Shirley MacLaine as Aurora Greenway: 7 Quotes About Iconic Role

The 1983 film “Terms of Endearment” is perhaps the most iconic role in film for actress Shirley MacLaine. In it she plays Aurora Greenway, a mother who struggles in her relationship with her daughter (Debra Winger). For her work, MacLaine brought home several honors, including a Golden Globe and Academy Award.

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Here are seven quotes about MacLaine’s performance as Greenway.

1. “Miss MacLaine has one of her best roles in Aurora, and her performance is a lovely mixture of longing, stubbornness and reserve. Miss Winger again shows herself to be an astonishingly vital screen actress, able to imbue even the relatively drab Emma with urgency and passion,” wrote Janet Maslin in The New York Times in 1983.

2. “Although the entire cast is superb the movie belongs to Shirley MacLaine. As Aurora Greenway she gives her finest performance,” wrote Patrick Nash for Three Movie Buffs.

3. “Shirley MacLaine comes roaring back as Aurora Greenway in ‘The Evening Star,’ (the) long-awaited sequel to her much-beloved, Oscar-winning ‘Terms of Endearment,’” said Paul Willistein in The Morning Call in 1996.

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4. ”Her ability to be haughty and earthy at the same time is reminiscent of someone else: Aurora Greenway, the Texas eccentric MacLaine played in ‘Terms of Endearment’ in 1983,” said Ruthe Stein in the Chicago Tribune.

5. “MacLaine works like a slow-cooker. The early scenes are her usual stabs at caricature (almost every choice in a dining room scene is wrong), but she is freed  by Nicholson; their scenes have a great element of play to them,” said TV Guide.

6. “The tearjerker ‘Terms of Endearment’ finally brought Shirley MacLaine that allusive golden statue for her part playing Aurora Greenway, a role ranked among Premier magazine’s one hundred greatest movie characters of all time,” CBS News said, as part of a bio on MacLaine prior to her Kennedy Center honor in 2013.

7. “James L Brooks' directorial debut piles on the acting to hugely successful emotional effect, with magnificent on-screen chemistry between Jack Nicholson and Shirley MacLaine,” said Film 4.

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