There are several things iconic about Sissy Hickey character – even just sounds. Like, “Awww.” People love that sound! “Awww.” I actually didn’t want to do the role, because I didn’t think I looked like a smoker – even though I used to be a smoker.
BETH GRANTJessica 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.
More Beth Grant Quotes
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I never have broken up in comedy, ever. There’s something about me that I just don’t break on camera – maybe because I’m just so cheap, and I know how expensive it is to shoot – but I broke on Sordid Lives, and I broke on The Office. Those are the only two times in my life.
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At Rain Man, I was 38. And before that, I had really just started working when I was 36. I was very late. So I’ve got time, right? As long as I stay healthy and eat right.
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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 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.
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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 -
Reality television, anybody can be a star at any minute.
BETH GRANT -
Sometimes I’ll say, “When Sandy Bullock and I were doing Speed – the movie, not the drug.” Just in case someone’s listening.
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.
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Tone is a very difficult thing. You can’t write tone, I don’t think. You can try – you certainly try. I write too, so I know I’m trying desperately to communicate to whoever’s going to direct my pieces, the way I see the humor. But it’s very difficult.
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 -
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.
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As much as I love being an artist, I love being a mom even more.
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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.
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I’d much rather insult people and make ’em angry. Donnie Darko’s very controversial. Not all of my friends like it. Honestly, it’s almost become a test for me. If somebody says they don’t like Donnie Darko, I think, “Oh, I don’t know you as well as I thought I did.”
BETH GRANT -
My husband and I can’t get through dinner without being defensive. We’ve been married 24 years, and I love my husband to death, but sometimes I say, “What are we? Two injured creatures who can’t talk to each other without going, like, ‘Ahhh!’?”
BETH GRANT