Shirley Knight

Shirley Knight

1936-07-05 Goessel, Kansas, USA 90 Credits

Biography

Shirley Enola Knight (July 5, 1936 – April 22, 2020) was an American stage, screen, and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in 1960 for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and in 1962 for Sweet Bird of Youth.

Known For

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Complete Filmography

Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age

Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age

2021

as Self

Acting

Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age explores the world of Broadway from 1959 through the early 1980s as recounted by a diverse cast of Broadway stars who ...

Periphery

Periphery

2018

as Leanne Cross

Acting

A dying woman wishes to see her family through the good times and the bad times she will miss.

The Missing Girl

The Missing Girl

2015

as Mrs. Colvins

6.0
Acting

THE MISSING GIRL tells the story of Mort, the lonely and disillusioned owner of a comic book shop, and Ellen, the emotionally disruptive graphic novel...

Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2

Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2

2015

as Mom

5.2
Acting

Security guard Paul Blart is headed to Las Vegas to attend a Security Guard Expo with his teenage daughter Maya before she departs for college. While ...

Mercy

Mercy

2014

as Gramma

5.1
Acting

A single mom and her two boys help take care of their grandmother with mystical powers.

Redwood Highway

Redwood Highway

2013

as Marie

5.9
Acting

Marie, a reluctant resident of a retirement community in Southern Oregon, decides to walk 80 miles down the Redwood Highway to see the ocean for the f...

Elevator

Elevator

2013

as Jane Redding

4.9
Acting

Nine people are stuck in an elevator. One of them has a ticking bomb that can't be defused. The other eight will do anything to survive. There is no e...

Our Idiot Brother

Our Idiot Brother

2011

as Ilene Rochlin

6.2
Acting

Everybody has one—the sibling who is always just a little bit behind the curve when it comes to getting his life together. For sisters Liz, Miranda an...

Listen to Your Heart

Listen to Your Heart

2010

as Grandma Sam

7.2
Acting

Danny Foster doesn't have much: an apartment as small as his paychecks, no family, and a struggling music career. Yet for him, "every day is a great d...

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

2009

as Dot Nadeau

5.9
Acting

After her much older husband forces a move to a suburban retirement community, Pippa Lee engages in a period of reflection and finds herself heading t...

Paul Blart: Mall Cop

Paul Blart: Mall Cop

2009

as Mom

5.4
Acting

Mild-mannered Paul Blart has always had huge dreams of becoming a State Trooper. Until then, he patrols the local mall as a security guard. With his c...

Not Fade Away

2008

as Diane

Acting

A dark comedy/drama about a daughter struggling with her mothers rapid descent into Alzheimers.

The Other Side of the Tracks

The Other Side of the Tracks

2008

as Helen

4.0
Acting

A depressed young man struggles to move on and escape haunting memories of his girlfriend, killed ten years ago in a train accident.

Open Window

Open Window

2006

as Ann

5.1
Acting

The engagment between a struggling photographer and an assistant professor is marred by an act of violence.

Love and Debate

Love and Debate

2006

as Lea

3.4
Acting

A girl goes to Harvard and joins the debate team. She has to deal with a ton of issues, from boyfriends, to ethnicity, to religion, to sexual assault...

Sweet Bird of Youth: Chasing Time

2006

as Self

Acting

The making of the film with Drew Casper.

Grandma's Boy

Grandma's Boy

2006

as Bea

6.5
Acting

Even though he's 35, Alex acts more like he's 13, spending his days as the world's oldest video game tester and his evenings developing the next big X...

Sudbury

2004

as Aunt Jet

5.7
Acting

A family of witches -- sisters Sally and Gillian, their aunts Jet and Frances, and Sally's daughters Antonia and Kylie -- struggle with the blessing a...

A House on a Hill

A House on a Hill

2003

as Mercedes Mayfield

Acting

A once-successful architect (Philip Baker Hall) has become a grumpy loner, but a young couple plead with him to come out of retirement to rebuild his ...

Mrs. Ashboro's Cat

Mrs. Ashboro's Cat

2003

as Mrs. Ashboro

5.1
Acting

Wes Merritt and his daughter Natalie (14) get more than they bargained for when they buy an old house that was formerly inhabited by the nice old Mrs....

Fly Cherry

Fly Cherry

2003

as Miss Christina

5.5
Acting

A young girl dreams of flying, to get away from her neglectful mother, and forms a bond with her mysterious next door neighbor.

Shadow Realm

Shadow Realm

2002

as Mrs. Finch

3.5
Acting

Shadow Realm is a compilation of two episodes planned for the short-lived Fox Network television series Night Visions. Each episode contained two stor...

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood

2002

as Necie Kelleher

6.1
Acting

A mother and daughter dispute is resolved by the "Yaya sisterhood" - long time friends of the mother.

