Top Beth Henley Quotes - Quotesmemo.com

Beth Henley Biography

Elizabeth Becker "Beth" Henley (born May 8, 1952) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and actress. Her play Crimes of the Heart won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the 1981 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best American Play, and a nomination for a Tony Award. Her screenplay for Crimes of the Heart was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Read about Beth Henley in Wikipedia

Random Authors

Beth Henley Quotes

It's really interesting that whenever you do something that is so out of character, like having an emotional outburst, that you don't get in trouble

Character, Emotional, Interesting, Outburst, Trouble

What I loved about the acting class was that you got to think all day long about a person that wasn't you, and figure out why they were sad and what they wanted, what they dreamed.

Class, Day, Dreamed, Long, Loved, Thinking

That's what I like about [smoking]. . . taking a drag off of death, Mmm! Gives me a sense of controlling my own destiny. What power! What exhilaration! Want a drag?

Controlling, Destiny, Giving, Like, Sense, Smoking

Part of that is that New York has proved to be too much fun for me to live and work; I love New York so much.

Fun, Live, Love, New York, Too Much, Work

I love writing for the screen.

Love, Screen, Screens, Writing

I find it fascinating to think about what the world is going to be like when people won't talk anymore.

Like, People, Think, Thinking, World

Somehow I got to be one of five or six actors that the directors would use as guinea pigs at this directing colloquium, where people pay to listen to and watch the directors direct.

Directors, Listen, People, Pigs, Somehow, Watch

Some really good things kind of swing both ways and I like to see people that can swing really, really, really sad and horrible and terrible and really, really, really beautiful and funny.

Beautiful, Funny Things, Horrible, Swings, Things

The impetus behind going to graduate school was a year after graduating from college spent in Dallas working at the dog food factory and Bank America and not having met success in my chosen field, which at that point was being an actress.

Actress, College, Dallas, Dog, Met, School

That was always my inclination, to start on a new play before the other one gets done, because at least you'll have something to go back to if that play gets trashed.

Back, Done, Inclination, Play

The most glorious thing about working in the collaborative art is when you have somebody like Susan Kingsley or Kathy Bates who are better than your play.

Art, Art Is, Kingsley, Like, Play, Somebody

But when I got to SMU and decided to take a playwriting class, I said this isn't a bad idea. IfI write characters, they could be as dumb as me, and I don't have to be very smart.

Character, Decided, Playwriting, Smart, Take, Writing

The next thing I wrote was in a writing class at night school. It was about a poor woman who worked at a dime store and who was all alone for Christmas in Laurel, Mississippi.

Christmas, Class, School, Writing

But here's the thing: what you do as a screenwriter is you sell your copyright. As a novelist, as a poet, as a playwright, you maintain your copyright

Copyright, Maintain, Novelist, Novelists, Poet, Screenwriter

And all writing is creating or spinning dreams for other people so they won't have to bother doing it themselves.

Creating, Dream, Spinning, Writing

I love to work, although sometimes I can spend whole days doing nothing more than picking the lint off the carpet and talking to my mother on the phone.

Mother, Nothing, Phones, Spend, Talking

My fault now is making my plays too short.

Fault, Faults, Play, Plays, Short, Too Short

In movement class, you had to lie on the floor and get your alignment in to pass the class

Alignment, Class, Lying, Movement

I grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, really in suburbia, so my mother was in community theatre plays

Community, Community Theatre, Grew, Jackson, Mother, Play

It was kind of enlightening to become a playwright.

Enlightening, Kind, Playwright

1