Quotes by Leslie Caron

• When I did small films like Lily and Buenos Vista, everyone thought my career would be ruined.
• It's the first film that I made where the director was not present under the camera, and it threw me.
• James Ivory comes close to the actors for the first rehearsal. He more or less lets you direct yourself and then will only correct you if he finds it incorrect.
• The American is wholeheartedly for love and romance at any cost.
• The most important thing is to remain active and to love what you are doing.
• The studio system collapsed only when Elizabeth Taylor charged $1 million for Cleopatra.
• In order to have great happiness you have to have great pain and unhappiness - otherwise how would you know when you're happy?
• We were all ruled by the studio system. I signed a contract for seven years.
• It's very difficult to marry into another civilization.
• You have actresses like Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, who have roles specially written for them.
• I seemed to belong to three countries: I had an apartment in Paris, a house in Hollywood, and when I married British theater director Peter Hall, I moved to London.
• There were many good actresses in my time like Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds, but I was the only dancer.
• I had two children. I had a nanny to manage my kids.
• Cinema will always have an important role to play in society.
• Fred Astaire was a more formal, trained dancer who loved waltzing and only danced with the girls.
• No matter what you do, your person comes through. You can't completely change yourself on the screen. I had in mind someone colder and more in control, but I couldn't do it. This human note just crept in and maybe it's better.
• I got as little as a $75 a week when I started.
• I went to the Tokyo Film Festival in Japan because I love Japanese cinema.
• I know a lot of Americans in Paris who have married Frenchmen. They keep bringing up their experience, the clash of civilizations, the clash of personalities.
• I went to Kerala in India, to learn Ayurveda, which was fantastic.
• I regret not doing a film that I was offered with Clark Gable because the script was not good enough.
• I think it's the end of progress if you stand still and think of what you've done in the past. I keep on.
• I toured the Middle Eastern countries with the ballet.
• I longed to break out of the system and do different roles.