Quotes

It was quite a triumph to return to London four years later as the star of Ben-Hur (1959). My bathroom at the Claridges Hotel was much larger than my old bedroom in the boarding house.

[on success] Of course there is always fate, but I think there is more hard work and good judgment in good luck than most people realize.

[1961] I finished my contract with MGM on Nov. 11 and this picture [The Interns (1962)] came up immediately. That is a good sign.

[on being typecast] I am not Esther of Ben-Hur (1959). I am an actress who played the part of Esther. But that doesn't mean I have to go on playing Esther for the rest of my life.

MGM treated me as a father would have treated me. I was well taken care of. But I was not allowed to grow up. They could think of me only in terms of Biblical pictures. Other studios did not know me as a person, so they thought of me in the same way.

[1962] I would like to make a picture with a very good director. Films are really a director's medium. But good directors seem to be rare these days.