Lee Grant Quotes

I've been married to one Marxist and one Fascist, and neither one would take the garbage out.

Every actor in the room honored Sidney for being there so many years before. And everybody was so moved to be at a place where history was being made again. It was tangible.

When I became a director, I wanted to convince a very reluctant Sidney into allowing me to go on the journey of his life. Sidney had gone ahead of every other African American actor.

I saw Warren's eyes attach themselves to something in the distance. I turned around and saw in the next room, the dining room, Dolly Parton, quietly sitting at the table, alone, scribbling on a pad. In an instant, I could feel myself dropped as this new yummy dish was making Warren's mouth water. He actually licked his lips as he left me on the couch and sat down next to her at the table. I followed him like a jilted wife, jealous, clumsy. I needn't have bothered; Dolly was immune. Warren tried the whole deck of cards. Dolly concentrated on her numbers, adding, subtracting, and smiling adorably at his attempts. Watching her, I couldn't blame him for trying. It was 1975. Dolly was all cream and roses, just astonishing and nice.

Somehow he promised each of us a great romance, without a touch or a word. He was an accomplished tease.

Kirk is a man, and he loves it. He loves women.

It's a very good feeling to be around a man who thinks women are juicy.

What goes on between a father and a son, which is usually such a private matter, is that they are able to be honest with each other, and be honest with me, as a director. It's just remarkable.

Shared laughter creates a bond of friendship.

(Alfred's sister, Olive Deering, was famous in those years for her sentiments during her filming of the endless DeMille epic The Ten Commandments: "Who do I have to fuck to get off this picture?")

You don't need a love scene to show love.

I was married to a Fascist and I was married to a Marxist and neither one of them ever took out the garbage.

I don't think I fit the Marilyn Maxwell mode.

My instinct was that it was Sidney's childhood in the Bahamas that gave him the fearlessness to fight racism. So this documentary was a kind of rounding out of what had begun in that scene in In the Heat of the Night.

The stewardess was none other than Brenda Vaccaro, my great friend in real life. Brenda decks me. I fall to the floor of the plane, out of commission. She's saved the day. Brenda and I took longer to do our fight scene than any of our other scenes, because we fell down laughing for three takes. The wonderful absurdity of my turning the heavy wheel to open the plane door, her hand on my shoulder, turning me to look at her cute face, then doing our rehearsed one, two, three punches and shoves, just broke us up. My legs were jelly, I was wheezing with laughter - it was the closest I'd gotten to being in a school play. Sympathy for our nervous young director pulled us together just enough to get through it.

Things happen in your life that leave an imprint. Injustice left the deepest imprint on mine.

This is our lives. The way to give it dignity is to tell the truth.

I know what you go through when you learn someone close to you has died.