Quotes

[on filming Hurry Sundown (1967) in St. Francisville, LA, home of the Ku Klux Klan, amid death threats to the cast and crew] You can cut the hostility here with a knife. I'm not a fighter. I usually smile and then go into my room and cry my eyes out. But down here, the terror has killed my taste for going anywhere.

I'm always getting involved in the wrong relationship. I do that very well.

I like to think I opened doors for other women, although that wasn't my original intention.

I learned quickly that almost any time a third world face became prominent on TV, we became responsible for the whole minority community.

In the beginning, I found myself dealing with a show business dictated by male white supremacists and chauvinists. As a black female, I had to learn how to tap dance around the situation. I had to ... find a way to present my point of view without being pushy or aggressive. In the old days, the only women I saw in this business were in makeup, hairdressing, and wardrobe departments. Now I'm surrounded by women executives, writers, directors, producers, and even women stagehands.

All I ever wanted to do was sing. What happened was more.