P.S. Your Cat is Dead!

P.S. Your Cat is Dead!

2002

as Aunt Claire

4.3
Acting

With his life already in shambles — his girlfriend just dumped him, he's lost his acting gig, and his cat is seriously ill — sad-sack Jimmy Zoole (Ste...

The Salton Sea

The Salton Sea

2002

as Nancy Plummer

6.6
Acting

After the murder of his beloved wife, a man in search of redemption is set adrift in a world where nothing is as it seems. On his journey, he befriend...

Angel Eyes

Angel Eyes

2001

as Elanora Davis

6.1
Acting

A story about a seemingly unlikely couple who cross paths under life-threatening circumstances as though they are destined not only to meet but to sav...

My Louisiana Sky

My Louisiana Sky

2001

as Jewel Ramsey

6.5
Acting

A girl comes to terms with her mentally challenged parents.

75 Degrees in July

75 Degrees in July

2000

as Jo Beth Anderson

6.0
Acting

Sibling rivalry and other conflicts are revealed as one daughter, now a successful modern artist living in New York, returns to visit her Texas family...

A Marriage of Convenience

A Marriage of Convenience

1998

as Harriet Winslow

5.5
Acting

Succesful businesswoman Chris Winslow gives up her career to raise her deceased sister's son, Kevin. Eight years later, she must contend with the boy'...

A Father for Brittany

A Father for Brittany

1998

as Donna Minkowitz

7.5
Acting

Keith and Kim Lussier are a childless couple who are given custody of a 3-month-old foster child, Brittany. However, tragedy strikes when Kim dies of ...

The Wedding

The Wedding

1998

as Gram (Miss Caroline)

8.3
Acting

Shelby Coles (Halle Berry) is engaged to marry talented white jazz musician Meade Howell, but the pair face opposition from both Meade's family, who o...

As Good as It Gets

As Good as It Gets

1997

as Beverly Connelly

7.4
Acting

Melvin Udall, a cranky, bigoted, obsessive-compulsive writer of romantic fiction, is rude to everyone he meets, including his gay neighbor, Simon. Aft...

Convictions

Convictions

1997

as Margaret

6.0
Acting

It has been nine years since Bancroft's character shot Brown's son. She goes to the prison to vent her rage at him over what he did, and discovers he'...

Little Boy Blue

Little Boy Blue

1997

as Doris Knight

6.1
Acting

Living in rural Texas is a dysfunctional family: an abusive dad, a Vietnam vet with a war wound that's left him impotent; a compliant wife and a son o...

Somebody Is Waiting

1996

as Irma

2.0
Acting

An alcoholic father must take control of his wayward children when their mother is killed.

Dying to Be Perfect: The Ellen Hart Pena Story

Dying to Be Perfect: The Ellen Hart Pena Story

1996

as Joan Hart

7.5
Acting

Story about a runner whose bulimia and anorexia threatens both her dream of competing in the Olympics and her marriage to Denver's mayor.

Mary & Tim

Mary & Tim

1996

as Esther

5.5
Acting

Another adaptation of the novel "Tim", about the love that develops between a mentally challenged young man and the older, lonely widow who takes him ...

The Uninvited

The Uninvited

1996

as Delia

5.5
Acting

A family, trying to pull themselves together after losing their infant son, moves into a new home, where, almost immediately, the mother begins experi...

If These Walls Could Talk

If These Walls Could Talk

1996

as Mary Donnelly

6.7
Acting

A powerful, intimate portrait of three women living in the same house during different eras who all face unplanned pregnancies. The vignettes follow a...

Diabolique

Diabolique

1996

as Edie Danziger

5.5
Acting

The wife and mistress of a cruel school master collaborate in a carefully planned and executed scheme to murder him. The plan goes well until the body...

A Promise to Carolyn

A Promise to Carolyn

1996

as Jolene Maggart

7.1
Acting

When two sisters can no longer go on living with the painful memory of their baby sister being murdered 37 years ago by their stepmother, together the...

Stolen Memories: Secrets from the Rose Garden

Stolen Memories: Secrets from the Rose Garden

1996

as Sally Ann

Acting

A young boy goes to spend the summer with his aunts in the South. He finds himself drawn to Jessica, who the other aunts describe as "slow," and he ev...

Indictment: The McMartin Trial

Indictment: The McMartin Trial

1995

as Peggy Buckey

7.1
Acting

The McMartin family's lives are turned upside down when they are accused of serious child molestation. The family run a school for infants. An unquali...

Stuart Saves His Family

Stuart Saves His Family

1995

as Mom

5.2
Acting

A self-help advocate struggles to put his dysfunctional family in its place.

Dad, the Angel & Me

Dad, the Angel & Me

1995

as Betty

6.2
Acting

A divorced doctor finds himself in real trouble living with his daughter alone now. But fortunately a guardian angel is watching over the lives of bot...

