Olivia De Havilland Quotations

Famous people feel that they must perpetually be on the crest of the wave, not realising that it is against all the rules of life. You can't be on top all the time, it isn't natural.

Playing good girls in the 30s was difficult, when the fad was to play bad girls. Actually I think playing bad girls is a bore; I have always had more luck with good girl roles because they require more from an actress.

I read the Scriptures at the American Cathedral on Christmas and Easter; that's it. It's a task I love.

I had a very big crush on Errol Flynn during 'Captain Blood.' I thought he was absolutely smashing for three solid years, but he never guessed. Then he had one on me but nothing came of it. I'm not going to regret that; it could have ruined my life.

I wanted to be what my high-school civics and history teacher thought of as a good American. That automatically involved taking an interest in government.

We were like a stock company at Warners. We didn't know any of the stars from the other studios.

The one thing that you simply have to remember all the time that you are there, is that Hollywood is an oriental city. As long as you do that you might survive. If you try to equate it with anything else you'll perish.

There certainly is such a thing as screen chemistry, although I don't believe you find it frequently.

I would prefer to live forever in perfect health, but if I must at some time leave this life, I would like to do so ensconced on a chaise longue, perfumed, wearing a velvet robe and pearl earrings, with a flute of champagne beside me and having just discovered the answer to the last problem in a British cryptic crossword.

I don't feel the cold. It's my British blood!

If I watch 'Gone With the Wind,' I always find it interesting. I think, 'What's going to happen next? What's that character going to do?' But you know, you never really need to watch the films you made again. They stay inside you, always with you.

I don't need a fantasy life as once I did. That is the life of the imagination that I had a great need for. Films were the perfect means for satisfying that need.

I was just a mini-star when we did 'Gone With the Wind.'

I was quite thin, and I didn't have to worry until I had my appendix out and a mysterious metabolic change occurred.

I'm all for typewriters, with instant carbon copies, and seeing films in cinemas.

The TV business is soul crushing, talent destroying and human being destroying.

It's hard to keep on being civil when they ask you such annoying questions.

Of course we fight. What sisters don't battle?

all the French speak French - even the children. Many Americans and Britishers who visit the country never quite adjust to this, and the idea persists that the natives speak the language just to show off or be difficult.

My sister has decided to become an actress too. It has ruined the close-knittedness of our family life.

One must take what comes, with laughter.

I was shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of my sister, Joan Fontaine, and my niece, Deborah, and I appreciate the many kind expressions of sympathy that we have received.