For my peculiar face, I look best when I look as though I'm not wearing make-up.
Lauren BacallRead
I used to tremble from nerves so badly that the only way I could hold my head steady was to lower my chin practically to my chest and look up at Bogie. That was the beginning of The Look.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the author's nervousness and the creation of an iconic look in acting.
In this quote, Lauren Bacall expresses the intense nerves she experienced as a young actress, so profound that she needed to lower her chin to maintain a steady gaze at her co-star, Humphrey Bogart (Bogie). This physical response eventually led to the development of her signature look, known as 'The Look', which became a defining characteristic of her persona in film and is emblematic of her mastery as an actress.
Themes
NervesActingConfidencePersonaPerformance
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about overcoming stage fright, you might use this quote to illustrate the struggles of performers.
More from Lauren Bacall
All quotes →I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that.
Lauren BacallRead
I was this kid, and I was scared to death of all these pros around me... My head would shake, and my hands would shake, and I discovered if I kept my head down and looked up, my head would not shake, so I started to do that when I could, when it was appropriate in a scene.
Lauren BacallRead
When everything happens to you when you're so young, you're very lucky, but by the same token, you're never going to have that same feeling again. The first time anything happens to you - your first love, your first success - the second one is never the same.
Lauren BacallRead
I wasn't brought up as a society girl to go to balls and be a debutante and marry the social set and money and go to parties. No one in my family lived like that. And I never wanted to live like that. I was brought up to believe in work. I always wanted a career. Always.
Lauren BacallRead
Well, the people I've known I must say are extraordinary. When I think about some of them, I can't believe that I knew them all. And I think the reason I knew most of them at the beginning was because they were of Bogie's generation, 25 years my senior, not mine. But they were the most talented people of all.
Lauren BacallRead
Similar quotes
For me, playwriting is and has always been like making a chair. Your concerns are balance, form, timing, lights, space, music. If you don't have these essentials, you might as well be writing a theoretical essay, not a play.
Sam ShepardRead
The state of female artists is very good. But the very definition of art has been biased in that 'art' was what men did in a European tradition and 'crafts' were what women and natives did. But it's actually all the same.
Gloria SteinemRead
Writing is finally about one thing: going into a room alone and doing it, putting words on paper that have never been there in quite that way before.
William GoldmanRead
The goal of art was the vital expression of self.
Alfred StieglitzRead
I never got into making documentaries for any kind of success, because documentary careers are generally ones of prolonged failures.
Morgan NevilleRead
I often will write a scene from three different points of view to find out which has the most tension and which way I'm able to conceal the information I'm trying to conceal. And that is, at the end of the day, what writing suspense is all about.
Dan BrownRead