49 Quotes by Gena Rowlands

I got a part opposite Edward G. Robinson in a play called Middle of The Night, which Paddy Cheyafsky had written. It played for a long time because everybody just loved Edward G. Robinson, everybody in New York wanted to see it. John [Cassavetes] and I were married at the time and put into a position where I was working very long evening hours and he was working in the daytime and so there was a lot of spare time.

Because John Cassavetes was so terrific in live TV, a lot of his friends had not been able to participate in that yet and so they asked if he would gather with them at night when I was at the play and tell them what live TV was like, what you had to adjust to because it was its own medium - it had many things you had to be aware of.

It was more freedom than I think most people get when they're starting out - or even when they're not starting out. He [John Cassavetes] did his thing and I did whatever I thought.

It was a period when live TV was just starting and getting popular and they took it seriously too. Not so much like TV now. They did [Ernst] Hemingway and [William] Faulkner - and they're all wonderful artists and it just was very creative at that time.

I went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, which was in Carnegie Hall, which itself was exciting - just to walk into it.

I think that I was lucky to have that period of time [ like coming to New York] because everything was so exciting and new.

I'd wanted to be [an actress] all my life.

So I went home and I told my mom that I wanted to quit and be an actress and she said, "Huh, that sounds fascinating. It's wonderful!" [laughs] And I told my father and he literally said, "I don't care if you want to be an elephant trainer if it makes you happy."

I think I have the only parents in the world who would not have said something against become an actress.