Shirley Stoler

Her harsh, hard-edged, pudding face was Laughtonesque in style, incapable of warmth much less a smile. It was held up by an immense frame that was both intimidating and foreboding at the same time. In return, these characteristics allowed character actress Shirley Stoler to play a couple of the most loathsome and terrifying women ever presented on the screen. It was her monstrous tendencies on film for which she is best remembered. Born the eldest of four children to Polish-Jewish immigrants on March 30, 1929, Brooklyn's Shirley made her stage debut in 1955 and gained experience as a member of New York's experimental La Mama, Caffe Cino and Living Theatre companies. She had become a key underground player with such stage productions as "Balls" and "Sunset" by the time she entered films and attained minor film infamy in 1970 at age 41 Her very first portrayal on film was as real-life homicidal maniac Martha Beck in the stark, chilling, shoestring-budgeted flick The Honeymoon Killers (