Shirley MacLaine has a well-earned reputation as one tough broad.
And in an interview from her home in New Mexico, prior to a visit to Toronto next week to collect a humanitarian award from Best Buddies Canada, the sharp-tongued, bird-like creature more than lived up to her image as a woman who has seen it all, done it all and never - absolutely never - hesitates to speak her mind about things that irk her spiritual sensibilities.
On this day, it's my typing while she talks on the phone that has got her dander up. So the 74-year-old Oscar and Golden Globe winner, who has amassed more than 60 film credits over a 50-year career, abruptly stops talking mid-sentence and won't resume until my incessant tapping on the keyboard stops to allow her to collect her thoughts.
"Tell me when I can talk," orders MacLaine, who then asks why I'm not using a tape recorder. The verbatim typing, I feebly explain, is a time-saver that sidesteps transcription - an explanation that propels her to address another pet peeve.
"Look, I don't like to blank out people," says the sister of Warren Beatty, and a firm believer in reincarnation, angels, UFOs and New Age ideas, as well as a diehard advocate of civil rights and liberties. "I like to be sensitive to what people are trying to get done. But this is the story of the world. Everyone's working too hard. They don't have enough time to think. To dream. To change their minds. Everything now has to be there in black and white, in those little letters."
Her point made, the actress - who has worked alongside the likes of Jack Nicholson, Audrey Hepburn and Jack Lemmon - says she is thrilled to be honoured with the 2008 Best Buddies Leadership Award at its 14th annual charitable gala and concert in Toronto on Sept. 10.
And she figures that the national charity - which is dedicated to fostering friendships between students and individuals with intellectual disabilities - chose her because "I'm out in the open about some of my spiritual investigations. And I think they think that's helped a lot of people."
She also loves the charity's name. " 'Best buddies' is what I am with a lot of people. It's part of how one would describe me," says MacLaine, who has lived for 15 years in New Mexico, where she has written numerous books, including the bestsellers Out On A Limb and Dancing in the Light. MacLaine, whose mother, Kathlyn, was born in Wolfville, N.S., says she chooses charitable causes "that help people better understand themselves.
"It's my passion. I'm all about understanding what it is to be human. I'm still overwhelmed at how inhuman human beings can be with one another," says the actress.
Over the years, she has supported countless charities, including the Thalians (created in 1955 by young Hollywood types to aid those with mental and psychological illness and disease) and Project Angel Food (which provides daily meals for homebound people disabled by HIV/AIDS, cancer and other life-threatening illnesses).
While many other actresses have seen their workload decline in their later years, she is still one of Hollywood's busiest women, in recent times completing Bewitched with Nicole Kidman, In Her Shoes with Cameron Diaz and Rumor Has It with Jennifer Aniston.
She doesn't mince words about her enduring popularity. "I'm in demand because I can act. ...And I've never been afraid of getting old. In fact, I've embraced it," says MacLaineHer first film was Alfred Hitchcock's The Trouble With Harry, a role that won her a Golden Globe. Her other feature films have included The Apartment, Some Came Running (made with pals from the Rat Pack), Postcards From the Edge and Steel Magnolias.
The indefatigable MacLaine, who recently launched a jewellery line "designed to enhance your consciousness," will also soon be seen in Lifetime's three-hour TV movie Coco Chanel, premiering Sept. 13. On hold is a project with Garry Marshall's son, Scott, and Christopher Walken called Poor Things, a drama, inspired by true events, that revolves around two con-artist women who befriend and "whack" homeless men to collect their insurance policies; and another - again with the younger Marshall - about extraterrestrials. "I'm one of those people who firmly believe they're around," she adds.
MacLaine says she has also got another book in her. "When you live long enough, you experience enough things. You become wiser. I have this need to express myself. Some people don't. I'm not surprised my books have been international bestsellers. People are receptive because everyone has a journey they'd like to go through. Everyone is interested in the investigation of self.
"I'm proud of my longevity. I'm proud that I can still climb mountains, both figuratively and literally," says the actress, who walks Santa Fe with her dog, refuses to employ a personal assistant and buys her own groceries. "And I'm proud that I'm half-Canadian and half-American."
On a lighter note, MacLaine quips that the secret to a long, fulfilled life lies in two things. "A big hat and good shoes. It's as simple as that."
The 2008 Best Buddies Leadership Award gala and concert will take place at MUZIK at Toronto's Exhibition Place on Sept. 10, and feature performances from Chantal Kreviazuk and Leroy Emmanuel.
Gayle MacDonald