Quotes

[on working with Joan Crawford on Rien n'est trop beau (1959)] She had just lost Alfred Steele, and there were moments when she was having a very difficult time. I saw that she was very vulnerable and that she was just about holding it together. I saw her several times, sitting by herself before a take and crying her eyes out. I brought her a box of tissue and gave her a sign that indicated, "You're going to be fine!" and that meant a lot to her.

[on Joan Crawford] I just don't understand how she allowed that strong outward personality, allowed the fragility, the vulnerability, the fear to overcome her near the end. It seems to me that even when we were doing La meurtrière diabolique (1964) that she was also having her drinks before everyone went home. That can cause you to do a lot of things. You don't handle things well. It is ironic that at the last part of her life that she allowed herself to not be her best. We mustn't forget that there's a dark side to every great person. We have to remember that we cannot expect everybody to be perfect.

She was Joan Crawford the star and that's how she wanted everybody to see her. One of the things she constantly said to me was you never go to the market even unless you're dressed the best you can possibly dress. She wanted to be the lady and she was wanting to be royalty with almost a tiara type look with the jewels. I'm sure that she felt she owed all this to her public. You got the idea that the public wanted to see you as a movie star. And once you were there you owed it to those people out there to be your best.

[on David Janssen] It was always a joy to work with an instinctive actor, and that's what David was.

[on the power of traditions that made the good actors great] What's truly important is that you're not going to be inspired every single day of your life. This fundamental learning is having the skills to save you from falling into an abyss of non-creativity, inability, paralysis. If you're blank, you can still turn to the rudimentary moves.

Inspiration comes most when you're free to use your imagination. It's the daydreamer, it's looking out of the window - but you have to be free to look out of the window.

[on the power of individual voice] The more you know, the more you have to know. Be a positive influence on your own generation and the generations to come. Tell stories that mean something. Some of it may impact someone else's life and it may even impact your own.

If you get good people around you, they inspire you. I've been lucky to have that.