Gloria Swanson Quotes

I have decided that when I am a star, I will be every inch and every moment a star.

All creative people should be required to leave California for three months every year.

I think all this talk about age is foolish. Every time I`m one year older, everyone else is too.

I`ve given my memoirs far more thought than any of my marriages. You can`t divorce a book.

When I die, my epitaph should read: She Paid the Bills. That`s the story of my private life.

I have gone through a long apprenticeship. I have gone through enough of being a nobody. I have decided that when I am a star, I will be every inch and every moment the star! Everybody from the studio gateman to the highest executive will know it." - in 1922

"It`s the saddest night of my life. I`m just twenty six. Where do I go from here?" (Swanson to her mother following her triumphant return to Hollywood in 1925 after making Madame Sans Gene in France.)

It`s amazing to find that so many people, who I thought really knew me, could have thought that `Sunset Boulevard` was autobiographical. I`ve got nobody floating in my swimming pool.

On Marlene Dietrich: "Her legs may be longer than mine, but unlike me, she doesn`t have 7 grandchildren."

After 16 years in pictures I could not be intimidated easily, because I knew where all the skeletons were buried.

After years of negotiating, I felt bitter and resentful about Mr. Lasky and Paramount and I knew I always would.

All they had to do was put my name on a marquee and watch the money roll in.

By the time I was 15, my mother had turned me into a real clotheshorse.

Hollywood has called me in turn the Clothes Horse, the Old Grey Mare -- and Death of a Saleswoman. Since my comeback in "Sunset Boulevard," I`m glad to say they`ve thought up a new title -- Gloss.

I am big. It`s the pictures that got small

As Daddy said, life is 95 percent anticipation.

(on Erich Von Stroheim) The experience of working with him was unlike any I had had in more than 50 pictures. He was so painstaking and slow that I would lose all sense of time, hypnotized by the man`s relentless perfectionism.

I was holding out for a picture I could take my grandchildren to see, something exciting and contemporary without senseless violence. (On her role in Airport 1975 (1974))

After seven years in one place, not to mention two marriages and 32 pictures, I felt I had earned a vacation.

At 26 I felt myself a victim rather than a victor in the realm of pictures.

I played my comedies like Duse, which is probably why I was so funny. (on her pre-deMille years as a comedienne at Mack Sennet)

A crisis arose when several newspapers questioned whether my singing voice was real. I had not sung-they wanted to know why.

Every victory is also a defeat.

Never say never, for if you live long enough, chances are you will not be able to abide by its restrictions. Never is a long, undependable time, and life is too full of rich possibilities to have restrictions placed upon it.

(on Erich von Stroheim) The experience of working with him was unlike any I had had in more than 50 pictures. He was so painstaking and slow that I would lose all sense of time, hypnotized by the man`s relentless perfectionism.

Hollywood has called me in turn the Clothes Horse, the Old Grey Mare -- and Death of a Saleswoman. Since my comeback in Sunset Blvd. (1950), I`m glad to say they`ve thought up a new title - "Gloss".

Every victory is also a defeat.

By the time I was 15, my mother had turned me into a real clotheshorse.

At 26, I felt myself a victim rather than a victor in the realm of pictures.

As Daddy said, life is 95 percent anticipation.

All they had to do was put my name on a marquee and watch the money roll in.

A crisis arose when several newspapers questioned whether my singing voice was real. I had not sung - they wanted to know why.

After years of negotiating, I felt bitter and resentful about Mr. Lasky (Jesse Lasky) and Paramount and I knew I always would.

After seven years in one place, not to mention two marriages and 32 pictures, I felt I had earned a vacation.

After 16 years in pictures I could not be intimidated easily, because I knew where all the skeletons were buried.

(On Marlene Dietrich) Her legs may be longer than mine, but unlike me, she doesn`t have 7 grandchildren.

It`s amazing to find that so many people, who I thought really knew me, could have thought that Sunset Blvd. (1950) was autobiographical. I`ve got nobody floating in my swimming pool.

(On her pre-Cecil B. DeMille years as a comedienne working for Mack Sennett) I played my comedies like Duse (serious classical actress Eleonora Duse), which is probably why I was so funny.

(On her role in Airport 1975 (1974)) I was holding out for a picture I could take my grandchildren to see, something exciting and contemporary without senseless violence.

(To her mother following her triumphant return to Hollywood in 1924 after making Madame Sans-Gêne (1924) in France) It`s the saddest night of my life. I`m just 26. Where do I go from here?

(In 1922) I have gone through a long apprenticeship. I have gone through enough of being a nobody. I have decided that when I am a star, I will be every inch and every moment the star! Everybody from the studio gateman to the highest executive will know it.

When I die, my epitaph should read "She Paid the Bills". That`s the story of my private life.

I`ve given my memoirs far more thought than any of my marriages. You can`t divorce a book.

I think all this talk about age is foolish. Every time I`m one year older, everyone else is too.

All creative people should be required to leave California for three months every year.

I have decided that when I am a star, I will be every inch and every moment a star.