Gene Tierney

Gene Eliza Tierney (19 November 1920 – 6 November 1991) was an American film and stage actress. Acclaimed for her great beauty, she became established as a leading lady. Tierney was best known for her portrayal of the title character in the film Laura (1944), and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Ellen Berent Harland in Leave Her to Heaven (1945).

I traveled in a world that once was—Hollywood of the war and immediate postwar years. And I existed in a world that never is—the prison of the mind.

Quotes

Self-portrait (1979)

With Mickey Herskowitz. Wyden Books. ISBN 0-88326-152-9

• Wealth, beauty, and fame are transient. When those are gone, little is left except the need still to be useful, even though the parts get fewer.
  • Ch. 3

• The word "actress" has always seemed less a job description to me than a title.
  • Ch. 13

• Jealousy is, I think, the worst of all faults because it makes a victim of both parties.
  • Ch. 13

• As long as I was playing someone else, I was fine. When I had to be myself, my problems began.
  • Ch. 17

• I learned that carrying on while you're broken is not the answer. I tried to work harder and harder, thinking that work would cure everything. All it did was make things worse.
  • Ch. 19

• I traveled in a world that once was—Hollywood of the war and immediate postwar years. And I existed in a world that never is—the prison of the mind. If what I have learned from these experiences can be summed up in one sentence, it would be this: life is not a movie. But I do not make that point in a sad or regretful way. I can only wonder, if my life had been a movie, would a director have cast Gene Tierney to play the part? The bitter with the sweet makes for a better part.
  • Ch. 20