Judy Holliday Quotes

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Judy Holliday

Profession : Actress

Birth : June 21, 1921

I get very nervous whenever I think about it. I've never done a serious play, and I have such awe of the woman - she's really my only idol. It's going to be a big stretch - certain people come out on stage and your face muscles automatically tense and you get ready to smile.

Judy Holliday

Lovers have a right to betray you... friends don't.

Judy Holliday

I've always loved words. I ate up all the books I could get my hands on, and when I couldn't get books, I read candy wrappers and labels on cereal and toothpaste boxes.

Judy Holliday

Nobody can give a good performance unless the authors and composers have written a good part, a fact which is often overlooked.

Judy Holliday

Of course I work hard. Why shouldn't I? Who am I to think I should get things the easy way?

Judy Holliday

We were wavering around like a ship without a sail.

Judy Holliday

I thought I was learning about show business. The more painful it was, the more important I thought the experience must be. Hating it, I convinced myself it must be invaluable.

Judy Holliday

If you can handle a nightclub audience successfully, you can handle anything.

Judy Holliday

I think Billie is the kind of girl who would let her hips swing loose.

Judy Holliday

He didn't maintain my illusion of myself, he gave me an illusion of myself. Before I met him, I never thought of myself as an actress. Boy, he sidetracked me in a great way!

Judy Holliday

I could talk about him all day. He's one of the most wonderful things that ever happened to me.

Judy Holliday

They weren't interested in entertainment. They were tough. I learned one trick, which was to be quieter than they were until they had to look at you. It took a lot of agressiveness.

Judy Holliday

I suppose that if I could have quit, I would have, because in those days I never wanted to be an actress, the acting was something to do while I waited for a chance to study writing and directing. But I guess I was just meant to be an actress. Because, here I am.

Judy Holliday

We gained a great deal of prestige, but not much money. We liked to work so much we couldn't hide it and the club owners paid us accordingly.

Judy Holliday

Acting is a very limited form of expression and those who take it seriously are very limited people. I take it seriously.

Judy Holliday

I hated the whole idea of being an actress. I used to throw up before every performance and cry afterward.

Judy Holliday

I am not an 'instant' actor... to really do anything, I've got to try it five or six or a dozen times.

Judy Holliday

I want a part where I can use my own hair, my own voice, and maybe even be literate.

Judy Holliday

You have to be smart to play a dumb blonde over and over again and keep the audience's attention without extraordinary physical equipment.

Judy Holliday

I'm trying to eliminate every vestige of my own personality, style, approach and get into somebody else's skin. Sometimes I feel I've accomplished it. But when I don't, I'm nobody at all, having left myself at home.

Judy Holliday