125 Shelley Winters Movie Performances, Ranked Best to Worst

Reverend Harry Powell is a misogynistic serial killer. When he is arrested for a stolen car, he ends up serving time with murderer Ben Harper who has hidden US $10k in his daughter’s doll. When Powell is released after Harper’s execution he reaches the Harpers home with murderous intentions and to recover the money. 

A bureaucrat rents an apartment in a spooky old building. He soon finds that the inhabitants of the building are quite suspicious, and eventually also comes to know that the previous tenant tried to kill herself by jumping out of the window. As he grows more and more paranoid, he reaches the conclusion that his new neighbors want to kill him. 

Red River is a Western drama film which tells the story of Tom Dunson who builds a cattle empire with his adopted son Matthew. However, due to his tyrannical ways, Matthew decides to take the herd away from him.

European professor, Humbert Humbert, moves to Beardsley, Ohio, on work assignment. When he rents a room in widow Charlotte Haze’s house, he gets obsessed with her alluring teenage daughter, Lolita, and marries Charlotte just to be near Lolita. After Charlotte’s accidental death, he is sure of having his own way, but has not taken into account Lolita’s interest in other males.

A sequel to Knock On My Door, the story revolves around a little boy, who lives in a Chicago tenements with his mother after his father dies in electric chair. Working as a barmaid, she hopes to see him attend college. Meanwhile, he befriends several of his neighbors, who team up together to protect him from following his father’s ways. 

While sailing from New York City to Athens, an ocean liner is hit by tsunami and overturns. Trapped in the dining room, most of the survivors elect to stay put until helps come, while a passionate priest, who believes that God helps those who help themselves, decides to find a way out. A few of the passengers also follow him. 

Anne, a young widow, who has succeeded her husband as the mayor of the town, takes her duties much too seriously, spending most of her time at the office, making her father-in-law worried about her health and happiness. Then she meets George, who has been hired to sculpt a statue of her late husband and the two develop an instant liking.  

Time of Indifference is a drama film which tells the story of a penniless countess who falls for a young man. However, she is unaware of the fact that he is also involved with her beautiful young daughter.

Based on Christopher Isherwood's 1945 book, The Berlin Stories, the film focuses on an unusual friendship between an aspiring English novelist and a flamboyant cabaret entertainer in pre-Nazi era Berlin. Released in July 1955, it went on to become one of the greatest box office hits in Great Britain. 

Flapping Eagle, a spirited Indian with drinking problem, follows advice from his friend, Wounded Bear Mr. Smith, a self-proclaimed expert on old Indian treaties, and decides to get justice for his tribesmen. He disrupts a highway project, tethers a helicopter, and steals a train, again on Smith’s advice. Turning an activist, he rebels against the government, claiming the city for his tribe. 

Known for throwing lavish parties in his home in Long Island, Jay Gatsby asks his neighbor Nick Carson to introduce him to his cousin Vicky, whom he loved before going off to war and now wants her back. Although Vicky is now married she is unhappy because her husband is having an extramarital affair. Will their love come to a happy ending? 

Divorced after being caught with his secretary, a Californian divorce lawyer travels to Vienna, where he and his ex-wife had spent their honeymoon, all the while continuing to love and yearn for her. Meanwhile his wife now has a new boyfriend, an unemployed musician ten years her junior, and to make matters worse he finds that he actually likes the younger man. 

Danny Wilson, and his partner, Mike, are two small-time singers. One night, they meet an entertainer named Joy Carroll, who gets them a job at a nightclub which is owned by Nick Driscoll. However, Nick wants half of Danny’s future income. Danny agrees and soon his career reaches new heights.

Ace Connors is a con-man who is about to go to prison for the theft of half-a-million dollar worth of bonds. He arranges a deal to reduce his sentence by testifying against his former partner in crime. Shortly after, he feels that a con-woman, a cop, and his former crime-partner are after his hidden bonds. 

Titled Saskatchewan in the USA, the film focuses on North-West Mounted Police Sub-Inspector O'Rourke. While returning from Canada with his adopted brother, Cajou, a Cree, he notices a burned train with a lady as the sole survivor. His inept commander, believing that it is the work of Cree, disarms them. O’Rourke is now forced to revolt against him to save the Mounties from Indian attackers. 

This 1955 crime film revolves around bank robber Roy Earle. After escaping from prison, he plans one final heist before retiring and giving up his life or crime.  

Enter Laughing is a comedy film, which tells the story of an aspiring actor David, who joins a theater company. However, he lacks talent and continues to make effort to make his acting debut.  

Based on a Peter Mass book, the movie adaptation narrates the story of modern-day New York gypsy Dave Stepanowicz. When Dave’s grandfather, the gypsy king Zharko Stepanowicz, names him heir instead of his own son Groffo, violence erupts leading to a major confrontation between Dave and Groffo. 

Adapted from a play of the same name, this Oscar-nominated film revolves around the Madame of a brothel who is asked to impersonate the missing queen during a country-wide revolution. Instead she offers three of her customers to play the General, the Bishop and the Chief Justice, all of whom are dead. 

Dr. Chapman and his assistant Paul Radford are conducting a nationwide anonymous sex survey on American women, who they believe have too little knowledge about this crucial accept of their life. Adapted from Irving Wallace’s eponymous novel, the film follows the sexual life of four suburban women, focusing on Radford’s involvement with one of them. 

The Treasure of Pancho Villa is a Western film which tells the story of Tom Bryan, an American adventurer, who competes with a famed Mexican bandit to recover a lost gold shipment.  

After taking a wrong turn on her road trip, a jazz singer’s car breaks down near an isolated lodge. The lodge is owned by a psychopathic young man who takes her prisoner after sexually assaulting her. 

A resentful ex-employee floods the city sewers with petrochemicals by opening valves of an oil refinery which was built at the center of the town with a corrupt mayor’s consent. After a major explosion at refinery the fire spreads rapidly throughout the city. Dr. Whitman and Nurse Harper at the city hospital and fire-chief, Risley, fight valiantly to save the disaster victims.