- Speaking as an actress, I wish all actors would be more like Duke [John Wayne]--and speaking as a person, it would be nice if all people could be honest and as genuine as he is. This is a real man.
- To the people throughout the world, John Wayne is not just an actor, and a very fine actor--John Wayne is the United States of America.
- Charles Laughton and his wife, Elsa Lanchester, were never blessed with children. Years after he died, Elsa wrote her autobiography and claimed they never had children because Laughton was homosexual. That's rubbish. Whether or nor Laughton was gay would never have stopped him from having children. He wanted them too badly. Laughton told me the reason they never had children was because Elsa couldn't conceive, the result of a botched abortion she'd had during her earlier days in burlesque. Laughton told me many times that not being a father was his greatest disappointment in life.
- I was talking to a director I knew and [John Ford] just turned around and punched me on the jaw. There was no reason or explanation, and I walked straight out of the house and vowed I'd never speak to him again. Of course, I did, but it took a while. He never apologized and I never found out why he hit me.
- [on John Ford] I think he was a bitterly disappointed man. More than anything he wanted to be in Ireland or be a military hero. So every so often his anger would spill out and whoever was closest got the brunt of his anger.
- I'm very lucky I really had some wonderful movies.
- [on John Ford's style of directing] Today most directors--not all, but most directors--are in another room watching the actors on a television screen. There are no connections with the actors, which is a shame, because John Ford connected with his cast.
- Every star has that certain something that stands out and compels us to notice them. As for me I have always believed my most compelling quality to be my inner strength, something I am easily able to share with an audience. I'm very comfortable in my own skin. I never thought my looks would have anything to do with becoming a star. Yet it seems that in some ways they did.
- Comedy is quite difficult, you have to be able to have fun and portray that sense of fun to the audience watching you.
- [on John Garfield]: He was my shortest leading man, an outspoken Communist and a real sweetheart.
- I spent a great deal of time with Ernesto 'Che' Guevara while I was in Havana. I feel he was less a mercenary than he was a freedom fighter.
- [reacting to the heavy make-up she had to wear for her first screen test] I looked like Mata Hari!
- I made John Wayne sexy. I take credit for that.
- [2010, her advice to young people wanting a career in drama] If you really want it, go after it--and learn how to speak properly, for God's sake!
- [When being handed her honorary Oscar] I only hope it's silver or gold and not like a spoon out of the kitchen.
- How could you have had such a wonderful life as me if there wasn't a God directing?
- [on Sam Peckinpah, who directed her in The Deadly Companions (1961)] I didn't enjoy Sam at all. I have to be honest. I didn't think he was a very good director. I think he was lucky that whatever happened in his career happened. I think it was luck, not talent. I'm sorry. You have to forgive me. He was not a good director and if his films turned out successful, that was luck... and people protecting him, like the cameramen and the producers. Different people protecting him made him look good.
- [on some of the leading men she worked with] I enjoyed James Stewart, I enjoyed Brian Keith and I enjoyed Henry Fonda. Jeff Chandler was a nice man but a bad actor.
- [on being asked what her most marked characteristic was] The hell and fire in me. They came as a set.
- [on Lady Godiva of Coventry (1955)] The critics weren't kind, but it's worth remembering as one of Clint Eastwood's first films. Years later, I saw him at an awards ceremony, and he told me how glad he was to have that part. He said he was hard up at the time, and it helped him pay the rent.
- That was real dung in The Quiet Man (1952). He was the biggest devil, John Ford. He put as much of that dung in the field as he could, and then made sure that I was covered in it by the end of the day. Oh, I can still smell that awful stuff.
- I wouldn't throw myself on the casting couch, and I know that cost me parts. I wasn't going to play the whore. That wasn't me.
- My first real kisses came from my leading men. Imagine how nervous I was when I suddenly found myself kissing men like Tyrone Power.
- [on Walt Disney's comment, "That bitch"] I don't mind what he said. He didn't like me because I wouldn't let him get out of a contract. Not many people had the guts to stand up to him. At least he didn't think of me and say, 'That wimp'.
- I've always been a tough Irish lass.
- I proved there was a bloody good actress in me. It wasn't just my face. I gave bloody good performances.
- I hear he's a real lady killer" I continued. But Lucille (Ball) didn't finch, and responded "and here's his next victim.
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