Quotes

When Clark Gable kissed me, they had to carry me off the set.

Bad directors are the ones who want to tell you every move, and think they're a better actor than you.

After Baby Doll (1956) I did some Westerns. I would try to do something so far away from "Baby Doll".

I was very young when I saw Gone with the Wind (1939), but I fell in love with Clark Gable. And when I got to work with him, I couldn't believe it. I still had a crush on him. He was quite an old man by then; he must have seen that I was head over heels, even though I was married.

The big one I missed out on was Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958). MGM wanted me for it, and Warner Bros. wouldn't give me permission to do it.

Life seems to be a never-ending series of survivals, doesn't it?

[Joseph E. Levine] behaved like he owned me. My husband thought it was all terrific as long as I kept bringing in the money. I started objecting to everything, but it was too late. The sex-symbol image had already started. I turned down parts and they blacklisted me. The press attacked me viciously at every opportunity. I came very close to suicide.

[on John Ford, with whom she worked on How the West Was Won (1962) and Cheyenne Autumn (1964)] I adored and admired "Pappy", and have been grateful forever to have been able to work with him--twice, the second time on "Cheyenne Autumn". Elia Kazan was, without a doubt, the best actor's director, but John Ford put "motion" in motion pictures. I learned more about the visual side of pictures from him--a very unique experience. No amount of time spent at the Actors Studio could have taught me nearly as much!

[on working with George Peppard in The Carpetbaggers (1964)] As I understand it, [he] later became a nice guy, a gentleman, but when we worked together back then, he was pretentious, egotistical, a brat and an asshole--and that's just for starters! He pretended he was seven years younger than he was; he even claimed to be a bachelor and denied he was married--in front of me (I knew better), he denied their existence. The role of Jonas Cord in "The Carpetbaggers" really went to his big head. He acquired delusions of grandeur--thought he was God's gift to women and the movies! His attitude towards me was very bizarre--he acted as though we'd never met! Or that I had a husband! George asked not "if" but "when" we could be intimate together! He came to my house uninvited with an ultimatum--if I don't have an affair with him, he'll have an affair with Elizabeth Ashley! Can you believe this guy? He was totally jealous of any and all attention I received!