Valerie Harper Quotes

Actors often want to look like they're comfortable. You want to go into an audition saying, 'I'm your gal. I'm what you need.' Yet you don't want to push.

- Valerie Harper

Need, Like, Audition, Gal

I've had very deep moments of sadness. What I do is really sob, really cry, do whatever it is, and then kind of release it. Then I can go cook dinner or make a phone call to a friend.

- Valerie Harper

Deep, Kind, Very, Sob

Daddy was a salesman and away a lot, always working. My mom took me to the movies on Thursday nights because it was dish night, when they gave you a free dish along with your movie ticket.

- Valerie Harper

Always, Away, Took, Salesman

The disease I have is quite a rare cancer, and it is located in a limited area - a very widespread area, but narrow. So a lot can happen if the cancer starts getting really aggressive, pressing on parts of the brain and causing me to lose either my speech or my ability to think, etc.

- Valerie Harper

Very, Getting, Lot, Pressing

I've had a lot of great stuff - spectacular stuff - happen to me. I've got to not be a pig about life.

- Valerie Harper

Happen, About, Had, Great Stuff

When you age, you can do all kinds of roles. You don't have to look great. You can be the mom, the aunt. You can have a small part. You're an actor.

- Valerie Harper

Small, Small Part, Roles, Aunt

I have had acupuncture regularly, and I engage in visualization, which is actually an actor's tool, visualizing myself kicking out the cancer, making up scenarios.

- Valerie Harper

Making, Visualization, Which, Acupuncture

I'm a perfect person to tell people not to give up.

- Valerie Harper

Give, Perfect, Person, Perfect Person

The movie that really 'did it for me' was 'All About Eve.' The backstage feeling, the authenticity, the passion those people had for their lives in the theater. I must say, the movie 'All About Eve,' what a great movie! 'All About Eve' had a profound effect on my life.

- Valerie Harper

My Life, Movie, About, Great Movie

I've always done character roles and tons of movies as the so-called star, but I always felt I was one of the team.

- Valerie Harper

Star, Always, Roles, Tons

The first Broadway play I ever saw was 'The Bad Seed' by Maxwell Anderson and with Patty McCormack. 'The Bad Seed' was from an extraordinary novel by William March.

- Valerie Harper

Play, Bad, Broadway, Patty

It's really important that we don't hang up the membership to the human community at menopause.

- Valerie Harper

Important, Hang, Menopause, Membership

I never smoked in my life. Neither did my mother. And so many women I meet whose mothers or aunts or whoever who have gotten lung cancer were no-time smokers.

- Valerie Harper

My Life, Smoked, Gotten, Lung

I don't have a reputation of being a super-witch who demands pink rugs in the dressing room.

- Valerie Harper

Reputation, Pink, Dressing, Dressing Room

I was a dancer, but I was always a little overweight. I'd say, 'Hello, I'm Valerie Harper, and I'm overweight.' I'd say it quickly before they could... I always got called chubby. My nose was too wide; my hair was too kinky.

- Valerie Harper

Nose, Always, Wide, Chubby

I'm now the poster child for not believing everything I'm told.

- Valerie Harper

Believing, Now, Everything, Poster Child

Cancer reminds me of a very bad but tenacious performer who, although no one wants to see, insists on doing an encore, having a return engagement, making a comeback and, worst of all, going on tour.

- Valerie Harper

Doing, Making, Very, Comeback

Mine's called leptomeningeal carcinomatosis. It's incurable. It's terminal. And it's in a tiny space - a huge area all around the brain and up and down the spine. But it's small area where the spinal fluid is. It's microscopic. You can't see it. It isn't lumps that they can say, 'Oh we can zap that.'

- Valerie Harper

Small, Down, Around, Spinal

Really appreciate the sunset as you're driving home, cursing all the terrible drivers on the road. Be where you are when you're there rather than out there in the future or back there in the past.

