"I had a very good life of my own."

"Audiences always sound like they're glad to see me, and I'm damned glad to see them. If they want you, you want to do it."

"I did this picture. I did that picture. I went skiing. I did another picture. Then I went swimming. Who gives a damn?"

"Books written by actresses are for the birds. Besides what would I write? That somebody was looking for an Italian type to play the ingenue in a film and I might do?"

"It takes a very long time to be young."

"I bet you think an egg is something you casually order for breakfast when you can't think of anything else. Well, so did I once, but that was before the egg and I."

"After a night of playing to an audience, I have a sense of fulfillment which I never had with a day's work on the screen."

"I know what's best for me, after all I have been in the Claudette Colbert business longer than anybody."

"Plans are one thing, and life is another."

"I married a wonderful doctor, and I was very happy-- Period!"

"I never thought of my career as the primary thing in my life. I looked upon acting as a job, and now, frankly, I regret it. I think of all the things I could have done. I just let parts come to me. I never went after them."

"I've always believed that acting is instinct to start with; you either have it or you don't."

"Hollywood was not my dream. I only left Broadway when the crash came. The Depression killed the theater, and pictures were manna from heaven."

"If I couldn't laugh, I'd rather die."

"I don't believe in following fashion except when it suits you. That's what most women haven't learned. They should study themselves critically in the mirror from all angles. There would be fewer mistakes. I had the advantage of studying films and stills."

"It matters more what's in a woman's face than what's on it."

"I can't work up to my best level if there isn't a consistent level of professionalism from all parties; it's as simple as that."

"It took me years to figure out that you don't fall into a tub of butter, you jump for it."

"I've always believed in the basic institution of the little black dress with a touch of white at the throat."

"Men don't get smarter when they grow older. They just lose their hair."

"When Dietrich, Lombard, and I were all working for Paramount... I was the girl next door-- but a chic girl next door. Marlene was sexy; and Carole Lombard was the girl next door but crazy."

"Most of us don't know about happiness until it's over."

"I've had a lovely life. I've been blessed. The only bad thing is that my husband died much too soon. When I went on stage, I had success; when I went on the screen, I had success. Well, my first marriage wasn't too successful. But my life has been wonderful, and for a book I think you have to have had a lot of trouble or a lot of sexual activity. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm afraid mine is not the kind of life that sells books."

"Why do grandparents and grandchildren get along so well? They have the same enemy-- the mother!"

"You have no idea what a long-legged gal can do without doing anything."

 

Books