It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else's eyes.
Sally Field
I can't deny the fact that you like me! You like me!
But I was losing so much bone density that I would have been in grave danger. And I mean grave danger. If I had let it go just a few more years I could have broken my hip or spine just picking up my granddaughter.
My agent said, 'You aren't good enough for movies.' I said, 'You're fired.'
I never really address myself to any image anybody has of me. That's like fighting with ghosts.
In the 1970s and 1980s, I got to do some great work. The Oscars are really nice, but the best part is that I had the opportunity to do that kind of work.
Change is never easy.
I wouldn't mind having my heart broken because it would mean that I had that much feeling connected to somebody. And that would be really great.
I joined the Actors Studio and began to work with Lee Strasberg, and that changed my work.
Never, ever, have I felt really accepted in Hollywood.
I'm so vigorous, and I so take it for granted, because I've always been a real physical person.
I don't want to look old and worn, but what can you do? My real focus is being an actor. I care more about having the opportunity to play roles that I haven't played than I care if my neck looks like someone's bedroom curtains.
I did comedies for 10 years and I learned a great deal.
You can't help but feel all the human-rights issues.
Last year I was diagnosed with osteoporosis. I was over 50, Caucasian, thin, small-framed, and I have it in my genetic history. It was almost a slam-dunk.
I've done some good work and some not-good work.
I came from a real working-class show business family.
People really don't understand what actors do.
I had to let my ego go a long time ago.
I'd been kind of a hiccup in my parents' lives. They lost track of me and I didn't know what I was going to do with myself. And then fate reached in and took me in its hands. I was discovered right out of high school and started getting work.
But there isn't any second half of myself waiting to plug in and make me whole. It's there. I'm already whole.
When I was born, the doctor looked at my mother and said, 'Congratulations, you have an actor!'
I always wanted to be a great actor.
'Forrest Gump' is filled full of moments where your heart just cheers.
If I hadn't fought back, I might have been Gidget forever.
The roles... the deep roles that I've gotten to play have turned my course. They've changed my life experience.
There are not a lot of places for an actor to explore what it's like to be a woman in her 60s. There aren't any films about it and there very few TV series about it.
I've had such an odd career.
I was just lucky enough to grow up in a time when they actually had drama departments in schools.
I've never had my heart broken. It's a very sad state of affairs. I think everybody should have their heart broken. I don't think it says anything good about me at all.
You just do the best you can with what you've got... and sometimes magic strikes.
You know, people really don't understand what actors do.
I so believe that older women have tremendous value to their families, their community, their country, the world.
I grew up in a show-business family, but we were working-class show business. There was nothing glamorous about it. You had great things one day and the next day, nothing.
I would take plays and I would cut out all the other dialogue and make long monologues because I felt the other kids weren't taking it as seriously as I did.
My last son is leaving to go to college; my grandchildren are being born. My mother is living with me.
I wanted to be Katharine Hepburn-ish - there was a bit of nobility about her.
I have never been beautiful in cliche terms.
I think that's very sad, that I haven't allowed my heart to be broken. I have broken a few.
I was raised to sense what someone wanted me to be and be that kind of person. It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else's eyes.
I think the first thing I did was several scenes from Romeo and Juliet.
When you're old, you are more certain of who you are, and that may be a good thing or a bad thing.
I really have no ulterior motive in taking on certain roles. I have no larger issue that I really want to show people. I'm an actor, that's all. I just do what I do.
I'm looking for a bunch of new tchotchkes that represent the new part of my life.
You lose your habitual behavior, which allowed you to sort of zone out. You have to be here, you have to be now, you have to be present.
There are parts of me that I feel are beautiful, but they don't have anything to do with my nose.
There was really a snobbery from people in film - they did not want people who had come from television. It was the poor relation of show business, and especially situation comedy.
I haven't had an orthodox career, and I've wanted more than anything to have your respect. The first time I didn't feel it, but this time I feel it, and I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!
I mean, the only thing that matters to me is getting to the work - getting to do the work. And I don't really care where it is: whether it's on stage or on television or in film.
The Oscars are really nice, but the best part is that I had the opportunity to do that kind of work.
