I thought Sissy Hickey should be really skinny and leathery and have one of those really husky voices, but Del Shores kept saying, “I wrote this part for you.” He took me to his house and showed me pictures of all his Texas relatives, and they looked exactly like my family.
BETH GRANTMaybe the actors that used to turn down William Goldman’s scripts – where he wanted them to stretch and grow, and he was mad at ’em, and said, “Why won’t they be a real actor?” – maybe they just knew their audience. It’s too bad.
More Beth Grant Quotes
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My agent says, “You have an audition for the next Dustin Hoffman movie, playing a pioneer woman.” And I go, “All right!” I passed Barry Levinson in the hall on the way into my audition, and I saw him do a double-take. I think I looked so determined that I got the job right then.
BETH GRANT -
I’ve died so many times in so many movies. What is it about my face that people want to kill it? I’m sure they would’ve killed Kitty Farmer if they could’ve!
BETH GRANT -
I love smoking. I miss it every day of my life. If I found out that it didn’t cause cancer, I would go out and buy, like, eight cartons right now.
BETH GRANT -
I was so frustrated with my whole life that I walked up this hilltop and screamed at the heavens. It was very dramatic – but then again, I am an actress – and I said, “Fine! I’ll be a character actress! Just tell me what you want me to do!” I was so angry at the universe.
BETH GRANT -
Jessica Tandy. Nice company! And Ruth Gordon. They worked all along. She didn’t really get any big star recognition until Driving Miss Daisy. So what if it takes me that long? Slow and steady wins the race, right? Better a tortoise than a hare.
BETH GRANT -
If you just think Donnie Darkos a weird movie, you don’t want to think. You don’t want to feel your feelings. So yeah, I do want to shake ’em up.
BETH GRANT -
He’s such a comic genius. I hate to use that word, because everyone throws it around, but Steve Carell is channeling something.
BETH GRANT -
I built a career on my archetype, and I’m grateful, but I’m trying to stretch.
BETH GRANT -
There’s always that key to every character that lets you go to those places you need to go to. No matter how much you might hate the character, it makes you understand it.
BETH GRANT -
The Coens both give you direction, and then it’s up to you to kind of figure out the music of what they’re saying.
BETH GRANT -
Maybe the actors that used to turn down William Goldman’s scripts – where he wanted them to stretch and grow, and he was mad at ’em, and said, “Why won’t they be a real actor?” – maybe they just knew their audience. It’s too bad.
BETH GRANT -
I’m ready to do some classics. Maybe I wasn’t in the beginning. I weighed 179 pounds when I got to New York, and I had that thick Southern accent. I still talk Southern, but I can do without it.
BETH GRANT -
I never have compared myself to Jessica Tandy in any way, and that’s such a great role model for me to look at. I’m seriously going to put pictures of her in my dressing room and commune with her from now on, I think.
BETH GRANT -
As much as I love being an artist, I love being a mom even more.
BETH GRANT -
I knew Steve Carell because of Little Miss Sunshine, so I felt very comfortable with him. Maybe he always does it to guest stars, but I felt as though he was being particularly funny with me, and particularly stretching the boundaries of improvisation.
BETH GRANT