Felicity Kendal Quotes

My career seems to have worked out OK, especially since I turned 40. I've always had a character part, mind you - I've never played the princess. But if you're used to doing that, it must be soul-destroying to hit 40 and suddenly find there's nothing for you to do.

This idea of the world expecting you to remain an ingenue forever - it's a very short shelf life if you're going to commit to that as your career, and I knew that early.

Movie acting is a great job for your twenties: You travel all over, you have affairs with people, and you throw yourself into one part and then another. It gets more challenging as you get older, and it's not just having a daughter, it's wanting to have your own life and be yourself.

Character roles definitely age better than your ingenues. You don't get to keep doing that.

I've made the transition from star to character actor and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

It's so nice after 10 years as a blond actress in Hollywood to have people let you do smart things.

I love when I am not typecast. I've been acting for 50 years. I was such a baby face; I was playing children until I was in my 30s, which frustrated me enormously. Now that I am 65 and getting to play women in their 50s, I am getting paid back for having to play children for so long.

As an actor, there's nothing worse than the sound of 'seven years'. I'm sure to some people it sounds amazing, but to us, it's, like, seven years of playing the same person.

I think in terms of a career trajectory, it's good for people to be reminded that, in spite of seeing me a million times a day on a show for ten years playing the same character, I'm an actor, and actors like to play different people.

Saying, 'I'm going to hang up my hat today, and I'm retiring,' it's not a concept for me, and it never has been. I figure, when I'm 81, I'll play 81-year-old parts, hopefully.

I've never tried to reach a certain demographic of an audience or try to say, 'OK, now I'm going to do this type of film to transition myself into more adult roles.' Or a romantic hero. Or whatever it may be - you know what I mean?

When I joined the industry, people were not very appreciative of models turning to acting.

I sort of went 'Oh, great. I'm getting these great roles and I love doing them, but I'm going to be Anthony Perkins for the rest of my life.'

I want to do amazing roles fit for my age in 30 years. I'm sure I'll be less popular and have less offers then, but I think I'll be able to do act well for my age at the time.

The only reason I ever thought about retiring from the front part of the camera as opposed to the back is sometimes you think, "How many roles are there for someone my age?"

I started as an actor in the theater playing a lot of character parts, and suddenly, I found myself in this place where it felt like I was getting locked into a kind of a stereotype, and it did bother me.

In N.Y.C., I auditioned for mostly 'quirky friend' roles. Since casting directors in L.A. lacked a preconceived notion of me, I was able to reinvent my type a bit, which was essential in booking the role of Amanda on 'Ugly Betty.' I don't believe I would have auditioned for that role in N.Y.

I don't think of myself as a character actress - that's become a phrase which means you've had it.

Everybody gets to a stage when it's time to move on. I was bored, and the band wasn't going anywhere, so I left. I did a couple of shows on Broadway and some other things. I was busy. I just wasn't making records.

A lot of actors in my age bracket look at being still standing as pretty good.

There's a certain cruelty to being on a big screen as your eyelids start to sag and your hair falls out and turns gray that you either have to be able to handle or not. What you can't do is try to force yourself into roles that you could have played or would have played ten years earlier.

I think that, on television and in film, I will continue to be the mother to hot boys until, inevitably, I am their grandmother.

When someone gets closely related to a character they play on TV, it's very hard to break that mold and go on to do something else.

I found at a certain point in my acting career that I was just bored. I had too much energy. I had too many ideas.

I don't really want to play Will Poulter for the rest of my life, because that's boring.