Yvette Mimieux

Most parts for women have them reacting to something a man has done. Women never instigate any action; they only react it. We women have become accustomed to doing that.

The less I give of myself to the public, the less I can be hurt.

I've never been one to enjoy just sitting around.

Age should be no consideration between two people romantically or sexually involved. Social approval shouldn't even be considered.

There's no reason women in their late 30s and 40s shouldn't be thought of sexually.

In 'Forbidden Love,' my character is a divorcee who has an affair with a young doctor. They are blissfully happy and have everything going for them. But their peers, friends, her daughter, and his family disapprove, and the affair ends.

I believe women should be feminine.

I've been painting all my life, and I'm serious about it. I use it as more or less an outlet.

Stage acting lets you feel the character a little better, but in the movies, you have to keep regenerating your energy level when shooting scenes over and over again.

To give a successful character portrayal on stage or on film, the part has to be played inside of you.

Have you noticed that they write parts for mute women but not for mute men? It must be a masculine dream: a woman who can feel and hear but not talk!

Like many other tourists, I'm afraid I fell in love with Paris at first sight.

I'd love to spend a year at the Sorbonne studying French culture.

While I prefer generally more personal dramas in which I can stretch myself... and while I'm not a science fiction buff, I consider '2001' a great film, absolutely enthralling; at 'Star Wars' I had a fabulous time, and, at 'Alien,' while it was a silly story, I was knocked out.

Women are good at emotional things. We are emotional people. It is much harder to be cold and unemotional.

The critics mostly review the budgets when they go to see a big-budget movie. They are out to get a big-budget movie. On the other hand, if they review a picture that is done as a graduate thesis by some college film student for $25,000, it is almost sure to be admired and respected.

I think we have to be very careful how we treat people, even when we are supposedly trying to help them.

I don't like to tell my age. Not because of vanity, but because in 10 years when I look 37, producers will think I'm too old for some parts.

There are tribes in Africa who believe that a camera steals a little part of your soul, and in a way, I think that's true about living your private life in public. It takes something away from your relationships; it cheapens them.

I decided I didn't want to have a totally public life. When the fan magazines started wanting to take pictures of me making sandwiches for my husband, I said no.

I suppose I had a soulful quality. I was often cast as a wounded person, the 'sensitive' role.

I had always loved Haitian art, but I stumbled onto Haiti quite by accident. I went there on vacation after finishing a movie called 'The Delta Factor,' and I met lot of painters and fell in love with their folk art.

I have more control of the material if I produce. I can be much more active in choosing the writer, shaping the script, casting and editing the film.

I learned to act reactively very well because those were the sorts of roles I was given for 20 years. It was hard to break out of that typecasting.

I love wild, baroque, slightly excessive theatrical ideas, and because television needs so much material, there's a chance to get some of those odd ideas done.