Loretta Swit

I'm an art collector, have been for years, and I paint. Needless to say, the artwork in my houses, apartment is extensive.

If you care enough, you make a difference.

It wasn't so much that I was all alone on stage, but it was the realization of how much you need the response-you need the audience to tell you where to go.

Shirley Valentine is a beautiful character and so well written. What Shirley speaks and thinks is so logical.

Hot Lips changed a lot in eleven years. Initially, Margaret Houlihan behaved as though a man were the only thing that could complete her life, and she didn't see what richness her life contained. She gained a lot of self-esteem through the years, and she came to realize that what she did, what she offered, was valuable.

My parents didn't want me to go into show business. They were afraid of what would happen if I didn't succeed. They wanted me to get married and have babies. I never saw marriage and family in my life.

My first thought in life was wanting to be an actor. I was in ballet slippers and on pointe as soon as I could walk. I always wanted to be an actress, not a mother or housewife.

Acting is not hiding to me; it's revealing. We give you license to feel. 'Hey, she's crying, so it's okay if I cry, too.' That's the most important thing in the world, because when you stop feeling, that's when you're dead.

Watching movies was like going to school for me. It still is. You're always learning. Even if it's bad, you're learning what not to do.

When I left the house to become an actress, my mother literally flung her body across the door and said, 'You're killing me!' It was a very strict household. That can be okay, but there was also no nourishment, either.

I love being creative in all forms.

I'm a movie buff. My mom would take me to a double feature. We'd come out, go have Chinese food, and then go back into another cinema and see another double feature. I feel I'm a child of the movies.

Television is hard work. It's all hard work. Theatre is hard work. I tell you, I have bruises from changing backstage. Those quick changes are really difficult.

I've played some great ladies. Mame. Agnes Gooch in 'Mame,' when I started out in the '60s... it's a beautiful role.

I just can't remember a time when I wasn't involved with animals and wildlife.

I haven't met a horse I didn't love. I love caring for them, cleaning them. I love doing my own tack and giving them treats.

I never really thought it out. I just woke up one day, and I was involved in all these projects. They just seemed to involve animals.

Our planet is dying. Whales will be extinct before we ever get to know them. They say these creatures are so intelligent. They may disappear from the face of the Earth before we know them, and that is a great tragedy.

Actors are always identified with certain parts. To some, Marlon Brando will always be the Godfather. That's just how it is, whether the character happens to be your own personal favorite role or not. You can't ever get away from it.

I have certain strong interests that fill my life as well.

You only know what you know.

It's never too late to go out and get that feeling back.

If you're 90 and look good in a mini-skirt, go for it. What is 'age appropriate'? Such nonsense. My mother lived to 106, so what's middle-age? Seventy is the new 50.

Alan Alda is a dear friend, nothing like the cynical, bitter Hawkeye.

So much of life is luck. One day you make a right turn and get hit by a car. Turn left and you meet the love of your life. I think I made the correct turn.