"I’d done commercials before, you had to smile and be phony, and that’s not my style. The spot was created to be warm and homey, to lend itself to realism. That’s important to me."

"It was during the war, and they thought Kraft was too Teutonic, and they said I would be compared to Kraft cheese if I were bad."

"You know, I'm still in awe of movie stars-to me they're just not human. Guess it's because I'm from a small town. I wonder if I'll ever get over it?"

"I get the biggest thrill once in awhile when someone does notice me. I just beam from ear to ear. I went to see my picture, The Creature Walks Among Us it's a science- fiction thriller-and took my children, Cathy and Bobby, along. After the show I stood in front of a very large picture of myself in the lobby -and, you know, not one person knew who I was or said a word."

"It was the eyes that did it. [timid giggle] I liked the way he painted eyes and he liked mine."

"But what I like most about Keane, myself, is that he's mass-produced, like a factory."

"I think what Keane has done is just terrific. It has to be good. If it were bad, so many people wouldn't like it."

"Margaret is probably the greatest woman painter alive."

"And Margaret, uh, has done a lot of experimenting in her work. I think, probably, no artist has experimented the way Margaret has."

"His art is in heroic bad taste. It's incredibly vulgar, it's weird, but it's still gorgeous. Bad-taste entertainment is the best entertainment. What I really love about Keane is that he is so commercial."

"I finally got to the point where I decided I don't care if it's good art or bad art, it's what I do. I enjoy doing it, and people like it."

"I still paint sad children, because there's sadness in the world, but they have hope, and I have hope."

"I lost all respect for him and myself, and lived in a nightmare."

"Children do have big eyes. When I'm doing a portrait, the eyes are the most expressive part of the face. And they just got bigger and bigger and bigger."

"Walter was extremely charming. He could charm anybody, especially women."

"He'd threatened me so many times. I thought he was so crazy he could hire a hit man to come get me anytime."

"The older I get, the brighter colours I live. But in the past, they were dark, dingy, sad colours."

"A lot of art today doesn't convey much hope, and I hope mine does. I try to paint what I think the future holds and my innermost feelings about God's promise for the future."

"Gradually it dawned on me that I was painting my own inner emotions. Those children were asking: "Why are we here? What is life all about? Why is there sadness and injustice?" All those deep questions. Those children were sad because they didn't have the answers. They were searching."

"I'd have to lock the door of the paint room. He wouldn't allow anyone in. I was like a prisoner."

"I had just announced for the first time publicly on a radio show in San Francisco that I had done all the Keane paintings and not my ex-husband. And this, um, Bill Flang of the San Francisco Examiner thought that Walter and I should appear in Union Square and have a paint-off to decide who had done the paintings, since I was—said that I had done them. So, he arranged it, and LIFE magazine as there and all the different newspapers and t.v. stations and they, uh—some of them in the audience played "High Noon"—[laughs] And, of course, Walter didn't show up."

"He can't paint eyes. He couldn't learn to paint at all."

"M, you see, is four, and D is four too, and H is eight, and four and four and eight are sixteen, which is made up of one and six, which make seven—my number."

"All of us wish we had an Alice. I wish I had an Alice."

"My mother would write letters when I was away at camp and say, 'There's an Ann-shaped space around the house. Nobody fills an Ann-shaped space except an Ann.' I'm convinced we all have a God-shaped space in us, and until we fill that space with God, we'll never know what it is to be whole."

"I've always been a Democrat, it runs in my family."

"To me, Sarah Vaughan is the height of artistic genius in twentieth-century culture."

"When I sing, trouble can sit right on my shoulder and I don't even notice."

"I dig Doris Day."

"They always ask me the same questions. Where was I born? When did I start singing? Who have I worked with? I don't understand why they can't just talk to me without all that question bit."

"There's a category for me. I like to be referred to as a good singer of good songs in good taste."

"There are notes between notes, you know."

"Judy Garland was the singer I most wanted to sound like then, not to copy, but to get some of her soul and purity. A wonderful young voice."

"My dream is to do whatever I want without any interference from the record company."

"Age does not bring you wisdom, age brings you wrinkles."

"Too many of you, my friends, are dying. Now it's time for me to do my part and help you."

"People assume that I'm wiser than I am because I'm somewhat successful. Age does not bring you wisdom, age brings you wrinkles. If you're dumb when you're young, you're going to be dumb when you're old."

"Being tiny has been difficult for me in a business that regarded physicality as the most important part of your life."

"I think they look upon me as an old child, because I'm so little."

"The only time you'll see me as a Democrat is when I play Sophia. In the real world I'm a Republican from head to toe."

"You are one of those obsessed demoniacal creatures who ought to be avoided at all costs; they bring misfortune into the lives of others; they ruin the lives of others. The real good people are humble and silent (like your Kitty is). But beware, God sees all vanity and pride and you cannot fool him."

"I believe that all religions are true and different religions are only the different ways to the same God. For me God is the power of life and justice and when I am talking about God I am just talking about happiness to live and to enjoy life on earth. I feel that humanity should be one, that mankind should not be divided. The people should together work for much good. Well, this is my belief in God. Maybe I am not clear."

"When my mother left us, he [Stalin] was left completely alone. And I think what came next, in the late 30s and after the war in the 40s - I think that was a result of his complete loneliness on top of the world. Nobody would argue with him anymore."

"People say, 'Stalin's daughter, Stalin's daughter,' meaning I'm supposed to walk around with a rifle and shoot the Americans," she once said. Or they say, 'No, she came here. She is an American citizen.' That means I'm with a bomb against the others. No, I'm neither one. I'm somewhere in between."

"I had to hide every morning, until Daddy had gone out to work. And then stay out late to try to avoid him in the evening. Because of these terrible rows. Mummy would come and try to get me to go back home in the middle of the day. After about a year the school said look, this cannot carry on. I had to leave."

"[On Kenneth Williams] He was quite happy to steal the good lines I made up and use them before I could say them [...] He would do anything as long as he came out best. It was outrageous."

"Home life was horrid. Daddy used to knock me about with his fists, and my mother would egg him on."

"You get set on a path and, if you succeed, you get better parts, but of the same kind. If you don't take a lot of trouble, you get stuck like that."