Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.
Deep down, I'm pretty superficial.
[on her first screen test] There wasn't a thing that I could do. I couldn't act--I was the first to ...
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[on her first screen test] There wasn't a thing that I could do. I couldn't act--I was the first to be eliminated in high school plays. I had no training whatsoever. I was just a pretty little girl. But I loved the idea, because I loved movies.
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Maybe I just didn't have the temperament for stardom. I'll never forget seeing Bette Davis at the Hi...
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Maybe I just didn't have the temperament for stardom. I'll never forget seeing Bette Davis at the Hilton in Madrid. I went up to her and said, "Miss Davis, I'm Ava Gardner and I'm a great fan of yours." And do you know, she behaved exactly as I wanted her to behave. "Of course you are, my dear," she said. "Of course you are." And she swept on. Now that's a star.
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God knows I've got so many frailties myself, I ought to be able to understand and forgive them in ot...
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God knows I've got so many frailties myself, I ought to be able to understand and forgive them in others. But I don't.
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I don't understand people who like to work and talk about it like it was some sort of goddamn duty. ...
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I don't understand people who like to work and talk about it like it was some sort of goddamn duty. Doing nothing feels like floating on warm water to me. Delightful, perfect.
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When I lose my temper, honey, you can't find it any place.
When I lose my temper, honey, you can't find it any place.
I must have seen more sunrises than any other actress in the history of Hollywood.
I must have seen more sunrises than any other actress in the history of Hollywood.
[when asked if her time at MGM had been any fun at all] Christ, after 17 years of slavery, you can a...
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[when asked if her time at MGM had been any fun at all] Christ, after 17 years of slavery, you can ask that question? I hated it, honey. I mean, I'm not exactly stupid or without feeling, and they tried to sell me like a prize hog.
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What I'd really like to say about stardom is that it gave me everything I never wanted.
What I'd really like to say about stardom is that it gave me everything I never wanted.
[on her role in The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966)] I've never thought of myself as right for thi...
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[on her role in The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966)] I've never thought of myself as right for this type of part. But John [John Huston] said he had faith that I could do it. Now I am glad I listened to him. Sarah is a wonderful role. She is a selfless woman who gives her maid servant Hagar to her husband when she herself cannot give Abraham a son. Later she is blessed by God and gives birth to a son, at 90. This is one of the most beautiful love stories in the Bible.
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Everybody kisses everybody else in this crummy business all the time. It's the kissiest business in ...
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Everybody kisses everybody else in this crummy business all the time. It's the kissiest business in the world.
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All I ever got out of any of my marriages was the two years Artie Shaw financed on an analyst's couc...
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All I ever got out of any of my marriages was the two years Artie Shaw financed on an analyst's couch.
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Although no one believes me, I have always been a country girl and still have a country girl's value...
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Although no one believes me, I have always been a country girl and still have a country girl's values.
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I made it as a star dressed, and if it ain't dressed, I don't want it.
I made it as a star dressed, and if it ain't dressed, I don't want it.
After my screen test, the director clapped his hands gleefully and yelled, "She can't talk! She can'...
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After my screen test, the director clapped his hands gleefully and yelled, "She can't talk! She can't act! She's sensational!"
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[on her career] Christ, what did I ever do worth talking about? Every time I tried to act, they step...
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[on her career] Christ, what did I ever do worth talking about? Every time I tried to act, they stepped on me. That's why it's such a goddamn shame, I've been a movie star for 25 years and I've got nothing, nothing, to show for it.
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I couldn't imagine a better place [Melbourne, Australia] for making a film on the end of the world.
I couldn't imagine a better place [Melbourne, Australia] for making a film on the end of the world.
What's the point? My face, shall we say, looks lived in.
What's the point? My face, shall we say, looks lived in.
[on why she had an abortion during her marriage to Frank Sinatra] We couldn't even take care of ours...
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[on why she had an abortion during her marriage to Frank Sinatra] We couldn't even take care of ourselves. How were we going to take care of a baby?
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(on why she came out of retirement to appear on a soap opera) For the loot, honey, for the loot.
(on why she came out of retirement to appear on a soap opera) For the loot, honey, for the loot.
I wish to live until 150 years old but the day I die, I wish it to be with a cigarette in one hand a...
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I wish to live until 150 years old but the day I die, I wish it to be with a cigarette in one hand and a glass of whiskey in the other.
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I really had very little to contribute, so I played a lot of hatcheck girls, and did mob scenes, ext...
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I really had very little to contribute, so I played a lot of hatcheck girls, and did mob scenes, extra scenes, dancing scenes, just to have the experience of being on a set. I spent years at that. If the studio wanted a photograph to advertise a film they'd say, 'Who is it that has a good pair of legs and a good pair of breasts and is pretty and not working?' And it was always Ava because she was never working.
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[on Robert Taylor] I knew him as a warm, generous, intelligent human being. Our love affair lasted t...
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[on Robert Taylor] I knew him as a warm, generous, intelligent human being. Our love affair lasted three, maybe four months. A magical little interlude. I've never forgotten those few hidden months. I think Bob, despite all his efforts, couldn't break the mold of the beautiful lover. The film world remembers him that way, and I have to say that I do, too.
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[in 1985, on why she came out of retirement to appear on a prime-time soap opera] For the loot, hone...
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[in 1985, on why she came out of retirement to appear on a prime-time soap opera] For the loot, honey, for the loot.
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Nobody ever called it an intellectual profession.
Nobody ever called it an intellectual profession.
I have only one rule in acting -- trust the director and give him heart and soul.
I have only one rule in acting -- trust the director and give him heart and soul.
I haven't taken an overdose of sleeping pills and called my agent. I haven't been in jail, and I don...
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I haven't taken an overdose of sleeping pills and called my agent. I haven't been in jail, and I don't go running to the psychiatrist every two minutes. That's something of an accomplishment these days.
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I can't bear to face a camera. But I never brought anything to this business and I have no respect f...
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I can't bear to face a camera. But I never brought anything to this business and I have no respect for acting. Maybe if I had learned something it would be different. But I never did anything to be proud of.
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