- Valerie Harper

In The Past, Cursing, Rather, Drivers

I'm painfully middle class.

- Valerie Harper

Class, Middle, Middle Class, Painfully

Don't accept or be crippled by the media hype that aging is bad or shameful.

- Valerie Harper

Media, Bad, Hype, Crippled

I have an intention to live each moment fully.

- Valerie Harper

Live, Intention, Each, Fully

Live fully in the instant.

- Valerie Harper

Live, Instant, Fully

Talk about a woman of a certain age - Pearl Buck was a great prototype of continuing to work. She was in the hospital dying of cancer, and in the next room was her secretary, typing out her next book.

- Valerie Harper

Work, Woman, Next, Prototype

I love sitting at home. I love laying in bed watching television.

- Valerie Harper

Love, Bed, I Love, Sitting

We have a lot of fear around death, and I thought maybe I can help somebody... I want people to be less scared.

- Valerie Harper

Death, Thought, Maybe, Scared

Stop working so hard at being interesting and focus on what's outside yourself. There are universes out there that need to be explored. And, an interested person is extremely interesting.

- Valerie Harper

Focus, Interesting, Need, Explored

My stepmother Angela is an Italian from New York City. I based Rhoda on her and a Jewish friend named Penny Ann Green. People often said that Rhoda seemed to be Italian. That was the Angela seeping through.

- Valerie Harper

Through, Named, Angela, Penny

With imagery, as actors know, you can make up anything you want to. You can put yourself in icy water to get rid of this or that.

- Valerie Harper

Want, Make Up, Rid, Imagery

Keep your chin up, and don't go to the funeral - mine or yours or your loved one's - until the day of the funeral because then you miss the life that you have left.

- Valerie Harper

Go, Chin, Mine, Yours

There are times when I cry. I'll sit in the chair and feel the depression, let it seethe. Then it starts to go away, and I find myself laughing, saying, 'Well, that was dramatic.'

- Valerie Harper

Myself, Chair, Away, Laughing

On 'Rhoda,' they wanted my husband, Joe, to wear a pajama top when we were doing love scenes. They finally let him take it off as long as the audience saw him get into bed wearing pajama bottoms so they didn't think he was completely naked underneath.

- Valerie Harper

Love, Bed, Joe, Underneath

I've always felt very strongly about human rights for blacks, women, and gays. Our Constitution is about equality for all - that's got to mean something to all of us.

- Valerie Harper

Constitution, Always, Very, Human Rights

I don't know a great deal about Alzheimer's - just what it does.

- Valerie Harper

Alzheimer, Deal, Does, Great Deal

I am a cancer patient, and I continue to fight with the hope that a cure may be just around the corner. I am grateful to my family, friends, loved ones, and to fans that I am in their thoughts and prayers. That support gives me great hope.

- Valerie Harper

Hope, Cure, Around, Prayers

If I wake up in the night terrified, I try to find a way to not let the fear have me. Every moment you spend in fear of cancer is a moment you've wasted enjoying life. Replace that fear - get in the moment and enjoy it.

- Valerie Harper

Night, Replace, Terrified, Enjoying Life

I'm basically an actress, not a comedienne, and if something comes along that appeals to me, I'll do it.

- Valerie Harper

Actress, Along, Basically, Appeals

Do not tell somebody how to vote, just go up to them and tell them what Fahrenheit 9/11 meant to you. Fahrenheit will probably not win an Academy Award, but if you put it first on your list, it will become a nominee.

- Valerie Harper

Tell, Your, Academy Award, Vote

That's very unusual for an actor, to have gainful employment that they are secure in, that they know is going to be there year after year.

- Valerie Harper

Actor, Going, Very, Employment

Life has sweetness to it and a beauty and a power that I wanted to celebrate.

- Valerie Harper

Beauty, Celebrate, Wanted, Sweetness

Life does not owe me a shred.

