Quotes

What I didn't care for was everything made in those days was black and white, very hard black and white too, there was nothing really pretty about it, even my auburn hair became jet black.

Mine was a very rare and wonderful Cinderella story, a complete Cinderella story that could have only happened during the studio system era.

[on her break into movies] I had hoped to do some singing, but at the time I got into show business, musicals were not being made quite as often. I wound up playing a patient at a mental institution.

[on Bing Crosby and Bob Hope] Bing was so easy-going and very relaxed and Bob would rehearse and rehearse. I wondered, "How did they make all those Road pictures together because their styles were so different?".

[on filming The Redhead and the Cowboy (1951)] They wanted to get a close-up of me rearing a horse without using a stunt girl. So in the scene, I was riding uphill and I reared the horse up and it fell back on top of me. By the Grace of God I was not squashed like a bug. I was knocked unconscious. How I got up and walked away and finished that film was a miracle.

[on Bing Crosby] He'd be telling a story right before the director would say "Action" and he'd go right on with the joke directly into the scene without missing a beat. And I wouldn't know where I was because I was so focused on the joke!

[When asked if there were any recent movies she would like to have starred in 1994] I thought for a bit and almost said the dinosaur in Jurassic Park (1993) because that's about the strongest woman's role these days.

I'm glad I was a star back then and not now. I never had to take my clothes off to appear sexy. It was a certain look. My only regret is I didn't get to make a truly great movie like Casablanca (1942) to be identified with. Fans come up and they keep mentioning stuff like Yankee Pasha (1954) or Those Redheads from Seattle (1953). Now come on!