Maureen O'Hara Quotes

After Star Trek, I was with the top agencies, but producers and directors did not know what to do with me.

There never were any roles for my kind of acting. That's the story of my life.

It's harder in the States. I'm much more inclined to get offered things that are a lot straighter and heavier and dramatic. And they go by looks, too. If you look like a leading man, then that's what they will consider you for.

I got pigeonholed a bit. When I wanted to be an actress, I never wanted to be the kind of actress I became.

I can't get the serious roles. People don't see me that way.

There was a time when 'Batman' really kept me from getting some pretty good roles, and I was asked to do what I figured were important features. However, Batman was there, and very few people would take a chance on me walking onto the screen. And they'd be taking people away from the story.

I was told 'You should just do commercials and Bollywood' and Bollywood would be said to me like it's a bad thing.

Viola Davis is a perfect example of somebody who's so much better than the parts she has the opportunity to play.

Well, to tell you honestly, I am still waiting for much better roles. And I am slightly surprised that despite seeing the quality and hard work, the Hindi film industry is still not creating projects that I can be a part of.

I haven't signed as many films as I'd like to because there are no good roles, as disheartening as it is to say.

I never got a lead role and I make no bones about it.

When I read for 'Girls,' I was like, 'The script says 'Handsome Carpenter,' so someone else is going to get the part. They'll have someone handsome, not me.'

As it is, I have a limited range as an actor - light comedy. I have never been a fan of romantic comedies, and yet that is what I have ended up mostly doing.

My first audition was for a commercial for the lottery. I didn't get it, so I hate the lottery.

Some of the things I've been in are comedic, but I don't get considered for true comedies because I'm a 'dramatic' actor.

No one ever let me be a bad guy once I started working more frequently after I got out of college and started pursuing acting. I just got all of the good-guy roles because if I walk in the room, not a lot of people believe me as a bad guy.

Your basic physical makeup does influence the parts you're offered. If you're big, they cast you either dumb or tough, although there are exceptions. Clint Eastwood and James Arness carved out niches for themselves in Westerns. I just hope I won't be faced with doing 'Li'l Abner' in dinner theater for the rest of my career.

I must say that when I left 'Doctor Who,' I was filled with... not loathing, but I was incredibly annoyed because I wanted to do more television and films and the only thing that people could ever see me in was a recreation of what I had done.

For actors, we always feel like there shouldn't be any divide for anybody. The industry is the one that kind of creates the idea that if you're such-and-such an actor, you can't be on the big screen.

Many times an actor is stuck for the lack of choices. The same happened with me when I started my career. That was the time when mainly romantic films were being made, and that is what I was offered all the time.

It never really worked out for me in my own country. They said, 'You're not famous enough for the lead roles, and you're too present for the supporting roles - you'd overpower the lead.'

I've spent my entire career on horseback or on a motorcycle. It boxes you in, the way people perceive you. I read a lot of scripts. Most of 'em go to other actors.

I would love to play your common, everyday guy, but I never get cast as that.

I have about as much control over how I look as the guy who's short and looks more like a character actor - we both have the same drive to be actors and we both have the same drive to assume these different characters, it's just harder for me to get the chance because they look at me and say, 'Oh, he's this type,' and they stamp me.

When I was young, I was rather attractive, and I thought that I would be a leading lady. I always thought of myself as a dramatic actress, but of course the opportunities for blacks weren't there at the time.