Kathleen Turner Quotes & Sayings

I learned years ago, I adore acting and I think it's the most alive I know how to be - almost - but I really want a good life. I've been married for 17 years - I know, they call us the last couple. I have a 13-year-old daughter. I have a lovely home life with good friends who aren't in the business ... and I have no desire to cost my whole life in pursuit of the career alone. — Kathleen Turner

It's fascinating how all of us, everyday, rely - at some point, to some extent, for some reason - on faith in our life. Whether it's God or not, or "Please help me!" — Kathleen Turner

I love the new technology in terms of giving access to doing more independent work. When I first started out, any film had to rent from Panavision and the expenses were humongous. Now, given the advances in technology, you can put out extraordinary quality filmmaking at nothing like the price it used to be. — Kathleen Turner

I have a brother who's a psychologist. He says three-quarters of the world are born feeling that they will be affected by the world; one quarter are born knowing that they will affect the world. — Kathleen Turner

When I'm really hot, I can walk into a room and if a man doesn't look at me, he's probably gay. — Kathleen Turner

You know, when you've worked with somebody before and you've worked very deeply and dangerously then you start with the relaxation and the trust right away and that lets you go even deeper, which is a lovely thing. — Kathleen Turner

Fearlessness at twenty springs from not knowing challenges lie ahead. Fearlessness at fifty comes from having wrestled with life's challenges and learned from them. — Kathleen Turner

It begins and ends with money. It's absurd in this day and age when we need so much money for education, health, for people, that a $100 million dollars can be spent on a film. It's obscene. — Kathleen Turner

Organized religion is primarily man putting words in God's mouth. That's how I basically feel about that. But, I do believe in believing and I admire it. I just don't think it should be exclusive or judgmental. — Kathleen Turner

Professionally, I have no age. — Kathleen Turner

I think my mission is to become the greatest human I can. I know that sounds pompous, but what else do we have? — Kathleen Turner

Crimes of Passion, which is one of the best films I've done, will live strongly in my resume, even though it didn't do well. — Kathleen Turner

The older I get, the less I suffer fools gladly. — Kathleen Turner

I never took to Hollywood. — Kathleen Turner

If my ego was out of whack and I believed I could carry anything off, that would be a stupid risk. But so far there's been no reason not to try anything. — Kathleen Turner

I'm not a New York snob. — Kathleen Turner

The big gap between the ability of actors is confidence. — Kathleen Turner

The roles that I am attracted to are women who try to do something about their lives, and not a woman who waits for some circumstance or man to come rescue her. I have no interest in that. — Kathleen Turner

Risk is the willingness to fail. — Kathleen Turner

I'm very old-fashioned in some ways because of my father, who thought that being a public servant was an honor. Everyone must find a capacity in which they can serve, because we all benefit from society. — Kathleen Turner

There's something so muffled about the way you experience things. It's as if you were trying to slip through life unchanged. — Kathleen Turner

Get more women producers, writers, directors. Why should we expect men to do it for us? They can't. — Kathleen Turner

This is not about abortion or the antics. This is about pro choice versus anti-choice and government intervention in a woman's personal decisions about her life. — Kathleen Turner

I don't see anything wrong with technology as long as it doesn't interfere with your life. — Kathleen Turner

The idea behind doing comedies is that you go home a little happier. — Kathleen Turner

I figured as I got older, the good roles for women would be in the theatre. So 15 years ago I started building a Broadway career to try and develop the chops to be accepted as a great theatrical actress. — Kathleen Turner

One of the things I do tell young women, if they want to pursue a career in acting, is to get good stage training. It is essential to have a good basis in stage technique. You can move into film easily, and acquire more skill and more understanding, but you can't necessarily go the other way around. For women, longevity of career will very much be on stage. — Kathleen Turner

A woman my age is not supposed to be attractive or sexually appealing. I just get kinda tired of that. — Kathleen Turner

I had a great deal of pressure to move to LA after Romancing the Stone came out and I'd become very popular. But people came to me anyway. — Kathleen Turner

What we need is more women writers, writing for older women. There are some actresses who have production companies and create their own material, and I truly admire that. — Kathleen Turner

I want people to like me. They don't have to always like my characters, you understand. — Kathleen Turner

What makes me angry? The education of children. How in God's name can you expect to have a functioning society the way we teach our kids? — Kathleen Turner

The best role is always ahead. — Kathleen Turner

I often play women who are not essentially good or likable, and I often go through a stage where I hate them. Then I end up loving and defending them. — Kathleen Turner

My husband says I can do anything I put my mind to, but the truth i, the only thing I want to do is act. — Kathleen Turner

