- Is one of 15 actresses to have won the Triple Crown of Acting (an Oscar, Emmy and Tony); the others in chronological order are Helen Hayes, Ingrid Bergman, Liza Minnelli, Maureen Stapleton, Jessica Tandy, Anne Bancroft, Vanessa Redgrave, Maggie Smith, Ellen Burstyn, Helen Mirren, Frances McDormand, Jessica Lange, Viola Davis and Glenda Jackson.
- Is interred in Mount Hebron Cemetery, Montclair, New Jersey.
- Campaigned for the lead roles in Summertime (1955) and Desk Set (1957), both of which she originated on stage, but lost both parts to Katharine Hepburn.
- Her father, Albert J. Ford, was a "martinet," a salesman for I.B.M. Corporation, and was a stern taskmaster. She was closer to her mother, Virginia Wright Ford. Her parents separated when Shirley was in her teens, and her mother died in 1933. Her father remarried and lived his life out in Brooklyn. When Shirley decided to act for a living, her father forbade her to use the family name, thereby losing the "Ford" and the "Thelma" in her name and becoming "Shirley Booth." After her parents' divorce, Shirley never saw or spoke to her father again out of the cruelties he inflicted on both her and her mother.
- Is mentioned by Jason Alexander's character "George Constanza" on the Seinfeld (1989) episode "The Subway" (1992).
- Died at her home in North Chatham, Massachusetts.
- One of only nine actors to have won both the Tony and the Oscar for the same role on stage and film. The others are Yul Brynner (The King and I (1956)), Joel Grey (Cabaret (1972)), Rex Harrison (My Fair Lady (1964)), Anne Bancroft (The Miracle Worker (1962)), Paul Scofield (A Man for All Seasons (1966)), José Ferrer (Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)), Jack Albertson (The Subject Was Roses (1968)) and Viola Davis (Fences (2016)).
- Divorced from Ed Gardner in the 1940s, the marriage was a rocky one as Gardner was a drinker and inveterate womanizer. She remarried in 1943 to William H. Baker, a kindly investment banker. The union was a happy but relatively short one. She was in rehearsals for "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" when he died suddenly of a heart ailment. She had no children from either marriage.
- Shirley Booth was the first actress to win the Oscar, the New York Film Critics Circle Award, and the National Board of Review Award as Best Actress all for the same performance as Lola Delaney in "Come Back, Little Sheba".
- First actress to win an award at the Cannes Film Festival and an Oscar for the same role (Come Back, Little Sheba (1952))
- Made her Broadway debut in the play "Hell's Bells" opposite Humphrey Bogart (26 January 1925).
- Won three Tony Awards: in 1949, as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Dramatic) for "Goodbye, My Fancy;" in 1950, as Best Actress (Dramatic) for "Come Back, Little Sheba," a role she recreated in an Oscar-winning performance in the film version of the same name, Come Back, Little Sheba (1952); and in 1953, as Best Actress (Dramatic) for "Time of the Cuckoo."
- Although she was well into her 50s by the time she entered films, Booth knocked 9 years off the year of her birth, thereby claiming to be almost an entire decade younger than her actual age. Most contemporary journals published prior to her retirement determinedly accepted her birth year as 1907 and it was not until many years later than the correct year, 1898, was finally made public.
- Became the fourth performer to receive the Triple Crown of Acting, winning an Academy Award in 1953, three Tony Awards (1949, 1950 and 1953) and two Emmy Awards (1962, 1963).
- At age 12 she joined the Hartford Stock Company. For the next six years she did up to three plays a week, sometimes walk-ons, touring road and stock companies.
- On winning her Oscar for Come Back, Little Sheba (1952) in 1953, she became the third (and final) woman born in the 1800's to be named Best Actress by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. The previous two were Mary Pickford (in 1930) and Marie Dressler (in 1931).
- Known for a while as Thelma Booth Ford.
- In 1960 Shirley Booth was announced for the role of Melissa Frake in the forthcoming 20th Century-Fox Picture "State Fair", eventually released in March 1962, with Alice Faye having replaced Shirley Booth.
- Lived next to Julie Harris.
- Portrayed Miss Duffy on "Duffy's Tavern" (CBS Radio: 1941-1942; NBC-Blue Radio: 1942-1943).
- Shirley was originally penciled in to be Carol's mother on The Brady Bunch but the role was re-cast by Sherwood Schwartz.
- Shirley Booth is one of 4 actresses to receive Academy Award nominations for playing the same character in motion picture versions of their plays. The other 3 actresses are: Ruth Hussey in The Philadelphia Story (1940), Rosalind Russell in My Sister Eileen (1942) and Katharine Hepburn in Summertime (1955). Booth is the only actress to win the Academy Award.
- Is one of 4 actresses to win the Best Actress Oscar for her film debut (for Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)). The others are Julie Andrews (for Mary Poppins (1964)), Barbra Streisand (for Funny Girl (1968)), and Marlee Matlin (for Children of a Lesser God (1986)).
- Later auditioned for but did not win the title role of radio's "Our Miss Brooks", the role that made Eve Arden a star in 1948.
- Was the 38th actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Actress Oscar for Come Back, Little Sheba (1952) at The 25th Annual Academy Awards (1953) on March 19, 1953.
- Is one of 3 actresses to have won the Best Actress Oscar (hers being for Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)) and the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy (hers being for Hazel (1961)). The other actresses are Loretta Young and Helen Hunt.
- Born to Albert James Ford and his wife Virginia Martha Wright, she had one sister, Jean Valentine Ford (1914-2010).
- Shirley is one of 6 performers to win the Tony Award in back-to-back years. She won in 1949 for "Goodbye, Mr. Fancy"(Featured Actress in a Play) and in 1950 for "Come Back, Little Sheba"(Lead Actress in a Play". The other performers to share this distinction are Gwen Verdon (1958/59), Sandy Dennis (1963/64), Stephen Spinella (1993/94), Judith Light (2012/13), and Laurie Metcalf (2017/18).
- In 1953, Shirley won the Oscar for "Come Back, Little Sheba" and the Tony for "The Time of the Cuckoo", making her one of five actresses to win the Tony and the Oscar in the same year. Audrey Hepburn, Ellen Burstyn, Mercedes Ruehl, and Judi Dench are the others.
- Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 3, 1991-1993, pages 67-70. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001.
- Shirley was one of 10 performers to win the Tony Award and the Academy Award for the same role. For "Come Back, Little Sheba", Shirley won the Tony for Lead Actress (Play) in 1950 and the Oscar for Best Actress in 1953.
- Arthur Laurents wrote of Shirley in his autobiography: The most brilliant comedienne I have ever worked with, she was both incredibly skilled and infallibly intuitive but her essence as an actress came from the loneliness of her life: that was what made her comedy more than just funny, it made it touching.
- Is one of 22 Oscar-winning actresses to have been born in the state of New York. The others are Alice Brady, Teresa Wright, Anne Revere, Celeste Holm, Claire Trevor, Judy Holliday, Susan Hayward, Patty Duke, Anne Bancroft, Barbra Streisand, Jane Fonda, Lee Grant, Beatrice Straight, Whoopi Goldberg, Mercedes Ruehl, Marisa Tomei, Mira Sorvino, Susan Sarandon, Jennifer Connelly, Melissa Leo and Anne Hathaway.
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