Moments of Intuition from Seven Actresses

For our Movie Magazine Article Collection we read a lot of articles and then select only the best to reprint. Some articles are routine while others stand out because they relate an incident about a star that over the years has become forgotten. Does anyone remember the famous ( at the time ) story behind Prince Rainier's "arranged" marriage with Grace Kelly? Or the tale about Fred Astaire's hairpiece? Little incidents, but wildly entertaining to us film buffs. 

This is one of those uber-interesting articles and it appeared in the February 1957 issue of Motion Picture magazine, generously given to us by Jacqueline Lynch, the fabulous blogger behind Another Old Movie Blog. Seven famous actresses will relate to you moments of intuition that happened in their lives. We will be posting this article in chunks, with stories from two actresses in each post, so be sure to check back in the near future for more great stories. Enjoy! 

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Shirley MacLaine 

Last February, my doctor told me I would have a baby in September. About four days after I learned I was pregnant, the studio called and said I'd have to be at work that night. 

I was supposed to be at Paramount at 6pm. That meant I'd have to leave Malibu at about 5pm. Much of the drive to the studio is along the heavily trafficked Pacific Coast Highway, only a few feet from the ocean. 

When it was time for me to leave, I went to the car, drove it out of the garage and was just about to start when the thought suddenly nagged me that I had forgotten something. I left the car and went back into the apartment and just stood in the front room trying to remember what it was. My mind was a blank. After a minute, I gave up, got into the car and started the drive down the highway. 

I had gone about 15 miles when the traffic piled up ahead and everybody stopped. The driver behind me got out of his car and walked up around a slight curve in the road. When he came back his eyes had a strange light in them. I asked if there had been an accident. He said, "There's more than that. That cliff up ahead just slid down on top of the highway. One minute earlier, lady, and we'd have been under a rock landslide."

Janet Leigh

It happened to me when I was 17. Mom and Dad were managing a ski lodge in Sun Valley. The snow on the hills was perfect that year and the lodge was packed with people. I wanted nothing more in the world than to be an expert on skis. I didn't miss a day. Each morning, before the other guests arose, I'd go down to the lounge, which was really a big, cozy living room, check my skiing equipment and then leave for my favorite slope. But there was one last thing I had to do before I left each morning: I had to put the family picture album away in a table drawer. 

You see, Mom loved to show pictures of me, from the time I was a baby, to the guests. When she wasn't around, she'd leave the album with the magazines on the big wooden table so guests would see it. 

Well, each morning, just before I went out the door, I'd put the album back in the drawer. I didn't think the pictures would be as interesting to our vacationing guests as Mom did. 

On this particular morning, I came down, checked my equipment and was about to put the album away when something held me back. For no reason I could imagine, I left it on display. Then I went skiing. 

When I returned, the album was gone. I looked in the drawer. It wasn't there. Then Mom came in, all smiles. There was a woman with her and she was holding the album. 

The woman said that if I didn't mind she was going to "steal" my latest photograph and send it to MGM. 

She said her name was Norma Shearer. 

Ten days later, I received a wire from the talent department of MGM. A screen test would be made as soon as I could get to Hollywood. It was my intuition that kept me from hiding the album, but it was Mom's that put it out there in the first place. 

Thanks, Mom. 

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