On achieving her goals: "If you want to do something
or be someone set your mind to it and never give up - no matter how
rough the going becomes. I didn't have a college education, but I
learned that there's no obstacle too big which can't be surmounted."
On dating bad men: "I will not be one of the women who seem to go for men who antagonize them, make them uncomfortable, and make them suffer. A man makes me happy in love - or I don't love him!" (From What Carole Landis Demands Of Men)
On getting hurt: "I should have been a clown. I am always getting slapped. The slaps come from every direction, from the people I want to help, from those I want to love, for the big and little guys I am sorry for."
On working as a waitress: "Three orders at a time had me nuts. I'd bring in the beef stew and give it to the wrong man and he'd start in on it. By that time I'd realize the error and give grab it away. The man who was supposed to get the beef stew then wouldn't take it. Before I was through the manager would be making me pay for half the orders." (From Determined Lady)
On love: "The only thing I've found out about love is that I don't know anything about it. I wish somebody would tell me what it's really like. I've made a couple of guesses. But that business about 'women's intuition' just isn't true. Not in my case, anyway."
On being self-made: "I guess I am what you call self-made. At least I've always tried to plan things and have made them work out pretty well." (From a 1941 interview)
On gossip: "Don't gossip - particularly about other women. Don't make sarcastic and catty remarks. Kindness is the secret to true femininity."
On marriages ending: "Whenever an actress marries and the marriage ends in divorce the public always seems to blame the girl. Golly, it might be the husband's fault you know - and again it might be nobody's fault. Sometimes a marriage just trickles out. It's over and you can't do a thing about it."
On her future: "I have no intention of ending my career in a rooming house, with full scrapbooks and an empty stomach."
On her future: "I have no intention of ending my career in a rooming house, with full scrapbooks and an empty stomach."
On fame: "Stardom is merely some talent, a few breaks and a lot of publicity. I have the talent, the publicity will come and so will the breaks. Just give me a couple of years."
On touring during the war: "We had a wonderful time everywhere overseas.
But it was hard. For five months we never gave less than five shows a
day. It was too cold to sleep nights and there wasn't water enough to
take a bath. We bathed and shampooed in cold water - there was no hot. I
had to do my own washing. And I ate more sand and fog, than food. I
was hairdresser for the gang; at that we didn't look too bad."
On wealthy husbands: "A man should be wealthy before marriage. It may be his last chance."
On wealthy husbands: "A man should be wealthy before marriage. It may be his last chance."
On rumors: "Anyone in public life gets used to unkind rumors after a time. Though all of them are very upsetting when they are published and spoken about publicly, particularly by those in the business who are, shall I say, jealous of your success. I have learned to stand up to them by ignoring them and not dignifying them with an answer."
On getting better parts "I so wanted to play a role in Cluny Brown but do you think they would let me test for the part. No, but they considered practically everyone else on the lot. They said I was too glamorous to play a mousy role. I want to do a Bette Davis sort of role. Something like Jezebel or Dark Victory. But I never seem to get the chance."
On money: "I'm pretty good at saving up to a certain point. When the money bags start getting heavy I have an awful urge to lighten them. But the business manager is curing me of that."
On money: "I'm pretty good at saving up to a certain point. When the money bags start getting heavy I have an awful urge to lighten them. But the business manager is curing me of that."
On going to Hollywood:
"I had thought of going across the street to the drugstore for a malted milk, for the purpose of being discovered for movies but decided instead to take the money I'd saved and go to Hollywood. Funny thing - I found Hollywood already had plenty of blondes."
On moving to New York City: "We're going to call New York home. My husband's business keeps him in New York most of the time so we decided we could hardly make Hollywood as a permanent home."
On glamour: "If glamour is something you have to put in a glass case I don't want any of it."
On her dreams: "My dreams are mad, silly things. I've started reading Freud. Very interesting." (From Landis Without Leopard Skins)
On finding the right man: "Let me tell you this: Every girl in the world wants to find the right man, someone who is sympathetic and understanding and helpful and strong, someone she can love madly. Actresses are no exception; the glamour and the tinsel, the fame and the money mean very little if there is hurt in the heart." (From Glamours Girls Are Suckers)
On real love: "In my opinion real love has nothing to do with friendship or respect. They help, but they don't make it. A man can be an absolute heel and a woman, knowing it, can still be madly in love with him."
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On getting noticed: "The first time I wore a bare midriff gown, Hollywood noticed me. Hollywood didn't discover me, I discovered it."
On getting married: "Ever since I was a very small child, I wanted marriage
and children more than I wanted anything else, including a career.
Because I wanted marriage and children so badly, I constantly sought
for love, I was too eager for it. I read into people things that
weren't there, so that the minute a personable fellow, with whom I felt
the least 'sympatica' showed me the least persuasive interest, I just
went overboard for it."
On playing the piano: "Every girl has, in the back of her wish department, some unsatisfied longing held over from childhood. Personally, I always wanted to play the piano. Now that I have a piano and some spare time between pictures, I've been taking lessons. I'm not good, but I'm getting better and I've obtained a lot of satisfaction out of the effort."
On sex appeal: "I think sex is definitely here to stay so I don't see any necessity for throwing it in people's faces. I don't think a girl has to wear dresses cut down to her tummy to exhibit what is known as feminine allure. She can exhibit it in a high neck dress but subtly. Heaven knows I want people to think I have sex appeal. But I also want to think I have something besides sex appeal."
On her ambitions: "I want to be as good an actress as Bette Davis, and I'd like to be a great singer. But more than that I'd like to be happily married and have some children."
On her ambitions: "I want to be as good an actress as Bette Davis, and I'd like to be a great singer. But more than that I'd like to be happily married and have some children."
On attracting men: "If you want to interest men, you have to have the courage to attract them. Most men, I've found, like a girl who's daring enough to get their attention - if she's demure enough to appreciate it after she gets it. As long as it's a man's world, a girl has to be daring to get ahead."
On why movies are important: "Movies are a tremendous power for the good. In wartime they helped stave off countless cases of homesickness, they entertained our men and kept them informed about people and things back home. Ask any veteran how important those nightly movies in the jungle rain were to him and his buddies. I know because I sat though many myself."
On making personal appearances: "It really gives me a great kick to act ion the stage. Of course, I love films, but it's nice to do a personal appearance now and then. You know, you sort of keep up with people that way and besides it's wonderful to hear the response of a live audience."
On war-time marriages: "A girl should marry the man she loves in war-time. Once she is sure she loves him, every minute apart is robbing him of something precious he has a right to have. Events move fast. Girls must keep up with them and face war-time hazards courageously."
On her friends: "I hate to lose any friends because I feel that a little part of me goes with them. The sense of loss is painful. Now I know upon whom I can rely."
On marrying for a third time: "I only hope it's true that the third time is the charm. Because I'm pretty sure I'll marry again. I like the things marriage stands for. I'm just praying I can wait long enough next time to be sure it's love. I don't want to be guessing all my life."
On her three divorces: "Why do people attack me for getting three divorces? It's legal; if there's something wrong about it, why don't they attack the laws of the land, and let me alone?"
