Shirley Enola Knight was born on July 5, 1936 in Goessel, Kansas, while her parents were on their way home to Wichita by train. They only lived there long enough for Shirley to be born, went on to Wichita where they lived until Shirley was about 6-years old. The family then moved to the small village of Mitchell, Kansas, but later, Shirley went to, and graduated from Lyons High School, which is seven miles from Mitchell, Kansas. She is the daughter of oil company executive Noel Johnson Knight and Virginia (Webster) Knight. At the age of eight she sang "Alice Blue Gown" on the radio with Horace Heidt's orchestra from Wichita, and she placed second to her first-place sister, Gloria, then six, in a statewide talent contest . At the age of 14, she wrote a short story called "A Realization at a Funeral," which was published in a national magazine. She attended Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma, and also studied music at Witchita University. She had been studying to be an opera singer from the age of eleven. She trained for the stage with Erwin Piscator and Lee Strasberg. She went to Hollywood at the age of 20, and studied at the Pasadena Theatre School, at the age of 21 she debuted on television on NBC's "Matinee Theater." Shirley then went to New York to begin her stage acting career. She studied with Jeff Corey and Lee Strasberg, who promoted and taught method acting.
Her first husband was Gene Persson, by whom she had a daughter Kaitlin, but she divorced him when the marriage didn't work out, and she later married John R. Hopkins in 1970, a well-known English writer, by whom she had a daughter Sophie, and Shirley helped raise his daughter Justine, from his previous marriage. Dr. Justine Hopkins is now an art historian in England. Kaitlin Hopkins went on to become an stage, screen and television actress after she took her step-father's last name, and won an Ovation Award and was nominated for a Drama Desk award for her role in Bat Boy The Musical. Sophie Hopkins is a writer, who wrote some episodes of the Fox Network series Night Visions, and has a Master's Degree from Columbia University, Sophie lives in New York City and has completed her first novel. For some years, Shirley raised her family and did not make many films, but has appeared in many small parts on televsion and films in the last few years.

Shirley's stage career began with the part of Alison in Look Back in Anger in 1958 at a theater on Sunset Blvd, acting with Dean Stockwell and Bobby Driscoll, which was directed by Robert Blake. She debutted in New York in 1963 with the part of Katherine in Journey to the Day at the Theatre de Lys in 1963. In 1965 she played the part of Lulu in the Dutchman in L.A., and this role became her favorite part (She later played the role in the movie). Her first appearance on film was in Twentieth Century-Fox's Five Gates to Hell in 1959. Shirley's earliest feature television appearance was as a regular as Mrs. Newcomb on NBC in Buckskin in 1958, the first episode was Little Heathen. She was the featured star on CBS TV;s April 24, 1973 Playhouse 90 production of "The Lie," and in The Hallmark Hall of Fame's "The Country Girl". She also appeared in a classic episode of the original Outer Limits, the orginal and revived "The Fugitive", and many other TV shows. She won the 1995 Emmy for her TV role in Indictment: The McMartin Trial . Shirley won a Tony Award for her part in Kennedy's Children" and was in 1997 she was nominated for another Tony for her acting in The Young Man from Atlanta. Here is her filmography. She recently completed her first short film as a director, titled "Far From Home".

Shirley's film career began with 1958's Five Gates to Hell, and two years later she starred in her Oscar nominated role in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. In 1962 she was also nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actress for Sweet Bird of Youth. She did an excellent job in 1966 in The Group. Another outstanding role for Shirley was in 1969's The Rain People, and she was superb in the role of Peggy Buckey, in Indictment: The McMartin Trial in 1995 for which she won the Emmy. Back in 1960, when she was working in television, she had a contract with Warner Brothers for movies and TV. She said at that time, that she planned to "work every day they'll let me until I'm 65," but she continues to work after the age of 65 and is one of the finest actresses on Stage, Film and TV. Shirley is also generous with her time, and recently agreed to star in a short student film from a major university. She has been politically active all of her adult life, worked for gun control, the homeless and for abused women. She also worked a great deal for civil rights and nuclear disarmament. Since Shirley was born and raised in Kansas, she has remained loyal to her native state, and helped start the William Inge festival there, and she comes back to Independence each year to join in the festival which honours the famous playwright, and often lectures on acting and teaches a Shakespeare and classics class.

Note: most of the above information was supplied by Shirley Knight Hopkins