Quotes

[on Alfred Hitchcock] Hitchcock said, "I don't want you going back to sink-to-sink movies. You do movies where you wash the dishes looking drab in an apron. The audience wants to see their leading ladies dressed up". He saw me as others didn't.

[on the current crop of movie stars] America is now obsessed by stars in an unhealthy way. They don't actually deserve this kind of attention. They're only actors--not scientists who are triumphing over cancer or doing some other wonderful thing.

There were six of us [Alfred Hitchcock] blondes, and it's like we were all married to the man at one time or another. And we all have a different take on him. Each actress was at a different stage of her life; we were different ages, some married, some not. My experience with Hitch was one of utter respect, warmth, friendliness and humor, and North by Northwest (1959) was a glorious time in my life.

[on James Mason] I think he's a fine actor, a hell of an actor. A nice person to be with, hard-working and very professional.

[on Warren Beatty] Remote. There was an intelligence about him that I admired. That [All Fall Down (1962)] was one of his first films, so he wasn't that relaxed. It was hard to get to know him.

[on Cary Grant] Adorable! A dear man and funny. Probably the most elegant man I've ever worked with--or even met.

[on Montgomery Clift] Very strange, to me. Very shy, really quite unavailable--but very curious. I didn't get to know him at all. He was so painfully shy that it made me shy; however, the shyness didn't exist when we were acting together.

[on Bob Hope] Let's talk about a sense of humor! He was just downright fun to work with. He's a workaholic, which I'm not--I've other interests in my life, but he's only happy when he's performing. He is an American institution.

[on Marlon Brando] I did refer to him once as a hummingbird because you just felt his sensitivity - his sensitivity to life, I guess, and certainly to the other actor and to the material and to the moment at hand. A hummingbird you're in awe of, and you can't really catch it, but every time I see one I wish I could get even closer. And so, Brando, in that sense, is humming with all that sensitivity, and in the beginning in put me off a bit. It felt like he understood me more than I understood myself, knew more about me than I felt I knew myself. And after a while I just relaxed. And I'd come from the Actors Studio; we all had, so I just relaxed and used that. I've never been intimidated by other actors because I'm an actor. I'm not in awe, but I certainly have respect for other wonderful actors. People ask me "Weren't you nervous opposite Marlon Brando?". But no, I was at the Studio, and he was a member and a fine, fine actor.

[2005 at age 80] At my annual checkup - I think my doctor is in his 60s - he said: "Eva Marie, when are you going to retire?" I said: "Why should I? This is what I do. I have my life, my wonderful family. I am married to a director who understands [my profession]. I never want to retire. I like what I do. Why don't you retire?" And he said: "I like what I do." So I said: "Never ask me that again!"