Death in Venice, CA

Death in Venice, CA

1994

as Mona Dickens

4.8
Acting

A stressed out writer's getaway is complicated by advances from a lascivious 17-year-old relative.

Color of Night

Color of Night

1994

as Edith Niedelmeyer

5.8
Acting

A color-blind psychiatrist is stalked by an unknown killer after taking over his murdered friend's therapy group and becomes embroiled in an intense a...

A Part of the Family

A Part of the Family

1994

as Martha

Acting

A bright young New York physician takes her husband, a jokey/cynical tabloid reporter, home to Illinois to meet her parents.

The Yarn Princess

The Yarn Princess

1994

as Esther

6.4
Acting

Margaret, who has certain mental disabilities, struggles when her husband, Jake, is diagnosed with schizophrenia and the authorities wish to take her ...

Baby Brokers

Baby Brokers

1994

as Sylvia

6.2
Acting

A woman (Cybill Shepherd) financially supports the natural parents in hope of adopting their newborn, but she discovers she is the victim of a scam.

Benders

1994

as Donna

Acting

Franny, an alcoholic, develops a relationship with Jack, a telephone crisis hotline operator. Jack is a recovering addict himself and is fighting his ...

The Secret Life of Houses

1994

as Aunt Fergie

Acting

A nine-year-old girl with a mother in the hospital decides to live alone and fend for herself.

A Mother's Revenge

A Mother's Revenge

1993

as Bess Warden

5.0
Acting

A girl is beaten and raped by someone from the school, but he doesn't go to prison because there is no proof about it. Now, the girl's mother tries to...

When Love Kills: The Seduction of John Hearn

When Love Kills: The Seduction of John Hearn

1993

as Edna Larson

1.0
Acting

A woman places an ad in the "Soldier of Fortune" magazine to hire a contract killer.

To Save a Child

To Save a Child

1991

as Rinda Larson

3.0
Acting

A doctor and his pregnant young wife move into a small New Mexico town. At first the locals are friendly and pleased to see them, but soon the wife be...

Shadow of a Doubt

Shadow of a Doubt

1991

as Helen Potter

5.2
Acting

Charlie is a young woman who is thrilled that her favorite Uncle Charlie is coming home for good. But she soon discovers that her namesake, a "Wall St...

Bump in the Night

Bump in the Night

1991

as Katie Leonard

5.8
Acting

Martha "Red" Tierney used to be a hot-shot reporter, but that was before alcohol took over her life. One morning Martha's son, Jonathan, leaves for sc...

The Sweet Scent of Death

The Sweet Scent of Death

1984

as Ann Fairfax Denver

6.0
Acting

An overworked American ambassador working in the UK attempts to spend more time with his wife by visiting a countryside mansion, but soon the trip tur...

With Intent to Kill

With Intent to Kill

1984

as Edna Reinecker

3.0
Acting

A high school football hero Bo Reinecker tries to piece together the events leading up to murder of his girl friend Lisa Nolen. Claiming to have exper...

The Sender

The Sender

1982

as Jerolyn

5.6
Acting

A disturbed telepathic man is able to transmit his dreams and visions into the minds of the people around him.

Kennedy's Children

Kennedy's Children

1982

as Carla

Acting

In 1974, five former activists from the 1960s meet in a bar, but do not relate. Each is lost in his or her own memories of more hopeful, revolutionary...

Endless Love

Endless Love

1981

as Ann

5.7
Acting

As their romance unfolds, Jade and David's growing love for one another becomes the scorn of Jade's father. However, when Jade's grades begin to drop,...

Playing for Time

Playing for Time

1980

as Frau Lagerführerin Maria Mandel

6.9
Acting

When a Jewish songstress is plucked from the stage and sent to Auschwitz, she and other musicians find themselves assigned to a terrible task—using th...

Beyond the Poseidon Adventure

Beyond the Poseidon Adventure

1979

as Hannah Meredith

5.1
Acting

After "The Poseidon Adventure", in which the ship got flipped over by a tidal wave, the ship drifts bottom-up in the sea. While the passengers are sti...

Champions: A Love Story

Champions: A Love Story

1979

as Barbara Harlich

5.8
Acting

Two teens become romantically involved as they train for a skating championship.

The Defection of Simas Kudirka

The Defection of Simas Kudirka

1978

as Genna Kudirka

6.0
Acting

Based on the true story of the attempted defection in 1970 by a Lithuanian seaman seeking political asylum in the United States. Kudirka was denied as...

21 Hours at Munich

21 Hours at Munich

1976

as Anneliese Graes

6.1
Acting

A dramatization of the incident in 1972 when Arab terrorists broke into the Olympic compound in Munich and murdered 11 Israeli athletes.

