woman) and Best Original Screenplay

Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)

The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. Before 1940, there was an Academy Award for Best Story for writing. For 1940, it and the award in this article were separated into two awards. Beginning with the...

, and Stoler's co-star Giannini a nod as Best Actor.

Stoler also appeared on Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 and in daytime soap opera

Soap opera

A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

s, as well as Saturday morning television, playing the role of Mrs. Steve on Pee-wee's Playhouse

Pee-wee's Playhouse

Pee-wee's Playhouse is an American children's television program starring Paul Reubens as the child-like Pee-wee Herman. The show was developed from Reubens' popular stage show and the one-off TV special The Pee-wee Herman Show, produced for HBO, which was similar in style but featured much more...

.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1970	The Honeymoon Killers	Martha Beck Martha Beck Martha Nibley Beck is an American sociologist, therapist, life coach and best-selling author. Beck is the daughter of deceased LDS scholar and apologist, Hugh Nibley...
1971	Klute	Momma Reese
1975	Pasqualino Settebellezze	Commandant	English title: Seven Beauties
1976	A Real Young Girl A Real Young Girl A Real Young Girl is a 1976 French drama about a 14-year-old girl's sexual awakening, written and directed by Catherine Breillat. The film, Breillat's first, was based on her fourth novel, Le Soupirail....	Grocer in Aupom	French title: Une vraie jeune fille
1978	The Deer Hunter	Steven's Mother
1980	Seed of Innocence	Corky	Alternative title: Teen Mothers
	Below the Belt	Trish
1981	Second-Hand Hearts Second-Hand Hearts Second-Hand Hearts is film produced by Lorimar Productions and released by Paramount Pictures. Although it was filmed in 1979 it was not released until 1981. The film stars Barbara Harris and Robert Blake and was directed by Hal Ashby. It was plagued by a troubled production, and upon release...	Maxy
1984	A Stroke of Genius
	Splitz	Dean Hunta
1985	Desperately Seeking Susan Desperately Seeking Susan Desperately Seeking Susan is a 1985 American comedy-drama film directed by Susan Seidelman and starring Rosanna Arquette and Madonna.-Plot:...	Jail matron
1987	Three O'Clock High Three O'Clock High Three O'Clock High is a 1987 high-school comedy film, directed by Phil Joanou, written by Richard Christian Matheson and Thomas Szollosi, and produced by Aaron Spelling. It was filmed at Ogden High School in Ogden, Utah, but, in part, was inspired by Joanou's own experiences at La Canada High School...	Eva
1988	Shakedown Shakedown (1988 film) Shakedown, also known as Blue Jean Cop, is a 1988 crime drama/action movie starring Peter Weller and Sam Elliott. The movie is about an idealistic lawyer teaming with a veteran cop to find out the truth in a possible police corruption scandal.-Plot:...	Irma
	Sticky Fingers	Reeba
1989	Sons	German housewife
1990	Miami Blues Miami Blues (film) Miami Blues is a 1990 action-crime-thriller-film based on the novel of the same name by Charles Willeford. It stars Alec Baldwin, Fred Ward, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. It was directed by George Armitage.- Plot :...	Edie Wulgemuth
	Frankenhooker Frankenhooker Frankenhooker is an American black comedy horror film that was released in 1990. Very loosely inspired by Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, the film was directed by Frank Henenlotter and stars James Lorinz as medical school drop-out Jeffrey Franken and former Penthouse Pet Patty Mullen as the...	Spike the Bartender
1992	Topsy and Bunker: The Cat Killers Topsy and Bunker: The Cat Killers Topsy and Bunker: The Cat Killers is a 1992 mystery/drama film released by Top Bunk Films, the first feature film directed by underground cine-video artist Thomas Massengale.-Synopsis:...	Grace
	Mac	Customer
	Malcolm X Malcolm X (film) Malcolm X is a 1992 biographical motion picture about the Muslim-American figure Malcolm X . It was co-written, co-produced, and directed by Spike Lee. It stars Denzel Washington as the titular character. It co-stars Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, Al Freeman, Jr., and Delroy Lindo...	Mrs. Swerlin
1993	Me and Veronica	Shouting Woman
1997	The Deli	Irma
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	Charlie's Angels Charlie's Angels Charlie's Angels is a television series about three women who work for a private investigation agency, and is one of the first shows to showcase women in roles traditionally reserved for men...	Big Aggie	Episode: "Caged Angel"
1980	Skag	Dottie Jessup	5 episodes
	The Edge of Night The Edge of Night The Edge of Night is an American television mystery series/soap opera produced by Procter & Gamble. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network until November 28, 1975; the series then moved to ABC, where it aired from December 1, 1975, until December 28, 1984...	Frankie	Unknown episodes
1983	The Brass Ring	Marge	Television movie
	Bring 'Em Back Alive Bring 'Em Back Alive Bring 'Em Back Alive is an adventure television series starring Bruce Boxleitner, Cindy Morgan and Ron O'Neal. The series was shown in the United States from September 1982 to May 1983. Set in Singapore, it was one of several shows like Tales of the Gold Monkey to try and capture the success of...		Episode: "The Shadow Women of Chung Tai"
	The Powers of Matthew Star The Powers of Matthew Star The Powers of Matthew Star is an American sci-fi television series that aired from September 17, 1982 through April 8, 1983, on NBC. It starred Peter Barton The Powers of Matthew Star is an American sci-fi television series that aired from September 17, 1982 through April 8, 1983, on NBC. It...	Tattoo Artist	Episode: "The Quadrian Caper"
1985	Brass	Woman in window	Television movie
1986–1987	Pee-wee's Playhouse	Mrs. Steve	Episodes: "Ice Cream Soup" "Luau For Two"
	One Life to Live One Life to Live One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...	Roberta "Tiny" Coleman	Unknown episodes
1989	Kate & Allie Kate & Allie Kate & Allie is an American television situation comedy which ran from March 19, 1984 to May 22, 1989. Kate & Allie first aired on CBS as a midseason replacement series and only six episodes were initially commissioned, but the favorable response from critics and viewers alike easily convinced CBS...		1 episode
	In the Heat of the Night In the Heat of the Night (TV series) In the Heat of the Night is a television series based on the motion picture and novel of the same name. It was broadcast on NBC from 1988 until 1992, and then on CBS until 1995...	Adah Boone	1 episode
1991	Law & Order Law & Order Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...	Charlie Maylen	Episode: "Misconception"

External links