To make money in New York, you have to add gigs when starting out, so while I was acting quite a bit, I would do modeling.

I had three influential teachers. The first was Uta Hagen. The second two, Bobby Lewis and my late husband, Charles Kakatsakis, were both from the Actors Studio.

I loved New York. I made enough money and studied acting with Kenneth McMillan, which was my first formal training.

The thing I always thought of myself as was an actress. I never thought: I want to be. It was always: I am.

It's in my nature to feel, 'I could be this! This could be mine!'

My whole thing is, I collect what I know I want to read, and I have certain bookshelves in my bedroom that contain all the books I haven't read yet.

I was born and grew up in Vandalia, Illinois, a small town of about 6,000. It was farm country, and this was the little county seat.

New York, oh my God, in my early 20s. I felt, this is home, this is really where I belong.

We are neither just brains floating around nor just hearts bouncing about.

That’s why it’s difficult to write about your own life. Any distortion feels like a betrayal.

PILLORY, n. A mechanical device for inflicting personal distinction - prototype of the modern newspaper conducted by persons of austere virtues and blameless lives.

Being a warrior and being a struggler has been forced on me by oppression, otherwise I would have been free to be so much more.

Myth is more individual and expresses life more precisely than does science.

When you're making a movie, you feel like a very small part of something that you really don't have much influence upon. You roll in, you do your thing, and then you're gone.

But an adult if he is to provide proper guidance, must always be calm and act slowly so that the child who is watching him can clearly see his actions in all their particulars.

Woody Guthrie was what folks who don't believe in anything would call an anomaly.

I feel acutely aware of how young I am. In a way that is good. It's productive. It makes me realise that I should be growing as a writer and a person.

I hope I pass on my dad's good humor, work ethic and lack of self-seriousness. Our house was always a fun place where you'd get knocked around quickly if you took yourself too seriously.