- Valerie Harper

Me, Does, Owe, Shred

I really developed an early love for ballet. Like most dancers, I am still 'first' a dancer. I'm very proud of it. Once you are a dancer, the physicality never leaves you, nor does the strength. Hopefully, it keeps you like an athlete.

- Valerie Harper

Love, Strength, Very, Hopefully

Pearl Buck was my mother's favorite author.

- Valerie Harper

Mother, Favorite, Author, Buck

My mother was a Book of the Month Club devotee. I remember she always looked forward to Pearl Buck's books.

- Valerie Harper

I Remember, Always, Looked, Buck

It can be frightening. I think, 'I don't want to go.' But I give myself room to grieve.

- Valerie Harper

Think, Give, I Think, Frightening

'Incurable' is a tough word. So is 'terminal.'

- Valerie Harper

Tough, Word, Incurable, Terminal

We're all terminal; none of us are getting out of this alive.

- Valerie Harper

Alive, Getting, None, Terminal

I really got the 'Rhoda' flavor from studying my stepmother, Angela, who's Italian, not Jewish. There's really so little difference between the speech patterns and family attitudes of Jews and Italians in the New York area, anyway.

- Valerie Harper

Jewish, Attitudes, Angela, Stepmother

I felt sharing my experience may be of value or assistance in some way to others.

- Valerie Harper

Some, May, Felt, Sharing

As physics has proven, we're ultimately particulate matter, which means we are all one. That's why racial and gender bias is so ridiculous.

- Valerie Harper

Gender, Which, Means, Bias

Whatever happens, who cares.

- Valerie Harper

Whatever, Happens, Cares, Who Cares

I've always been a team player.

- Valerie Harper

Team, Always, Been, Player

I think you just take each day and get the best out of it and do what you can and have fun.

- Valerie Harper

Have Fun, Think, I Think, Each Day

I don't wake up saying, 'Oh, I'm going to die.' It's a waste of time. It really is.

- Valerie Harper

Die, Waste, Going, Waste Of Time

I first met Rhoda Morgenstern in the spring of 1970.

- Valerie Harper

Spring, First, Met

Miracles occur, or people die the next day.

- Valerie Harper

Die, Next, Occur, Miracles

I really want Americans, and all of us, to be less afraid of death, and know that it's a passage, but that - don't go to the funeral before the day of the funeral.

- Valerie Harper

Death, Before, Passage, Funeral

Don't go to the funeral until the day of the funeral. Live this day.

- Valerie Harper

Day, Go, Until, Funeral

When I wake up in the morning, I don't say, 'Oh, I have cancer. I say 'Another day. How you feeling? Good? Good.'

- Valerie Harper

Wake Up, Say, Another, Cancer

Every five minutes, every hour, every day, every year that you waste worrying about your cancer - you have forfeited time that you could have been alive having fun.

- Valerie Harper

Waste, Been, Having, Cancer

I have cancer. It's in my brain... What are you gonna do about it?

- Valerie Harper

Brain, About, Gonna, Cancer

Sometimes I yell at my cancer cells, sometimes I make myself laugh.

- Valerie Harper

Sometimes, Cells, Yell, Cancer

At an ERA fundraiser years ago, one of my favorite buttons was the one that said, 'Every mother is a working mother.'

- Valerie Harper

Mother, Years, Buttons, Years Ago

Women and young girls are constantly judging themselves by standards that aren't real.

- Valerie Harper

Standards, Young Girls, Judging

Rhoda Morgenstern gave a wonderful impetus and propulsion to my career.

- Valerie Harper

Career, Wonderful, Gave, Impetus

I had always wanted a steady job in this business, a show that lasted.

- Valerie Harper

Business, Always, Wanted, Steady

I am pretty heavy into causes. I'm an active Democrat, I boycott grapes, and I work for prison reform.

- Valerie Harper

Work, Pretty, Active, Heavy

I danced in choruses from about 1959 to 1967, in 'Take Me Along,' 'Wildcat,' and 'Subways Are for Sleeping.'

