Quotes

Acting is my life. The profession can break my heart. In fact, it already has several times. But I love it.

[on Desert Desperados (1959)] My figure's always been sort of hidden, but, brother, it isn't in this picture.

[on Desert Desperados (1959)] I've never had a chance to be sexy or to wear scanty clothes in Hollywood, and I'm hoping there won't be any trouble. But you know those Italian film makers - this movie will come as a shock to some people.

[on Beyond the Forest (1949)] Bette Davis was great. I kept blowing my lines in one scene with her because they were so awful to try to say. I finally told the director that and Bette immediately came to my rescue. "She's right," Bette shouted. "This girl is absolutely right." Later she told me, "Ruthie, never forget what you did today. . . never be afraid to fight for what you know is right." And I never did forget.

[on Kirk Douglas] He surprised me on the second day of shooting by saying, "Do you know that this picture [Champion (1949)] is going to make you?" I couldn't believe that but Kirk insisted and even offered to make a bet on it. If I had taken the bet I would have lost, for the role of Emma did more for my career than any other role.

My happiest 26 days in the movies were spent making the picture Champion (1949). For, though you hear a great deal about teamwork in Hollywood, you almost never see as much of it as we did while shooting this film. Whenever there was a question about a scene, we'd hold a group conference, complete with producer, director and cast, to thrash the matter out. Each suggestion was not only considered but also thoroughly discussed. . . All this was immensely helpful to me in playing the role of Emma, for I was very young in pictures then, and this was quite a different type of role from the few I'd played.

[1951] I realized one day a long time ago that the toughest obstacle to overcome was me. I could take care of the outside things. It was the inside I had to control. If I can beat myself, I decided, I can beat anything.

[on her father's carnival sideshow] It wasn't a very big one or a very fancy one, but it was the most exciting thing in the world to me. I would hang around it hour after hour. I even hated to take the time to go home to lunch. I still get weak with nostalgia whenever I look at a merry-go-round.

[on her mother, Mary Roman, whose nickname was "Suki"] She had show business in her blood, too. She was a wonderful dancer, and if she'd been given a chance she would have become a great one.

[1951] I still have so much to learn, but one thing I do know. If I never do anything else from here on in, I have the satisfaction of knowing I did exactly what I set out to do when I came out here [Hollywood] - to stay until I proved myself, no matter how tough it got to be.

It's strange how you dream about how great it will feel when you finally get on top, all the things you'll do, yet when it happens you're so involved with new problems, new struggles, that you don't have the time or the energy to wallow in your success.

I guess I love acting so much I can't bear not to be involved with it.

Most people don't know how many heartbreaking years there are behind a success in this business. All they can see is that you're a star with your name in lights.

I began to get bits in pictures with here and there a better part sandwiched in. And then began further tests, one after the other, until I had had eighty of them - count them, eighty! - with some of the most provocative and generally unsatisfying results imaginable. For instance, another girl and I were tested for the lead in a serial picture, Jungle Princess [Jungle Queen (1945)], at Universal-International. I won . . . but did I? Yes, I got the role of the serial queen but the other girl got the star part in a Walter Wanger feature! The name of the picture was Salome, Where She Danced (1945). The name of the girl was Yvonne De Carlo.

I was tested for Crossfire (1947). Gloria Grahame got the part. I was tested for The Killers (1946). Winner - Ava Gardner. I tried out for That Wonderful Urge (1948). Jayne Meadows got it. Again I did my stuff, this time for Good Sam (1948). Joan Lorring got what I was after. I got the smaller role. At 20th Century-Fox I made what I thought was the best test of my life, a Technicolor scene for Burlesque [When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948)]. After seeing it I was sure I was in. I wasn't. The contract was handed to Jean Wallace.

[1951] My father died when I was so young I scarcely remember him. Sooky [the nickname of her mother, Mary Roman] seldom speaks of my father and I've learned very little about him except that he was an educated man whereas Sooky, to this day, can neither read nor write. But . . . she is a great teacher. She taught me to live, to accept pain without complaining, and to never, never give up.

I was christened Norma but when a fortuneteller told Sooky the name Norma would bring bad luck to the child, Sooky, being superstitious, changed my name to Ruth.

I'm grateful to the [Warner Bros.] studio. They gave me a buildup I couldn't have gotten if I hadn't been under contract. I admit I worked hard. I did around eight pictures in one year. I scarcely had time to get married. I worked up until 7:30 on Strangers on a Train (1951) the night we were flying to Las Vegas to get married. That was a Saturday night, and I had to be back at work at 9:30 Monday morning. But I was lucky to have made all those pictures. I got good experience. Then I was off the screen for two years while raising a family. It was fortunate that I had that backlog of pictures.

[1953] I'm either very sweet or very bad in pictures, there seems to be no in-between.