James Ivory comes close to the actors for the first rehearsal. He more or less lets you direct yourself and then will only correct you if he finds it incorrect.

I had two children. I had a nanny to manage my kids.

I went to Kerala in India, to learn Ayurveda, which was fantastic.

I seemed to belong to three countries: I had an apartment in Paris, a house in Hollywood, and when I married British theater director Peter Hall, I moved to London.

I toured the Middle Eastern countries with the ballet.

You have actresses like Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, who have roles specially written for them.

I got as little as a $75 a week when I started.

I noticed that when I went to see the rushes or the first showing that there was something quite human in this desperation, and I hadn`t planned it.

Fred Astaire was a more formal, trained dancer who loved waltzing and only danced with the girls.

No matter what you do, your person comes through. You can`t completely change yourself on the screen. I had in mind someone colder and more in control, but I couldn`t do it. This human note just crept in and maybe it`s better.

I longed to break out of the system and do different roles.

There were many good actresses in my time like Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds, but I was the only dancer.

In order to have great happiness you have to have great pain and unhappiness - otherwise how would you know when you`re happy?

[on Warren Beatty] Anyone who has come close to Warren has shed quite a few feathers. He tends to maul you.

James Ivory is very, very subtle in his study of human behavior. I think that he`s very aware of the subtleties of women behavior.

I was trying to be very at ease in this arrogant person, and very worldly, but something human came into the part. I hate to say that. I wanted to be totally worldly.

It`s very difficult to marry into another civilization.

We were all ruled by the studio system. I signed a contract for seven years.

Even now I feel furious with myself because whenever there`s a camera pointed towards me my MGM training makes me smile. I don`t like it. You can see it on all the people who came from that era because there was no question of them not smiling for the camera. Even Katharine Hepburn -- and God knows she was a dramatic actress -- if the camera is on her she smiles.

I think it`s the end of progress if you stand still and think of what you`ve done in the past. I keep on.

The American is wholeheartedly for love and romance at any cost.

I know a lot of Americans in Paris who have married Frenchmen. They keep bringing up their experience, the clash of civilizations, the clash of personalities.

I hate biographies which say, I was called to such and such an office, and he offered me so and so, and I got so and so money. I find that very tedious. The best biographies are written by other people.

The French? Upper class. Now, this is not all of France, it`s just the French upper class, and it`s very true. That`s the way that they are, yes.

I`m not a ballerina. I`m a hoofer.

The most important thing is to remain active and to love what you are doing.

I regret not doing a film that I was offered with Clark Gable because the script was not good enough.

I went to the Tokyo Film Festival in Japan because I love Japanese cinema.

It`s the first film that I made where the director was not present under the camera, and it threw me.

Cinema will always have an important role to play in society.

When I did small films like Lily and Buenos Vista, everyone thought my career would be ruined.

The studio system collapsed only when Elizabeth Taylor charged $1 million for Cleopatra.