Shirley MacLaine Explains Why She and Jack Nicholson Never Hooked Up: 'I Would Laugh Too Much' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Jack Nicholson and Shirley MacLaine at the 1984 Academy Awards.Photo:Fotos International/Getty

Fotos International/Getty

Shirley MacLainehas always been one of our more candid and forthcoming movie stars. She wrote about her past lives years before woo-woo became fashionable, and both her screen roles and her public persona have always been appealingly what-you-see-is-what-you-get.

It’s been 41 years since her autobiographicalOut on a Limbbecame a new-age bestseller,and MacLaine, 90, is once again an open book withThe Wall of Life: Pictures and Stories from This Marvelous Lifetime, which comes out Oct. 22.

‘The Wall of Life’.Penguin Random House/ Crown Publishing

Penguin Random House/ Crown Publishing

While it’s not exactly a tell-all, she doesn’t hold back when discussing her life, career and romances. She writes about her “first love,” George Huvos, whose marriage proposal she turned down in order to pursue her dream of stardom as a dancer (yes, dancing — not acting — remains her first love).

She also gets into her subsequent open marriage to Steve Parker, to whom she remained wed for 28 years. They shared a daughter,Sachi, now 68.

Jack Nicholson and Shirley MacLaine in 1983’s ‘Terms of Endearment’.Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty

Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty

And she makes a rather bold admission, though one suspects, in jest: Her only leading men that she didn’t have an affair with wereJack Lemmon, her costar in 1960’sThe Apartmentand 1963’sIrma la Douce, andJack Nicholson, who played her love interest inTerms of Endearment, the 1983 film for which she finally won an Oscar after five nominations.

Of the former, she tells PEOPLE, “Lemmon was like a sister to me. He was a darling guy.”

Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon in 1960’s ‘The Apartment’.Screen Archives/Getty

Screen Archives/Getty

Nicholson wasn’t exactly “sister” material, but MacLaine says, “He just made me laugh all the time. He was one of my favorite people.” Still, she insists, nothing ever happened between them. “I don’t think he would’ve been my type to have an affair with anyway. I would laugh too much.”

So does she have a favorite among her leading gentlemen?

She doesn’t actually do that, but she does reveal that Fred MacMurray, who played her older, married lover inThe Apartment, “was one of the cheapest guys in Hollywood,” adding, “Every time we went to lunch or dinner, I had to pay.”

She actually did have an affair with Robert Mitchum, her costar in 1962’sTwo for the Seesawand 1964’sWhat a Way to Go!. “He was just extremely intelligent — hidden, but he was very, very intelligent,” she says. “He didn’t have much of a sense of humor.”

Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine in ‘Two for the Seesaw’.LMPC via Getty

LMPC via Getty

And then there’sNicolas Cage, her younger leading man in 1994’sGuarding Tess. “Oh, I love Nicolas. I love Nicolas,” she says. “He listened to my advice about being a star. Yeah, I really liked him a lot, but he was not attracted to me.”

Shirley MacLaine and Nicolas Cage in 1994’s ‘Guarding Tess’.TriStar/Getty

TriStar/Getty

source: people.com