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- “Art is theft, art is armed robbery, art is not pleasing your mother.” — Janet Malcolm
- “I’m one of those people who thinks you can have a happy life and still be an artist.” — Shelley Duvall
- “There’s a difference between writing about something and living through it. I did both.” — poet/novelist Margaret Walker
- “I believe what Camus says. When the curtain rings down, your job is done.” — Warren Oates
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- “My voice isn’t an instrument I can just hang up on a hook.” — Audra McDonald
- “You can’t be on top all the time. It isn’t natural.” — Olivia de Havilland
- “If I don’t feel it, I can’t play it.” — James Cotton
- “I don’t have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I’d become. I’m me, and I’m like nobody else.” — Lena Horne
- “But man has always succeeded in rising again.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
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Category Archives: Actors
“I never told a joke in my life.” — Andy Kaufman
How could you describe Andy Kaufman (who was born on this day) to a generation who did not grow up seeing him on late-night talk shows, cameos on Saturday Night Live, his own TV specials? How on earth could you … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, On This Day, Television
19 Comments
“When I was discovered, everything happened like dominos. I don’t know how to talk about it now because it’s too mindblowing. It’s so unreal, and yet it’s real.” — Faye Dunaway
Bonnie and Clyde It’s her birthday today. I haven’t written all that much about Faye Dunaway – at least in a concentrated way – although I’ve seen all of her big and rightfully iconic performances many times. I think she’s … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Arizona Dream, Faye Dunaway, Jerry Lewis, Johnny Depp
9 Comments
“As long as they pay me my salary, they can give me a broom and I’ll sweep the stage. I don’t give a damn. I want the money.” – Kay Francis
“My life? Well, I get up at a quarter to six in the morning if I’m going to wear an evening dress on camera. That sentence sounds a little ga-ga, doesn’t it? But never mind, that’s my life … When … Continue reading
“I’ll stay and look you straight in the eyes like all these normal people when I scream for my rights.” — Taraneh Alidoosti
“I’ve inherited this courage from the women of my land, who for years have been living their lives, every day with resistance… I will stay, I will not quit, I will stand with the families of the prisoners and murdered … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Asghar Farhadi, Iranian film, Taraneh Alidoosti
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“It’s a situation I’ve never been able to fathom. One minute, it seemed I had more movie offers than I could handle, the next — no one wanted me.” — Sal Mineo
It’s his birthday today. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to be a gay kid in the 1950s and see Rebel Without a Cause, particularly Sal Mineo’s performance as “Plato,” the lonely teenage boy, with a picture … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Alan Ladd, James Dean, James Ellroy, Rebel Without a Cause, Sal Mineo
10 Comments
Elvis forever and happy birthday
Elvis pieces (just a few): Most recently, I wrote about Marion Keisker’s crucial role in “discovering” Elvis. I wrote on his acting career for Film Comment For Criterion: Elvis’s Adventures in Hollywood And here’s the text of the talk I … Continue reading
“I simply love this business. That’s all.” — Dana Andrews
To those who watch “old” movies, Dana Andrews is a familiar figure and everyone knows how great he was. But his name recognition is almost nil outside of that niche community, although a lot of people have seen Best Years … Continue reading
“My ambition is to be an actress. Hollywood had no parts for me.”—Theresa Harris
It’s her birthday today. Criminally, Theresa Harris often went uncredited in the films she appeared in. Nevertheless, she always made an impression. She is probably most well-known now for her unforgettable and realistic performance in the pre-Code Baby Face, as … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Baby Face, film noir, Gold Diggers of 1933, Out of the Past, Pre-Code
2 Comments
“Be open to change. Allow yourself to be revised.” — Maggie Smith
Whatever I say here cannot compete with my friend Dan Callahan’s superb tribute over on Ebert. He knows her and her way of working and her response to life (a NEGATIVE response) better than anyone. He devoted a chapter to … Continue reading
“In America, sex is an obsession, in other parts of the world it’s a fact.” — Marlene Dietrich
I knew why I love taxis, yes subways are only fun when you’re feeling sexy and who feels sexy after The Blue Angel well maybe a little bit — Frank O’Hara It’s Marlene Dietrich’s birthday today. When I interviewed Dan … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Germany, Josef von Sternberg, Marlene Dietrich
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