A Quote by Madeline Kahn

In Hollywood I thought I was large and klutzy, like the characters I played. — © Madeline Kahn
In Hollywood I thought I was large and klutzy, like the characters I played.
The go-to reflex all over Hollywood is still likeability. I've always had a problem with it because I think I have a weird barometer in the sense that some of the characters I've cared about the most in movies are characters that are often thought of as despicable.
In Hollywood, the guy who plays Batman and Spiderman also plays normal characters. The biggest stars in the world want to play different characters. We can't give the excuse that because an actor played a superhero in his previous film, his next one won't work.
Hollywood does draw some very strange characters, and then the power of Hollywood and what they can do with it becomes like a blood sport to them.
I'm grateful that so many viewers have related to characters I've played. I think many in the audience see themselves in my characters or feel like the characters are similar to their friends or sisters.
Hollywood, that whole industry, is a lot like a really small town. You bump into the same people all the time. I think Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon can be played with anyone and everyone in Hollywood.
I went to Hollywood to test for Martha Ivers and I thought I was going to play the part that Van Heflin played.But they wanted me to play the part of Barbara Stanwyck's husband, so I played that. Then when I finished the movie, I went back to Broadway and did another flop.
With all of the characters I've played, I feel like I've tried to communicate through my eyes and face, as much or more than with words. That's something that I like to watch in films, and something that I like to bring to the characters that I play.
You know, when I first went into the movies Lionel Barrymore played my grandfather. Later he played my father and finally he played my husband. If he had lived I'm sure I would have played his mother. That's the way it is in Hollywood. The men get younger and the women get older.
I had played many gay characters before, but they were finite - guest characters in TV shows or characters in plays.
After 'Othello,' it was, like, 'I can stop acting. I have played one of the great characters in the English language. I feel I have played him well and honorably. I have nothing to prove anymore.'
I played ball for the Hollywood Blues of the Pacific Coast League, and I thought I was going to be a major leaguer. But I was the only one who seemed to think so.
'Fast & Furious' is Hollywood's 'Dabangg.' It is that big there, so it obviously feels amazing to have played a part in it. The role is small but very interesting. People will see me in full Hollywood accent, and the character is not like typical Indian character.
Hollywood large is so different than real-life large.
I like complex characters. I've been very, very lucky to portray, in these past three years, characters that are strong and fragile at the same time. It's those characters that I'm looking for. In the last year and half I played three different religions, and that allowed me to educate myself so much.
I know a lot of brown actors who play terrorists because they're physically intimidating. For me, it was like, 'O.K., you'll be the nerd.' So I've played the nerd. I've played food-delivery guys. But I always tried to find something in the characters so that they weren't just defined by what they looked like.
I remember when I took the role on E.R., I thought, 'I haven't really been able to play a working class woman. I've played girls, I've played funny, but I haven't played a working class woman. That sounds like something I'd like to do.
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