Marylouise Burke Quotes

I'm an actress. In this sense, my profession is less complex than that of a model. True, they're into beauty in Hollywood, and it is age-related, but you can't put a girl with hot lips and no wrinkles and say: 'That's the mother of a 14-year-old.'

I had a very hard time accepting myself as a character actress because I wanted to be glamorous and a leading lady like everybody else. I looked in the mirror and thought I looked pretty good, but casting didn't ever see me that way.

I've been playing old parts forever. I play 93 quite often. When you've done it more than once, you take the hint. I think it's a great burden if you're one of those fantastic stars who've always been beautiful; then I think it's hard.

I'm just a pack mule. I've played leads and I've played character roles. Any actress in Hollywood will tell you as your age climbs, the leads thin.

And getting older, what's happening is, I play only mothers.

I was never an ingenue. I've always just been a character actor. When I was younger, it was a real problem, because I was never pretty enough. It was hard, not just for the lack of work, but because you have to face up to how people are looking at you.

Oh, I just love being a character actress. You have a lot of fun, and not only that, you save tons on cosmetic surgery because you never have to have liposuction.

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.

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?"

Sally Field looks amazing in general, never mind her age! She's a phenomenally talented actress and has had a career spanning so many decades.

This idea that being youthful is the only thing that's beautiful or attractive simply isn't true. I don't want to be an 'ageless beauty.' I want to be a woman who is the best I can be at my age.

I'm looking forward to playing the meatier roles you get in your 30s. The early 20s can be a hard time for an actress - it's always bombshell or romantic lead. The good stuff you can really sink your teeth into comes later.

Here in L.A. the standard of beauty is kind of ridiculous. I want to be doing this when I'm in my fifties and sixties and this isn't what I'm going to look like.

I played teen roles until high definition came out, and I could never understand it. I would go in for adult roles and be older than many of the people auditioning, but they'd cast the girl without a line on her face.

I don't want to be 45 competing with 20-year-olds, running to go get Botox. I want to be an expressive actor hired for the age that I am, portraying women who are my age: 40. I'm just hoping I can find some of those roles to play. Otherwise, I have to find something else.

You can be beautiful with big breasts; you can be beautiful in your 40s. If you don't have perfect ankles, still you can move your legs in a certain way and look very sexy.

A supermodel is kind of that first-name recognition, but I'm not quite ready for that super part yet, and I'm afraid that by the time I am, I'm going to be too old anyway.

If you look at most beauty advertisements, you would think that makeup is only for beautiful women in their early twenties.

I think I'm a character actress in a leading lady's body, but the industry doesn't really see me that way.

I don't like getting older, but there's nothing I can do. Hitting 60 wasn't great, but I think I was lucky in not being that beautiful; it can be really cruel on people who have been stunning.

I don't think I'm the best-looking actress around. I'm not Katrina Kaif; she is stunningly beautiful. There are some roles that might need a beautiful girl, and there would be a doubt in a director's mind whether he should cast me. But that perception will change with time. I'd like to believe actresses look better with experience.

A film writer is very much like a party girl. While you're good-looking and still unlined, the possibilities seem endless. But your appeal doesn't last long and you're quickly discarded.

I didn't want to let women down. One of the stereotypes I see breaking is the idea of aging and older women not being beautiful.

If you build a career on being a beautiful young woman, that's going to be a short career. I have to establish I can act. I don't want to have to visit the plastic surgeon every two years.

I didn't have any confidence in my beauty when I was young. I felt like a character actress, and I still do.