Return to Earth

Return to Earth

1976

as Joan Aldrin

Acting

The story of Buzz Aldrin, the second astronaut to walk on the moon, and the problems he had after his return to Earth, including the breakup of his ma...

Medical Story

Medical Story

1975

as Phyllis Lenahan

Acting

A young intern goes up against three older surgeons as to whether or not a young actress should get a hysterectomy.

Friendly Persuasion

Friendly Persuasion

1975

as Eliza Birdwell

Acting

During the Civil War, a Quaker couple risks their lives by helping runaway slaves.

Please Stand by for Murder

Please Stand by for Murder

1975

Acting

The wife of a TV executive thinks she might have committed a murder and is tormented by a stalker while locked inside an empty TV station.

Juggernaut

Juggernaut

1974

as Barbara Banister

6.2
Acting

A terrorist demands a huge ransom in exchange for information on how to disarm the seven bombs he has planted aboard a trans-Atlantic cruise ship.

The Country Girl

The Country Girl

1974

as Georgie Elgin

Acting

Frank Elgin's career in the theater is all washed up — but his friend Bernie thinks he can make a comeback, as long as his wife Georgie doesn't interf...

The Lie

The Lie

1973

as Anna

6.0
Acting

An Ingmar Bergman script. Produced for Swedish Television as "Reservatet" (1970) and for BBC as "The Lie" (1971). An American couple is trapped in the...

Secrets

Secrets

1971

as Beatrice

4.8
Acting

A woman's unfulfilling marriage leads her into a passionate affair with a wealthy extramarital lover.

The Rain People

The Rain People

1969

as Natalie Ravenna

6.6
Acting

When a housewife finds out she is pregnant, she runs out of town looking for freedom to reevaluate her life decisions.

Filmmaker

Filmmaker

1968

as Self (uncredited)

7.1
Acting

A behind-the-scenes documentary by George Lucas about 29-year-old Francis Ford Coppola and his crew creating the 1969 film "The Rain People."

Petulia

Petulia

1968

as Polo

5.9
Acting

Dr. Archie Bollen is having a midlife crisis. He's just divorced his wife and is establishing a new life for himself. One night, he catches the eye of...

The Counterfeit Killer

The Counterfeit Killer

1968

as Angie Peterson

Acting

A Secret Service agent poses as a waterfront hit man to infiltrate a global ring of counterfeiters.

Shadow Over Elveron

Shadow Over Elveron

1968

as Joanne Tregaskis

6.5
Acting

A corrupt sheriff knows the secrets of everyone in town and uses that information to go unchallenged. But after the arrest of an innocent teenager, th...

The Outsider

The Outsider

1967

as Peggy Leydon

6.0
Acting

Darren McGavin is David Ross, a private investigator playing a game of follow the money. A simple case of embezzling turns bad quickly when bodies sta...

Dutchman

Dutchman

1966

as Lula

4.6
Acting

A young conservative black man, minding his own business, rides a nearly empty subway car. The only other passenger, a blonde vixen looking for troubl...

The Group

The Group

1966

as Polly

5.6
Acting

It's 1933, and eight young women are friends and members of the upper- class group at a private girl's school, about to graduate and start their own l...

Flight from Ashiya

Flight from Ashiya

1964

as Caroline Gordon / Stevenson

5.0
Acting

Featuring an all-star cast and on-location shooting in Japan, where the story is set, three US Air Force rescue pilots must overcome their personal pr...

House of Women

House of Women

1962

as Erica Hayden

5.4
Acting

An innocent, pregnant prison inmate (Shirley Knight) becomes the bad warden's (Andrew Duggan) personal favorite.

Sweet Bird of Youth

Sweet Bird of Youth

1962

as Heavenly Finley

6.8
Acting

Gigolo and drifter Chance Wayne returns to his hometown as the companion of a faded movie star, Alexandra Del Lago, whom he hopes to use to help him b...

The Couch

The Couch

1962

as Terry Ames

6.1
Acting

A psychopath calls the police before he kills, in between sessions with his father-figure analyst.

The Dark at the Top of the Stairs

The Dark at the Top of the Stairs

1960

as Reenie Flood

6.7
Acting

In Oklahoma in the 1920s, Rubin Flood loses his job as a traveling salesman when the company goes bankrupt. This adds to his worries at home. His wife...

Ice Palace

Ice Palace

1960

as Grace Kennedy

5.8
Acting

Alaska: America's last great wilderness frontier. A land of primitive grandeur, of glaciers, mountains and ice-fields. And of ambitious cannery tycoon...

Five Gates to Hell

Five Gates to Hell

1959

as Sister Maria

4.8
Acting

A group of nurses, doctors and nuns are taken hostage in Vietnam and sent up river to a castle hideout so they can cure an ailing war general.