She made a saucy screen debut in What a Woman! in 1943, a Rosalind Russell film, but was unhappy with the bit parts to which the studio seemed to confine her. Winters’ break came when Hollywood studio executive Harry Cohn saw her on Broadway in Rosalinda, and signed her to Columbia Pictures. Winters began taking drama classes at the New School for Social Research in New York City, and in between small roles in plays and musicals worked as an entertainer at the summer resorts in the Catskills of upstate New York. She later recalled that the director, George Cukor, treated her kindly during her tryout, and urged her to finish her schooling and begin with stage roles. Determined to become an actress, she even auditioned for the Scarlett O’Hara role in Gone with the Wind during a nationwide talent search. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and began entering local beauty pageants during her teen years. Winters was born in 1920, though when she arrived in Hollywood she gave her birthdate as 1922.
