ANN SHERIDAN (1915-67)
[Born Clara Lou Sheridan in Denton, Texas, she was used as a body double (hands, legs & shoulders) by Paramount in her early days in the industry]: ‘I used to go to Grauman’s Chinese or Pantages and sit there waiting to see my faceless body on the screen. Texas began to look awfully near and awfully good, and ‘Clara Lou’ had a sweet sound to my ears.’
‘I can whistle through my fingers, bulldog a steer, light a fire with two sticks, shoot a pistol with fair accuracy, set type, and teach school…’
‘They nicknamed me ‘The Oomph Girl’, and I loathe that nickname! Just being known by a nickname indicates that you’re not thought of as a true actress…It’s just crap! If you call an actress by her looks or a reaction, then that is all she will ever be thought of as.’
Ann & Errol Flynn in Edge of Darkness (1943)
[On her good friend Errol Flynn]: ‘He was one of the wild characters of the world, but he had a strange, quiet side. He camouflaged himself completely. In all the years I knew him, I never really knew what lay underneath, and I doubt if many people did.’
LINDA HAMILTON (1956 – )
[Known for playing Sarah Connor in the first two Terminator films, she spoke about her marriage to director James Cameron]: ‘He was all brain and work and I was all heart and living. He had guns next to his side of the bed and I had crystals and fertility symbols next to mine. We were just really not meant to be together. Nowadays, we just tease and play and have a lot of respect for each other. I think the man is an extraordinary director. He is a complete genius.’
Linda & husband James Cameron
[On why she turned down Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)]: ‘They offered me a part. I read it and knew my character arc was so complete after the first two, but in the third one it was negligible. She died halfway through and there was no time to mourn her. It was all so disposable so I said no thank you.’
CAMERON MITCHELL (1918-94)
[Upon being released from jail for not paying his alimony on time]: ‘I don’t know if she wants to slowly kill me, you know, privately and professionally. I just don’t know; but I’m not bitter. I have to live too. 40% for her, 10% to an agent, 5% to a manager and so. It all comes to about 128%. I have only $26 in two bank accounts despite receiving $200,000 in movie residuals during the last two years.’
IDA LUPINO (1918-95)
[To Jack Warner after turning down a four-year exclusive contract]: ‘I don’t want to be told someday that I will be replaced by some starlet – as I was told I would replace Bette Davis.’
‘The beautiful thing about Warner Brothers when I was there was, I only worked with great people, actors, directors, producers. But when I left, nobody said goodbye.’
IMELDA STAUNTON (1956 – )
[On her role as Alfred Hitchcock’s wife Alma Reville in The Girl (2012)]: ‘Alma was very tolerant. She mothered Hitchcock, because he was like a bloody child. He was a bloody idiot with Tippi [Tippi Hedron in The Birds (1963)]. People should have just told him, ‘Just make the bloody film and go home.’
Hitchcock & his wife Alma Reville
[More on Hitchcock]: ‘But he was delusional. People say he was vulnerable…oh, for goodness sake, don’t be mealy-mouthed about it! He just needed to grow up. That may sound unkind, but it’s realistic. There again, if he had grown up, he wouldn’t have been such a brilliant film-maker. All his many flaws made him the great director he was.’
MERYL STREEP (1949 – )
[On her ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ from the American Film Institute]: ‘I don’t want to spit in the eye of good fortune, but it was weird. I felt like I’d butted in line in front of Lucille Ball, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn. Hello? How did this happen? I was only the sixth woman to receive it, but they found 26 men to give it to. I thought that was embarrassing.’
[A portion of her Emmy Award acceptance speech for Angels in America (2003)]: ‘Glenn Close is my friend so I know she’ll forgive me; Helen Mirren is an acting god; and no-one has put a better performance on film than Judy Davis in Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001). The only one in the group is Emma Thompson, who will hold a grudge for the rest of her life. But who cares?’
‘I try to lead as ordinary a life as I can. You can’t get spoiled if you do your own ironing.’
[On life as a young, struggling actress]: ‘When I was twenty I busked to afford accommodation. One night I hadn’t earned enough, I actually slept in the open in Green Park [in London]. The view was of the Ritz Hotel and I vowed I’d stay there one day. And I have.’
Meryl & John Cazale
‘I was never engaged to John Cazale (Fredo in The Godfather (1972)]. We lived together for three years until he died of bone cancer.’
SIDNEY JAMES (1913-76)
[To his ‘Carry On…’ co-star Barbara Windsor, with whom he had an affair from 1973 until his death in 1976]: ‘If I can’t have you, I want to die.’
Sid & Barbara Windsor
‘Stardom is no perishing use to me. If I had stardom people might get the idea that I was too expensive and stop offering me some of those small character parts that help the old bank balance. I can get as much as five hundred pounds for a morning’s work. I don’t refuse any part, if I can do something with it and the lolly’s good.’
ALLISON JANNEY (1959 – )
[The actress who went on to win no fewer than four Prime-time Emmy Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards for her performance as C. J. Cregg, the White House Press Secretary on the TV political drama The West Wing, recalled being advised that her towering height (she is six feet (1.83m) tall), would kill her chances of success as an actress]: ‘Years ago, one casting agent told me that the only roles I could play were lesbians and aliens.’
Linda Hamilton was marvelous on the George R.R. Martin created TV series Beauty and the Beast. Sadly Linda was forced to leave due to her debilitating depression issues. Linda had a twin sister who acted with her in films although her sister was not an actress. Her sister passed away a few years ago.
Rarely hear anything positive about James Cameron from those who work with him on his films. Apparently he is a tyrant who pushes both the cast and crew to the breaking point and beyond.
I love his movies but wouldn’t want to work for the guy.
Big fan of the TV western series The High Chaparral that Cameron Mitchell co-starred on. His uncle Buck was one colorful character. The show shot primarily on location in Arizona which made it have a fresh look with its scenery. The majority of TV western filmed in Hollywood, so often the scenery you saw on one episode of a series would pop up again on a totally different series. Eventually a certain sameness became common with the various shows regarding the great outdoors.
So the HC was fun to watch for its vistas that were uncommon on TV.
Read Henry Darrow’s autobiography in which he wrote about his playing Manolito Montoya on the HC. He got on well with everyone but did write that Mitchell was a notorious scene stealer on the show, he knew all the tricks and used ’em all.
Don Collier was interviewed on the Youtube show A Word on Westerns by Rob Word. Collier played the HC foreman Sam Butler on all four seasons of the series. When asked about Mitchell he had a big grin on his face, but he also gave him two thumbs down.
I enjoyed his acting on the show very much but was dismayed he was a constant scene stealer and not liked by some of the cast.
Loved Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing series. Allison was fabulous as White House Press Secretary C.J. Cregg and deserved every award shoe ever received. She is hilarious on the sitcom Mom, so she excels at both drama and comedy.
I, too, am a huge fan of Aaron Sorkin. The best writer of this century by far. Allison Janney is a wonderful actress, Mike, who deserves every award she gets. Marvelous in ‘West Wing’.