Kim Novak Quotes

1. Well, I'm Czech, but Polish, Czech, no matter, it's my name.  





2. I'm an emotional person.

3. The head of publicity of the Hollywood studio where I was first under contract told me: "You're a piece of meat, that's all". It wasn't very nice but I had to take it. When I made my first screen test, the director explained to everyone: "Don't listen to her, just look".

4. (describing her perfect day) It would include painting, of course, and riding my horse and being with animals. I would be outdoors exploring new territory, experiencing the camaraderie of creatures that know you, that let you in and share their appreciation of life. Then there's more joy in taking all that and expressing it in imagery on canvas. I'm lucky enough to live on a river, where there's always something wonderful and new coming along with the flow. Sure, I have my regrets sometimes, but when I look at life, and the river flowing, I feel nothing but joy in knowing that I've chosen the right path - and I didn't need to cut down any trees to do it.

5. Sometimes I'll catch a movie on TV - something that's beautifully acted and directed - and I'll cry my eyes out thinking: "I wish I'd done that one!" But then it passes. The next day I'll go out in nature and paint a picture and be truly excited.

6. The script was always the most important thing to me and I loved the script. For one thing, I've always admired trees. I just worship them. Think what trees have witnessed, what history, such as living through the Civil War, yet they still survive.

7. Storms come down, houses are wiped out, people drown, but every last little palm is there after the storm. Man is always saying: "I will overwhelm". Why can't he bend like the little palms? And rise again. Isn't that better than being washed away?

8. I already hated that gray suit and then having to go through putting on that wig with a false front - again made me feel so trapped inside this person who was desperately wanting to break out of it but she was so caught up in the web of deception that she couldn't.

9. I tried so hard with movies like "Vertigo" and "Middle of the Night" and others. I felt those would show me that it's only a matter of time before I'd find the right one to reach out and touch people.

10. (on making "Liebestraum", and why she hasn't made another movie since then) I know Mike Figgis thinks I'm a total bitch. That role was fabulous, full of depth, and when I interpreted it the way I thought was evident in the incredible script, he said: "We're not making a Kim Novak movie, just say the lines." Usually, I would have just said the words, played it and moved on, but in this case I felt so strongly about the script, I persisted and thought: "How many more movies and opportunities will there be?" He said: "If you continue to play the role this way, I'm just going to cut you out of the movie," and he pretty much did. In this case, I take total responsibility for being unprofessional. He was not only the author, but the director. But he never listened to my point of view. It wiped me out.

11. (Alfred Hitchcock) contrary to what I'd heard about him, allowed me very much to have my own interpretation and everything.

12. I don't feel I ever reached my potential as an actress. I certainly didn't try to promote myself. I'm not a pushy person so there's always that turmoil for me - do you wait for something to happen or do you make something happen? I've always believed that if something is meant to be, it just works out. Yet I would see other actors fighting for themselves, fighting for the great roles. Which is right? Are you supposed to push the door open or do you wait for an open door? My choice was to move away from Hollywood but I always thought that if a role was really right for me, it would somehow come to me wherever I was.

13. The thing I loved about Alfred Hitchcock is that he left a lot of open ends there, a lot of clues that didn't really add up the way you think they would, and sometimes, not at all.

14. As I said, I began losing confidence in my instincts, which is tough and very bad for an instinctive person.

15. I never intended to be an actress. I never dreamed of it, never even thought about it. I became one because I was discovered. It literally just happened, as if by magic. I was still in junior college when I visited a movie studio in Hollywood with a friend - we'd both been in San Francisco on a summer modeling job - and I was asked to do a walk-on in the Jane Russell movie "The French Line". Soon after, I was placed under contract at Columbia and given starring roles. So it all seemed like destiny, but then my destiny changed when (Columbia chief) Harry Cohn died and the roles coming to me were no longer good ones. They were silly roles in stupid scripts of no value. Beach movies! Or the same-old-same-old glamour parts that offered little that was interesting in the way of character. I left and went into the real world to paint characters that were far more fascinating and satisfying than the ones I was being asked to play.

16. I had never had a director who was particular about the costumes, the way they were designed, the specific colors.

17. Besides, I never really liked my knees.

18. I feel my life is complete because of my art, my painting. But, by the same token, I think I owed my fans more than I gave them. Perhaps I cheated the people who appreciated me and supported me by not sharing more of myself. But what can I say? I took the path that was before me. I'm not the type to clear the trees to make a path. I'm a tree lover! I guess the sad part for me is that the longer I've been out of the business, the better prepared I am to be an actress. I have been so fully living my life, learning the lessons of life, and growing so much as a person and as an artist, that I would be a much better actress now. But I did what I did. I thought I was doing it the right way.

