Cybill Shepherd

I think the measure of your success to a certain extent will be the amount of things written about you that aren't true.

[on her film debut in The Last Picture Show (1971) and her romance with its director. Peter Bogdanovich] When a film wraps, the actors often like to keep some of their props or wardrobe as mementos. I wanted the heart-shaped locket and brown and white saddle shoes that Jacy wore, but his wife Polly [Polly Platt] was in charge of costumes and wouldn't give them to me. I guess she figured I had enough of a souvenir: her husband.

I had the serendipity of modeling during a temporary interlude between Twiggy and Kate Moss, when it was actually okay for women to look as if we ate and enjoyed life.

I never wanted to be Jane. I always wanted to be Tarzan. I didn't want to vacuum the tree house. I wanted to swing from the vines.

[on Marilyn Monroe] She had curves in places most other women don't even have places.

I did the nasty with Elvis [Elvis Presley]. This man loved to eat. But there was one thing he wouldn't eat . . . 'til he met me.

My home is different from my mother's, because hers is filled with beautiful objects that I was always afraid of breaking. My home is the opposite. Bring on the kids, the dogs, the parties - there's nothing that's so important it can't be broken.

I was born and bred to be a great flirt.

Your policemen are such wonderful hunks.

I had to lie so much about sex, first when I was 15 because I wasn't supposed to be having it. And when I got older, I lied to everybody I was having sex with, so I could have sex with other people.

[Her reaction when Martin Scorsese wanted to cast a Cybill Shepherd type for Taxi Driver (1976)] My anxiety was palpable. What's a Cybill Shepherd type anyway? With my little pilot light of insecurity fanned by a few years' worth of scathing reviews, I thought: Maybe I'm not even good enough to play my own type. But I admired all of Scorsese's films.

[Her reaction when George Cukor rejected her for Travels with My Aunt (1972) saying she had no comedic talent] A celebrated director had gone out of his way to be brutally discouraging, and I whimpered, worried, agonized, and almost believed him. But even though I've given up lots of times in my life, I usually only allow myself a week or two of sulk. Like the little engine that could, I get back on track. Ultimately no public or private humiliation has ever stopped me.

[on her Daisy Miller (1974) leading man Barry Brown] No one realized that he was in the last stages of an addiction that would cause him to take his life just a few years later. He was glum and withdrawn, and his breakfast of champions consisted of beer, coffee, and Valium, a pattern that couldn't help but affect the shooting schedule.

The grain of truth in this controversy was that of course I was envious. Who doesn't want to win an Emmy?

[on nudity in films, 1986] Women are expected to expose themselves, men aren't. It's not fair. And in my experience, men have had their clothes off a lot quicker than I did. In films, it's usually the reverse.

If you stand up for yourself and you're a man, they admire you. If you stand up for yourself and you're a woman, they call you a bitch.

I think, I'm a better mother because I work. I wouldn't be very happy at home all day long. Working makes me treasure my time at home.

I think that "great love of your life"" stuff is bullshit. That there's one person