Shirley MacLaine on Jack Nicholson: He showed up to set practically nude

Shirley MacLaine talks new film, past leading men

Legendary actress Shirley MacLaine reflects on her award-winning roles and former co-stars

Actress Shirley MacLaine is out promoting her latest film "Elsa & Fred," co-starring Christopher Plummer, but in an interview with FOX411 the award-winner stopped to reminisce about the former leading men in her life.

MacLaine said Jack Nicholson, who she shared the screen with in 1983's "Terms of Endearment" was "remarkably talented" and "unpredictable."

"If I knocked on the door, for example, in a scene and he would come to it, he would come dressed practically nude," MacLaine told FOX411. "Another time, he answered the door with a hooker. Another time, he answered the door with his face all smashed up with sugar."

MacLaine won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Aurora Greenway in the film, and says Nicholson's spontaneity may have contributed to her legendary performance.

"That's one of the reasons why I was good in the movie - Jack was always doing stuff that I hadn't anticipated," MacLaine said.

MacLaine, 80, stars as the energetic Elsa in "Elsa & Fred," a film about it never being too late to find love.

"You know, what I love about it is the young people are looking at their grandparents for the first time. Is that what they do? Is this what they actually do? Because we do it," MacLaine said. "That's what the young people seem to like about it because they're a little in the dark about what the older folks and their families are up to."

"Elsa & Fred" is in theaters November 7.

Watch Shirley MacLaine talk Jack Nicholson - and Robert Mitchum - in the video above.