You are always damned by things that you do well as an actor.

Bambi has a profound effect on children because it's about losing your mother.

It's the thing that you do well that brings you to prominence. The very thing that brings you to success can also be like a curse, because then people think that's all you can do.

I got into Julliard on almost a full scholarship.

It is really hard to do comedy; it takes a lot of energy and focus. It's rather like music: It's a lot of hitting notes precisely.

Really, can anyone drink several martinis at lunch?

Lawrence of Arabia is the ultimate movie, deeply cinematic.

I always say God should have given women one extra decade at least, especially if you want a family. You're trying to pack a lot in.

I never say I have a preference for one medium as opposed to another.

Why would I lose sleep when I really need valuable sleep just to recuperate and come back and do my job?

Audrey Hepburn's face was made for the camera.

The older I get the more I try not to waste my time on negative energy.

It's a great time to be an actress at this point in my life.

I adore clothes, I adore drinking. I just don't have the time or the inclination to totally indulge in it.

I do enjoy film. The more I do it the more I learn.

Mike Nichols asked if I would do The Birdcage. Mike and I are dear friends but he had never offered me a feature role in a movie. My television career opened other doors for me.

You make a choice whether or not to turn that TV on. We didn't even have a television in the house.

I think people think Jim Carrey's just wild and crazy. He really is very disciplined. It is true of Eddie Murphy and Robin Williams as well.

I often close my eyes because I can't tolerate violence.

Ron Howard is as good a person as you could want to work with on film. He never lost his cool. He's the most easygoing, lovely man, but he's got this enormous intelligence and a wonderful humanity.

If I never do another movie, I will have had the privilege of working on one of the big Hollywood movies with top people, creating a world that can only be described as totally cinematic.

You have to hold your bloody own or you're lost.

It was considered that you were stepping down by doing television. I almost turned Cybill down because I so wanted to remain a theater actress.

I wanted to show people I can do things other than the sophisticated bitch.

The sibilant s is the most difficult sound to correct.

I wish I didn't have to live up to anything.

Jim Carrey is a consummate actor and professional. He comes on set, knows his lines and knows his moves.

I'd much rather be famous for being a fabulous bitch than being, She does that nice wife really well.

In the early '90s, New York was a pretty depressing place.

I'm a nice, happily married wife and mom and I live in Connecticut.

Usually, it gets worse and worse as they downsize your character; mine just kept getting better.

I'm sad to say that stardom is a commodity in our culture.

Acting is like a high wire act. Your margin for error is very slim.

You can only do the work to the very best of your ability.

You are always damned by things that you do well as an actor.

My favorite actor is Wallace Beery.

I've been a very lucky actor.

I don't think I could be happy as an actor if there was a tyrant on the set.

When I was starting to get noticed as an actor in the 1970s for something other than the third cowboy on the right who ended up dying in every movie or episode, Burt Reynolds was the biggest star in the world.

Most parts that can be played by one actor can equally well be played by another, but not this.

I think, frankly, that I'm a better director than I was an actor.

I knew an actor's career goes up and down and back up again. Your standing in this business can't be your whole identity; otherwise, you're doomed.

I don't think any actor feels comfortable watching themselves in movies. You must be very narcissistic. The problem with your own opinion of yourself is that contrary to the normal spectators, when you watch a film you are in, you only watch yourself.

I don't think there has been any increase in sophistication in the audience. When people are aware of a concept that's easy to understand, and there's an actor who will attract them to the theater and it's a movie that's funny three-quarters of the time, it will be successful.

I never dreamed about being an actor, because that was out of reach. Coming from a small town that was big in farming, and also big in clothing factories, you don't dream about being a professional football player or an actor.

My goal was always to be recognized as a good actor but no one was interested in that, simply because society just wants to warm towards your appearance. This is the great blemish of society.

If you really do want to be an actor who can satisfy himself and his audience, you need to be vulnerable.

To be honest with you, when I got into this I never thought about reviews. I never thought about what people would say about me. I was just a young guy who was excited to become a comedian and an actor and I just wanted to get to do what I got to do.

It was very natural for me to want to disappear into dark theater, I am really very shy. That is something that people never seem to fully grasp because, when you are an actor, you are meant to be an exhibitionist.