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
Complete Filmography

Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age
2021
as Self
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
2018
as Leanne Cross
A dying woman wishes to see her family through the good times and the bad times she will miss.

The Missing Girl
2015
as Mrs. Colvins
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
2015
as Mom
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
2014
as Gramma
A single mom and her two boys help take care of their grandmother with mystical powers.

Redwood Highway
2013
as Marie
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
2013
as Jane Redding
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
2011
as Ilene Rochlin
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
2010
as Grandma Sam
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
2009
as Dot Nadeau
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
2009
as Mom
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
A dark comedy/drama about a daughter struggling with her mothers rapid descent into Alzheimers.

The Other Side of the Tracks
2008
as Helen
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
2006
as Ann
The engagment between a struggling photographer and an assistant professor is marred by an act of violence.

Love and Debate
2006
as Lea
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
The making of the film with Drew Casper.

Grandma's Boy
2006
as Bea
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
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
2003
as Mercedes Mayfield
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
2003
as Mrs. Ashboro
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
2003
as Miss Christina
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
2002
as Mrs. Finch
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
2002
as Necie Kelleher
A mother and daughter dispute is resolved by the "Yaya sisterhood" - long time friends of the mother.

P.S. Your Cat is Dead!
2002
as Aunt Claire
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
2002
as Nancy Plummer
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
2001
as Elanora Davis
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
2001
as Jewel Ramsey
A girl comes to terms with her mentally challenged parents.

75 Degrees in July
2000
as Jo Beth Anderson
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
1998
as Harriet Winslow
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
1998
as Donna Minkowitz
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
1998
as Gram (Miss Caroline)
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
1997
as Beverly Connelly
Melvin Udall, a cranky, bigoted, obsessive-compulsive writer of romantic fiction, is rude to everyone he meets, including his gay neighbor, Simon. Aft...

Convictions
1997
as Margaret
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
1997
as Doris Knight
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
An alcoholic father must take control of his wayward children when their mother is killed.

Dying to Be Perfect: The Ellen Hart Pena Story
1996
as Joan Hart
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
1996
as Esther
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
1996
as Delia
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
1996
as Mary Donnelly
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
1996
as Edie Danziger
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
1996
as Jolene Maggart
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
1996
as Sally Ann
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
1995
as Peggy Buckey
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
1995
as Mom
A self-help advocate struggles to put his dysfunctional family in its place.

Dad, the Angel & Me
1995
as Betty
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
1994
as Mona Dickens
A stressed out writer's getaway is complicated by advances from a lascivious 17-year-old relative.

Color of Night
1994
as Edith Niedelmeyer
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
1994
as Martha
A bright young New York physician takes her husband, a jokey/cynical tabloid reporter, home to Illinois to meet her parents.

The Yarn Princess
1994
as Esther
Margaret, who has certain mental disabilities, struggles when her husband, Jake, is diagnosed with schizophrenia and the authorities wish to take her ...

Baby Brokers
1994
as Sylvia
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
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
A nine-year-old girl with a mother in the hospital decides to live alone and fend for herself.

A Mother's Revenge
1993
as Bess Warden
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
1993
as Edna Larson
A woman places an ad in the "Soldier of Fortune" magazine to hire a contract killer.

To Save a Child
1991
as Rinda Larson
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
1991
as Helen Potter
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
1991
as Katie Leonard
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
1984
as Ann Fairfax Denver
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
1984
as Edna Reinecker
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
1982
as Jerolyn
A disturbed telepathic man is able to transmit his dreams and visions into the minds of the people around him.

Kennedy's Children
1982
as Carla
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
1981
as Ann
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
1980
as Frau Lagerführerin Maria Mandel
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
1979
as Hannah Meredith
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
1979
as Barbara Harlich
Two teens become romantically involved as they train for a skating championship.

The Defection of Simas Kudirka
1978
as Genna Kudirka
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
1976
as Anneliese Graes
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
1976
as Joan Aldrin
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
1975
as Phyllis Lenahan
A young intern goes up against three older surgeons as to whether or not a young actress should get a hysterectomy.

Friendly Persuasion
1975
as Eliza Birdwell
During the Civil War, a Quaker couple risks their lives by helping runaway slaves.

Please Stand by for Murder
1975
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
1974
as Barbara Banister
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
1974
as Georgie Elgin
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
1973
as Anna
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
1971
as Beatrice
A woman's unfulfilling marriage leads her into a passionate affair with a wealthy extramarital lover.

The Rain People
1969
as Natalie Ravenna
When a housewife finds out she is pregnant, she runs out of town looking for freedom to reevaluate her life decisions.

Filmmaker
1968
as Self (uncredited)
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
1968
as Polo
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
1968
as Angie Peterson
A Secret Service agent poses as a waterfront hit man to infiltrate a global ring of counterfeiters.

Shadow Over Elveron
1968
as Joanne Tregaskis
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
1967
as Peggy Leydon
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
1966
as Lula
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
1966
as Polly
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
1964
as Caroline Gordon / Stevenson
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
1962
as Erica Hayden
An innocent, pregnant prison inmate (Shirley Knight) becomes the bad warden's (Andrew Duggan) personal favorite.

Sweet Bird of Youth
1962
as Heavenly Finley
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
1962
as Terry Ames
A psychopath calls the police before he kills, in between sessions with his father-figure analyst.

The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
1960
as Reenie Flood
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
1960
as Grace Kennedy
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
1959
as Sister Maria
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.