Shirley Stoler

Shirley Stoler was an American actress known for menacing screen villains. Born in Brooklyn, she first acted on stage in 1955 and spent time with the experimental La Mama and Living Theatre troupes in New York, which put her at the center of the underground scene. Her breakthrough came with The Honeymoon Killers (1970), a role she took at age 41. Stoler often portrayed frightening figures, and in Seven Beauties (1975) she was the concentration camp's Nazi commandant, engaging in a seductive game of cat and mouse with a prisoner played by Giancarlo Giannini. The film earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, while director Lina Wertmüller received directing and original screenplay nominations. Stoler had smaller roles in Klute (1971) and The Deer Hunter (1978), and she also worked on Broadway and on television in Charlie's Angels, The Edge of Night, One Life to Live, and Pee-wee's Playhouse. She died in 1999.