Edith Head Quotes

There was this wonderful trick of going to the theater with my parents and sitting in the audience under the watchful eye of an usher, and then these other people would come on the stage: They spoke differently and had different clothes and hair. Afterward, they would come back, and they were my parents again. It was magic.

In circuses, there is a lot of magic. Things become other things.

'Tis not need we know our every thought Or see the work shop where each mask is wrought Wherefrom we view the world of box and pit, Careless of wear, just so the mask shall fit And serve our jape's turn for a night or two.

When a magician lets you notice something on your own, his lie becomes impenetrable.

Actors and magicians are both performers, and they represent things that are not necessarily who they are.

As actors, we get to hide. You can change your hair and your accent, and it's not you. You have tricks, these masks.

We're actors. We're the opposite of people.

Every time you get on a stage or in front of a camera, the whole exercise is about imagination. You're constantly depicting something that doesn't exist, and trying to find the reality of it. Once you settle on that premise, everything else is a matter of degrees.

As an actor, we spend so much putting the mask on and trying to be someone you're not.

In a movie we try to deceive. In theaters, as they say, the deceived are the wisest.

I knew there was something special about the theater for me something beyond the regular reality, something that I could get into and transcend and become something other than myself.

Acting is exciting. It is different every time you do it.

In a lot of ways, the make-up was the character.

You can disguise any set with lights and shadows.

Acting is like a Halloween mask that you put on.

The actor should be able to create the universe in the palm of his hand.

Acting is magical. Change your look and your attitude, and you can be anyone.

A magician pulls a rabbit from a hat, and actors pull truth from fiction.

We all do role-play. Sometimes behind the camera, and sometimes in front of it. I am the few lucky ones who have been able to wear both hats and especially have been able to romance the camera in a believable way, and I hope that this romance between us never ends.

For actors, the idea is that you convince people you're someone you're not.

Acting is illusion, as much illusion as magic is - and not so much a matter of being real.

The idea of playing a part where I get to wear a completely undetectable hairpiece... you can't walk away from that.

There is a lot of comedy in magic, and magic going wrong, and also it is a dramatic subject.

That which is now a horse, even with a thought The rack dislimms, and makes it indistinct As water is in water

You may turn into an archangel, a fool, or a criminal—no one will see it. But when a button is missing—everyone sees that.