Sweet Charity

The cast of "Sweet Charity" included mostly Broadway performers in the supporting roles, including John McMartin, Chita Rivera, Ben Vereen, and Stubby Kaye. The cast also included the multi-talented Sammy Davis, Jr.

Only Shirley MacLaine was a well-known film star when the movie was cast. "Sweet Charity" brought Shirley MacLaine back to movie musicals, but it is a shame that she made no other musicals after this film. She is adorable as Charity and her dancing and singing are a joy.

Shirley MacLaine(1934-)

Shirley MacLaine was born Shirley MacLean Beaty in 1934 in Virginia. She comes from a theatrical family - her mother was a drama teacher and her brother is actor Warren Beatty.

MacLaine studied ballet as a child and she originally wanted to be a ballet star. She later changed her mind and switched to studying acting. Her first roles were in high school plays.

After her junior year in high school, MacLaine headed to New York and Broadway and landed in the chorus of Oklahoma. At the end of that summer, she returned home to Virginia to finish high school. She then returned to Broadway and got her big break when she was hired as the understudy for Carol Haney in "The Pajama Game" and she took over the role when Haney broke her ankle. As luck would have it, Hal B. Wallis saw a performance of the play when MacLaine was in it and he signed her to a Paramount contract.

In 1954, MacLaine make her first film, "The Trouble with Harry." She made several more films and in 1958 she received her first of five Academy Award nominations for "Some Came Running." She also received nominations for "The Apartment" (1960), "Irma La Douce" (1963), and "The Turning Point" (1977), but it wasn't until "Terms of Endearment" in 1983 that she finally won the coveted award.

Although MacLaine began her career in a Broadway musical and she is a talented musical star, she only appeared in two movie musicals, "Can-Can" in 1959 and ten years later in "Sweet Charity." Her other many film roles were in comedies and dramas, spanning a successful and prolific movie career of over four decades (1955-2007).

Official Website: www.ShirleyMacLaine.com

John McMartin(1929-)

John McMartin was born in 1929 in Indiana but he was raised in Minnesota. His long career as an actor in theater began in 1959 in the off-Broadway production of "Little Mary Sunshine." He won the Theatre World Award for his performance. Two years later, McMartin made his Broadway debut in "The Conquering Hero."

McMartin has had a long and successful theatrical career, with over 20 Broadway plays from 1961 to 2007 and nine off-Broadway plays from 1959 to 2006. He was nominated for a Tony award in 1966 for his role of Oscar in "Sweet Charity." He has received four other Tony nominations, three of which were for musicals: "Don Juan" (drama), "Show Boat" revival (musical), "High Society" revival (musical), and "Into the Woods" (musical). In the early 1970s, he appeared on Broadway as a member of the New Phoenix Repertory Company. McMartin has also appeared in regional theater companies over the last few decades.

McMartin has had a limited film career, with his role in "Sweet Charity" his only major movie part. He has also appeared occasionally in television movies and series since 1984.