Gleason Quotes

(2005 Academy Awards acceptance speech for Best Actress in a Leading Role) "I don`t know what I did in this life to deserve all this. I`m just a girl from a trailer park who had a dream. I never thought this would ever happen, let alone be nominated. And a working actor, for that matter. And now, this. I thank the Academy. I`m eternally grateful for this great honor. I would also like to acknowledge my fellow nominees, Annette, Imelda, Kate, and Catalina, your work inspires me beyond words. I am going to start by thanking my husband because I`d like to think I learned from past mistakes. Chad, you`re my everything. Thank you for your support. It means the world. I would never be standing here if it weren`t for the -- each and every one of the brilliant people I had surrounding me, supporting me and believing in me. Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi, thank you for sending me this most marvelous script. You will never know how grateful I am. Paul Haggis, for writing this beautiful script. Our other producers extraordinaire: Albert S. Ruddy (Al Ruddy), Clint, Rob Lorenz (Robert Lorenz). Phyllis Huffman, our casting director. My trainers, Grant Roberts and Hector Roca, you pushed me further than I ever thought I could push myself up to that last pound, actually to that last ounce. I thank you. My sparring partners who were so patient. And everyone at Gleason`s. Well, the ever-amazing Morgan Freeman. Tom Stern, our cinematographer, you are brilliant. Joel Cox, our editor, you`re amazing. You know? I`m going to thank my mom for believing in me from the beginning. My dad, for his support. My agents, Josh Lieberman, Tony Lipp, Kelly Tiffan, John Campisi. Jason Weinberg, my manager (You can`t do that. I haven`t gotten to Clint yet! I saved him for the end) Karl Austen (Karl R. Austen), Jeff Bernstein, my lawyers. And then Clint. Clint Eastwood. Thank you for allowing me to go on this journey with you. Thank you for believing in me. You`re my "macushla" Thank you. Warner brothers, as well. And you know what? Wait! Troy Nankin, my best friend and publicist. Thank you!"

My grandfather was a very talented man but he was never part of my emotional life so I refuse to make him part of my professional life. -On his grandfather, Jackie Gleason.

I wound up signing to RCA Victor as a trumpeter, guesting on shows like Jackie Gleason`s Honeymooners.

Gleason became like a mentor of mine. I had Gleason helping me on television, Godfrey on radio.

Look at Gleason in The Honeymooners. He was humorous but the way he lived wasn`t really humorous. He was a bus driver. Who wants to be a bus driver? He didn`t have any money and he was not famous. But despite that, the show is humorous.

Jackie Gleason said that comedy is the most exacting form of dramatic art, because it has an instant critic: laughter.

On his public persona: "I`m basically not a public person. It`s like (Jackie Gleason) said, `If you go out all the time to restaurants and so on, people say, "Oh, he`s everywhere," and if you stay home and eat dinner, they say, "Oh, he`s a recluse.