19. For every answer, I like to bring up a question. Maybe I'm related to Alfred Hitchcock or maybe I got to know him too well, but I think life should be that way.

20. My husband doesn't identify me as "Kim Novak" at all. I was out of Hollywood when we met. He was my equine veterinarian. He still is. He has no interest in Hollywood, and that is fine with me.

21. As I said, I began losing confidence in my instincts, which is tough and very bad for an instinctive person.

22. The work I did in "Vertigo" meant nothing if no one cared about the movie. Luckily, "Vertigo" had a revival and people had begun to recognize there was something special and it gained in reputation. But it just as well could have ended up rotting in film cans somewhere.

23. (on James Stewart) I always felt Jimmy was trapped in Hollywood. He felt it himself. He loved aviation so much and he wanted to be able to do more of that. He somehow just got stuck here.




24. Why I loved working with Hitchcock was that he allowed me that creativity and input.

25. Harry Cohn did not make me. But I also feel that I probably didn't make me, either. I think it was a combination. I think that's what made it work.

26. I don't think you want to give all the answers, but I think every answer you do give should bring up another question, and not all questions should be answered.

27. I loved acting, which was never about money, the fame. It was about a search for meaning. It was painful.

28. (on life after Hollywood) I paint, I ride my horses, I'm very content in my life.

29. I knew Rita Hayworth only enough to know that she was just a tender, sensitive, beautiful human being. A lovely person. Very gentle. She would never stand up for her rights.

30. It means nothing if the movie doesn't get out there.


31. I live way out in the country, so there's not a lot of people around to remind me. And my friends don't think of me as "Kim Novak" anymore anyway. It's like they forgot, too. And so it's nice.

32. I don't feel that I was a Hollywood-created star.

33. (on strategy) If you want to live on the edge of life, you need to be flexible.




34. I think it will be helpful to people because I know the expectations that are put on you as a sex symbol, and how Marilyn Monroe suffered and so on, and I was able to get free of that.

35. We only did probably two, three takes on every scene we did, at the most.

36. I used Jimmy to give me what I needed to keep going and to know that I was on the right path with it. I thought I saw Jimmy's soul all the time we worked. He never covered his soul and I never covered mine. We saw into each other's souls, very definitely.

37. I had a lot of resentment for a while toward Kim Novak. But I don't mind her anymore. She's okay. We've become friends. I even asked her before this trip for some beauty tips.

38. Just touching that old tree was truly moving to me because when you touch these trees, you have such a sense of the passage of time, of history. It's like you're touching the essence, the very substance of life.

39. (speaking in 2013, on her life in Hollywood) I was very erratic. I did suffer from mental illness. I didn't know it at the time. At times I was focused. Other times, the press would come on the set and I'd feel the energy of people laughing at me or not approving of my style of acting. You could pick up those feelings. I was distracted. I couldn't perform as well. I was erratic in my performances, I feel.

40. If you're wanting glamorous or really beautiful or really sexy, well then, I wasn't really the one, but I could do all of that. You could just get really lost in that kind of image.

41. So, Hitchcock wouldn't say anything about my work in the movie but, on the other hand, he wouldn't complain, either.

42. My first day at MGM they decided to bring this lion out, male, and it was not the best time for him to see me. All of a sudden he thought I was in heat and this lion went into the dressing room, which was just a trailer on the sound stage, and went crazy.

43. I didn't want to start relying on what someone else thought was right. It was easier to go away all together.




44. My security comes from my senses, my sensing the direction I should go and suddenly I felt out of tune, out of step with what other people wanted or what other people expected of me.

45. And I went through a lot of detours and I took a lot of roads and things so yes, that's all there, but it's not meant to be shocking or telltale.

46. I was always opinionated.







47. (on her role in "Vertigo") I don't think it's one of my best works, but to have been part of something that has been accepted makes me feel very good.

48. The first time I was in his office was when they called me in to tell me they had changed my name. I had a feeling that if I'd gone along with the name they'd chosen, I'd never be seen again. I'd be swallowed up by that name, because it was a false name: Kit Marlowe.

49. They'll always remember me in "Vertigo", and I'm not that good in it, but I don't blame me because there are a couple of scenes where I was wonderful.




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