Cukor Quotes & Sayings

April 10: Marilyn appears on time for six hours of costume tests for Something's Got to Give. She is irritated that Cukor is not there to meet her. She looks radiant, and Peter Levathes tells the press, "This will be the best Monroe picture ever. Marilyn is at the peak of her beauty and ability." But that evening, producer Henry Weinstein finds her sprawled across a bed and unconscious after an overdose of barbiturates. He calls Ralph Greenson, who revives her. It is announced to the press that Marilyn will be part of the entertainment at the president's Madison Square Garden birthday party. Marilyn agrees to pay $1,440.33 for the cost of producing a dress decorated with hand-stitched rhinestones, beading, and mirrors. — Carl Rollyson

I was a stage-struck kid. — George Cukor

The truth is, a director wins an Oscar for a writer's script and actors' performances. — George Cukor

It never occurred to me that I could live in California. Now I can't imagine living anywhere else. — George Cukor

But DNA isn't really like that. It's more like a script. Think of Romeo and Juliet, for example. In 1936 George Cukor directed Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer in a film version. Sixty years later Baz Luhrmann directed Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in another movie version of this play. Both productions used Shakespeare's script, yet the two movies are entirely different. Identical starting points, different outcomes. — Nessa Carey

Anyone who looked at something special, in a very original way, makes you see it that way forever. — George Cukor

Mr. Cukor is a hard task-master, a fine director and he took me over the coals giving me the roughest time I have ever had. And I am eternally grateful. — Joan Crawford

We've all been tired and thought we wanted a long vacation when all we needed was a few days off, but didn't know it. — George Cukor

From the director's point of view, it's infinitely easier to do violence than to do a good dramatic scene. — George Cukor

People who aren't complicated in real life come through as pretty bland on the screen. Most great performers are not very happy and well adjusted. Perhaps that's the price they pay for being originals. — George Cukor

If she was a victim of any kind, she was a victim of her friends. — George Cukor

So many directors say nothing beautifully, and so many others say great and profound things but have no idea how to read a light meter or arrange a shot. — George Cukor

Looking for love is tricky business, like whipping a carousel horse. — George Cukor

You can't have any successes unless you can accept failure. — George Cukor

Give me a good script, and I'll be a hundred times better as a director. — George Cukor

You can always land on your feet if you know where the ground is. — George Cukor

Unless the story line carries the scenes, the scenes don't really mean anything. — George Cukor

I don't think you can teach people how to be funny. You can make suggestions about how to speak a line or get a laugh, but it has to be in them. — George Cukor

I know people who say Hollywood broke her heart, and all that, but I dont believe it. She was very observant and tough minded and appealing, but she adored and trusted the wrong people. She was very courageous-you know the book Twelve Against the Gods? Marilyn was like that, she had to challenge the gods at every turn. — George Cukor

For Keeping the Faith, I looked at [George ] Cukor's old films like The Philadelphia Story, stuff that's hilariously funny and really smart with a cutting critique in the humor, too. With this, when I read it, I was laughing a lot. — Edward Norton

Real talent is a mystery, and people who've got it, know it. — George Cukor

When it goes wrong, you feel like cutting your throat, but you go on. You don't let anything get you down so much that it beats you or stops you. — George Cukor

As a professional, it pains me to watch a movie that is botched and amateurish. I prefer directors who have control of both their craft and their ideas. — George Cukor

Be adventurous, but, of course, with some sense of reality. You shouldn't say, "There's nothing I can't do," because you know damn well there are things you can't. — George Cukor

I choose my actors well and get to know the quirks of their personalities - and, most of all, I share humor with them. Then I keep my eyes open when they rehearse and perform, because you never know where the next stimulation comes from. — George Cukor

Don't let a kick in the ass stop you. It's how you cope that says what you are. — George Cukor

I work through the actors, and the more successful I am, the less my work is apparent. — George Cukor

I suppose they call me a woman's director because there were all these movie queens in the old days, and I directed most of them. But I also directed Jack Barrymore and Ronald Colman and James Stewart, to name a few. — George Cukor

You're just poor cornball provincial people, you critics; you just don't know what the hell you're talking about. — George Cukor

When one deals with stars, he is dealing with intelligent people. If they weren't intelligent, they wouldn't have arrived at the star pinnacle. — George Cukor

It is reassuring for people to feel they have a boss, someone who knows the answers and has charted the course. — George Cukor

If there is such a thing as 'a Cukor style,' I guess it arises out of two principal factors: my own personalized perception of the world and my ability to deal professionally with actors. As far as perception is concerned, I always try to imagine settings through the best possible eyes. — George Cukor

Cukor is one of my favorite directors. He was a master at directing women. — Pedro Almodovar

If I were very handsome, maybe I'd have been an actor. — George Cukor

You know, you have Scorsese who worked with De Niro and - or DiCaprio. You have William Wyler who worked with Bette Davis. You have George Cukor who worked with Katharine Hepburn. I just - people get to be friends and then there's a - that's a - you can take risks together and each time out you take a different risk. — David O. Russell

Women's director! Well, I'm very pleased to be considered a master of anything, but remember, for every Jill there was a Jack. People like to pigeonhole you - it's a shortcut, I guess, but once they do, you're stuck with it. — George Cukor

You learn out of bitter experience, trial and error. Life teaches you that. As sincere as you all are, you can't learn it all in school. — George Cukor