At about 40, the roles started slowing down. I started getting offers to play mothers and grandmothers. — Kathleen Turner

Women are responsible for creating their own roles. — Kathleen Turner

I have health. I have a wonderful support system. I have the admiration of millions of strangers, which I do not underestimate. — Kathleen Turner

I don't think it has to be one religious structure, one church. I think the issues of faith and redemption are much more universal than any one religion. — Kathleen Turner

My greatest fear when we were doing "Body Heat" was that I wouldn't be sexy. I didn't have a self-image of myself as this alluring, powerful, sexual female. — Kathleen Turner

It never occurred to me that I couldn't change things that needed changing or couldn't have what I wanted if I worked hard enough and was good enough. — Kathleen Turner

I've tried to prepare my daughter for the phenomenon I've experienced of beautiful young women being dismissed and devalued as interchangeable. I tell Rachel that if a relationship doesn't make you feel good about yourself as an individual, then it's not right. My grandmother told me once years ago that if you're ever with somebody who you find embarrasses you in public or private, you're with the wrong person. Walk away. — Kathleen Turner

I rent houses in LA when I'm filming. I find the isolation there terrifying. There's nowhere to go, there's nowhere to be with people. I'm not a beach bunny. — Kathleen Turner

I know there are nights when I have power, when I could put on something and walk in somewhere, and if there is a man who doesn't look at me, it's because he's gay. — Kathleen Turner

I don't think I'm anything like the improviser. I'm not. I do better with at least an outline. — Kathleen Turner

Being a sex symbol has to do with an attitude, not looks. Most men think it's looks, most women know otherwise. — Kathleen Turner

I am dedicated to ensuring reproductive health and freedom for all. Please join me in supporting Planned Parenthood's vital work to protect access to reproductive health care and real sex education worldwide. — Kathleen Turner

I find the idea of today's icons being teenagers incredibly uninspiring. — Kathleen Turner

A woman can plan when to have her family and how to support a family. — Kathleen Turner

There are still women who are not living their own lives, but living through their men or their children. — Kathleen Turner

I have no desire to play most of the roles being offered. — Kathleen Turner

I never feel more alive than when I'm on stage. On film you feel chopped up, you can be acting from the neck up, or the hand, there is a lot of close up. — Kathleen Turner

I would certainly choose my jobs depending on the actions of the character. I won't do anything that has to do with child abuse or women's abuse. — Kathleen Turner

I think Europeans have enough tradition and respect for the experience and body of work of an actress that they don't sell out to the new ones. — Kathleen Turner

I don't believe in simply accumulating money, but I have the luxury to say that, because I have enough for all my needs. — Kathleen Turner

I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way. — Kathleen Turner

There are always people doing things wrong who need to be taught, for their own good. That's doable. — Kathleen Turner

The roles that are written for women as they grow older in theater are much richer and much more powerful. — Kathleen Turner

I don't really go to YouTube or, especially, participate in Facebook. I just really don't want to know that many people! — Kathleen Turner

My father was a diplomatic officer. As a diplomat's daughter, you have to learn to present yourself very early on. — Kathleen Turner

I'm very practical. What I'm reaching for is individualism for women. — Kathleen Turner

I'm not very active politically. The causes I work on offer immediate, practical, accessible help, and politics has never meant that to me. — Kathleen Turner

I feel different, better, about my personal life as well as my professional life. So much confidence comes simply because I have reached this very good age. Women my age today are forging new ground. Society stops defining us by our reproductive capacity, sexual attractiveness, or other traditional measures, so we become liberated from stereotype. We are freed to grow into our full selves.

I couldn't have allowed myself to feel so positive in the past. When I was at the height of my film career, I didn't have the kind of respect I now have from the theatrical community. I hadn't yet proved that I have the chops for the stage. But now I have a stature I've never before enjoyed.

Virginia Woolf herself observed that when her Aunt Mary left her enough money to live on, her financial independence meant she "need not hate" or "flatter any man." She said this was of even more value to her freedom and autonomy than the right to vote. — Kathleen Turner

When someone is kissing you passionately, you feel passionate! — Kathleen Turner

As I traveled from one country to another, no one knew anything about me. So I could be anybody, I could speak as I wished, act as I wished, dress as I wished. — Kathleen Turner

I do not admire young actresses whose foreheads cannot move. — Kathleen Turner

I always thought the point was to have a bigger life, to meet more people. So I don't understand Hollywood. — Kathleen Turner

You shouldn't get to live in society and give nothing back. People complain about their taxes, yet they do nothing for the community. That makes me furious. — Kathleen Turner