- Valerie Harper

Along, About, Take, Sleeping

I don't see anything degrading about marriage or homemaking, but my husband and I pool the money we earn, along with the jobs around the house.

- Valerie Harper

Husband, Jobs, About, Pool

Magazines airbrush everything. If you think it's an illusion, then it probably is.

- Valerie Harper

Think, Magazines, Then, Illusion

Luck is not an acceptable substitute for early detection.

- Valerie Harper

Luck, Substitute, Acceptable, Detection

I'm talking about enjoying and finding pleasure and interest and happiness and curiosity every moment.

- Valerie Harper

Curiosity, Interest, Finding

Knowing that you have something you have to deal with, rising to the occasion, builds character.

- Valerie Harper

Character, Deal, Occasion, Knowing

Forgiving is giving up the wish that things could have been different. They weren't. That's the past. Let it go.

- Valerie Harper

Giving Up, Been, Could, Forgiving

I know there are a whole bunch of 'Rhoda' rooters out there.

- Valerie Harper

Know, Out, Whole, Bunch

We think it's food that matters the most, but exercise and food both matter.

- Valerie Harper

Exercise, Think, Most, Matters

I used to get some ego thing out of saying I wasn't a star, just an actress. Forget it. I'm a star. I wanted it. I worked for it. I got it.

- Valerie Harper

Star, Some, Actress, Ego

I think I have too little to hide to be interesting.

- Valerie Harper

Think, I Think, Too, Hide

I loved working in the theater.

- Valerie Harper

Loved, Working, Theater

I think drama and comedy are pretty much all the same, and the issue is whether or not you have a sense of humor.

- Valerie Harper

Think, Pretty, I Think, Drama

I'm happier because I had to face what all of us try not to face: that we're going to die. It's a fact.

- Valerie Harper

Die, Fact, Going, Happier

Above all, learn to live when you're dying.

- Valerie Harper

Live, Learn, Dying, Above

I never did stand-up. If I've been funny ever, it was with other actors.

- Valerie Harper

Never, Been, Ever, Stand-Up

My husband is the best caregiver in the world.

- Valerie Harper

Best, World, Husband

I really look at my life as blessed.

- Valerie Harper

My Life, Look, Really, Blessed

All of us have the same thing coming - death. It's waiting. But I don't want to go. I want to live to be 102!

- Valerie Harper

Death, Waiting, Want, Same Thing

We don't know what's around the corner.

- Valerie Harper

Know, Around, Corner

Life is amazing; live it to the fullest. Stay as long as you can.

- Valerie Harper

Life, Live, Amazing, Fullest

I wouldn't give people advice except to share with them what I'm doing, which is, You're alive - stay alive.

- Valerie Harper

Doing, Give, Which, Except

Comedy is saving me.

- Valerie Harper

Me, Comedy, Saving

Though I'm 75, I'm not looking forward to death, but it's there for all of us.

- Valerie Harper

Death, Forward, Though, Looking Forward

We all have a way to contribute, to your community, to your family, whatever it is you can do.

- Valerie Harper

Family, Community, Your, Contribute

I have had a magnificent run.

- Valerie Harper

Run, Had, Magnificent

If you die, you're not a failure.

- Valerie Harper

Die, You, Failure

When I heard 'incurable'... incurable is a tough word.

- Valerie Harper

Tough, Word, Heard, Incurable

Don't waste the time you do have.

- Valerie Harper

Time, You, Waste

All of us are going to die. Every single one of us. So, while you're alive, be alive.

- Valerie Harper

Die, Single, Going, Alive

As long as you're alive, you can do something.

- Valerie Harper

Long, You, Something, Alive

I'm not dying until I do.

- Valerie Harper

Until, Dying

Don't live in fear of dying.

- Valerie Harper

Fear, Live, Dying

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