Quotes

I have the face of a vampire, but the heart of a feminist.

[in 1917] During the rest of my screen career, I am going to continue doing vampires as long as people sin. For I believe that humanity needs the moral lesson and it needs it in repeatedly larger doses.

To understand those days, you must consider that people believed what they saw on the screen. Nobody had destroyed the grand illusion. Audiences thought the stars were the way they saw them. Why, women kicked my photographs as they went into the theaters where my pictures were playing. And once on the streets of New York, a woman called the police because her child spoke to me.

[on director] J. Gordon Edwards was kind and considerate and the nicest director I ever had. Some directors are wonderful. They give you such funny advice on manners and deportment. "Do I repulse the advances of the leading man or do I lead him on?" I asked. The director was stumped. He hadn't an idea of what to do. Finally, he hit upon a lively answer. "Oh, just keep the audience guessing," he said.

[on husband Charles Brabin] His mental brilliance was not the first attractive quality I noticed about him. It was the way he walked. Like an Indian, or, as if he wore seven-league boots. He stalked in and in two strides crossed the room. It still fascinates me to sit and watch him approach me.

To be good is to be forgotten. I'm going to be so bad, I'll always be remembered.

I started out as a star and remained a star.

There's a little bit of vampire instinct in every woman.

Although at first thought you don't classify Claudette Colbert as what was once called a "vampire," I think she will probably give an excellent performance [in Cleopatra (1934)]. When I played the part I read every book I could find concerning the Egyptian Queen and discovered to my amazement that she was actually a very capable housewife with several children, not especially beautiful nor the physically alluring siren handed down by our legendary history.

It's the stars themselves who have been failing the fans. People have always been hungry for glamour - they still are. But it takes showmanship and a constant sense of responsibility to hold their interest. A star mustn't allow her public to see her in slacks. She should dress beautifully at all times - I don't mean in a bizarre way. She must live their dreams for them and remain a figure of mystery. Glamour is the most essential part of Hollywood.