Shirley MacLaine is once again opening the book on her storied life. In her new memoir and photo album The Wall of Life: Pictures and Stories from this Marvelous Lifetime (out Oct. 22 from Crown), the Oscar winner and Out on a Limb author takes readers on a nine-decade journey from her childhood in Virginia with her baby brother, Warren Beatty, through her Rat Pack run at the start of her movie career, to her exalted status as one of Hollywood's most-enduring stars. The idea to do a photo-driven book started at home. "One day, I was looking at my wall of pictures and just taking everything into consideration specifically, and I thought I should write about this — and that's what happened," MacLaine tells PEOPLE.
She was already a seasoned author who had written books on everything from 1972 Democratic Presidential candidate George McGovern to her various past lives. So why was the time right to tell her story through previously unseen photos? "Because I've had an enchanted life," she says. "By looking at my wall that day, I realized the enchantment. I really have, and I really mean it; I felt that way. So it's something that comes out of appreciation." Although she's looking back, she says she isn't stuck in memories of the past. "I've always known I'd have a long life, so I was looking forward," she says. "I'm an optimist anyway. I look forward to the next day rather than — well, I must say, now I wonder how much longer." It would take several volumes to do her life story justice, but these exclusive photos are a good start.
She was already a seasoned author who had written books on everything from 1972 Democratic Presidential candidate George McGovern to her various past lives. So why was the time right to tell her story through previously unseen photos? "Because I've had an enchanted life," she says. "By looking at my wall that day, I realized the enchantment. I really have, and I really mean it; I felt that way. So it's something that comes out of appreciation." Although she's looking back, she says she isn't stuck in memories of the past. "I've always known I'd have a long life, so I was looking forward," she says. "I'm an optimist anyway. I look forward to the next day rather than — well, I must say, now I wonder how much longer." It would take several volumes to do her life story justice, but these exclusive photos are a good start.
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00:00Shirley MacLaine is once again opening the book on her storied life, in her new memoir
00:05and photo album The Wall of Life Pictures and Stories from this marvelous lifetime out
00:09OCT.
00:1022 From Crown, the Oscar winner and out-on-a-limb author takes readers on a nine-decade journey
00:16from her childhood in Virginia with her baby brother Warren Beatty through her rat-pack
00:21run at the start of her movie career to her exalted status as one of Hollywood's most
00:25enduring stars.
00:27The idea to do a photo-driven book started at home.
00:31One day, I was looking at my wall of pictures and just taking everything into consideration
00:36specifically, and I thought I should write about this and that's what happened, MacLaine
00:39tells people.
00:41She was already a seasoned author who had written books on everything from 1972 Democratic
00:47presidential candidate George McGovern to her various past lives, so why was the time
00:52right to tell her story through previously unseen photos?
00:56Because I've had an enchanted life, she says.
00:59By looking at my wall that day, I realized the enchantment I really have, and I really
01:03mean it, I felt that way.
01:05So it's something that comes out of appreciation.
01:07Although she's looking back, she says she isn't stuck in memories of the past.
01:11I've always known I'd have a long life, so I was looking forward, she says.
01:16I'm an optimist anyway.
01:17I look forward to the next day, rather than, well, I must say, now I wonder how much longer.
01:23It would take several volumes to do her life story justice, but these exclusive photos
01:28are a good start.
01:31MacLaine's Canadian mother had acting dreams.
01:34She was an acting student in Nova Scotia, but she sacrificed furthering her career when
01:38she committed to motherhood and wife of MacLaine, writes in The Wall of Life.
01:43At 16, MacLaine went to New York City to pursue dancing and performing.
01:49When I went out auditioning, people thought I was older and was offered a job in the chorus
01:54of the subway circuit of Oklahoma, and got to do the show in all the boroughs of New
01:58York.
02:00She has no idea who captured this scene from an impromptu photo shoot.
02:06MacLaine doesn't remember who took this photo, which is one of a group of four in the book.
02:10They seem to reveal that I knew what I wanted to express different moods, different faces
02:16almost like I'm trying out acting to understand how it feels, she writes.
02:20Shirley MacLaine as Shirley MacLaine.
02:24This almost looks like a cheesecake shot, but I think I'm actually just being me here.
02:29All curled up, trying not to be noticed, watching other people, watching what they're doing.
02:35Her first love, George, was an intellectual and opened my world to thinking.
02:40I first met him when I was 17 and sitting on a blanket with friends in a park near Columbia
02:45University, where he was a student MacLaine, who was the only one in her family who didn't
02:49go to college, writes of George Huvos, but she turned down his marriage proposal.
02:56I did seriously consider it.
02:58I remember coming back on a long train ride from outside the city, mulling over the idea
03:02the whole way she writes, but in the end, my reason for not saying yes was about my
03:06career.
03:07I was already thinking that way then.
03:09I don't regret it.
03:12MacLaine and her husband, Steve Parker, shared a daughter, Saatchi.
03:17I had Saatchi when I was 22, so when we were younger.
03:20It almost felt more like we were sisters.
03:23Now that we've both got some years behind us, it really is that way.
03:26We talk together on the phone like two old ladies and are closer than we've ever been.
03:31MacLaine and Saatchi's dad had an open marriage and divorced in 1982 after 28 years.
03:39The star has met 13 U.S. presidents, including Jimmy Carter.
03:44Of President Carter, MacLaine writes that she was fascinated by his intelligence, adding,
03:49he was a Southerner and proud of it, but also a dependable liberal.
03:53I was thrilled when he was elected in 1976.
03:58MacLaine's wall of life includes nice moments with rising stars.
04:02Robert Downey Jr. and Sarah Jessica Parker, when they were together, she writes, of this
04:07blast from the past photograph.