Quotes

Acting is like a high wire act. Your margin for error is very slim.

I wish I didn't have to live up to anything.

I went to one of the world's great music schools, Juilliard, to acting school and never had any voice training. It wasn't until my mid-twenties that I began to go and see a singing teacher, and I discovered I had a voice, but I never felt very much confidence about singing in public and rarely went up for musical auditions.

I attribute the longevity of my career to the fact that I didn't have to carry that mantle [beauty]. I was never beautiful so I'm not unbeautiful. I may not have been a leading lady, but I had great clothes and funny lines. I think I had more flexibility.

[on her 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award] It baffles me a little. Maybe it keeps me young, but I still feel like I have so much left to do. I don't feel there's a period at the end of this sentence yet.

[on Mamma Mia! (2008)] If you want to approach it critically there are a million things you could take issue with, but I don't even think that's the point. The point is to sit back and enjoy the ABBA tunes and scenery of the Greek islands. We loved making it and people clearly love watching it.

I rarely play a victim. I'm usually someone who's kind of foxy with great lines. I always say that my career has been great one-liners and great clothes. I've been lucky. I almost consistently play characters who are famous for being well dressed. And there's always a feistiness to the characters I play and a real strength.

[on Diane Lockhart] I loved the way she was written and she has remained that consistently highly professional female figure in the workplace and a complex female character. It's been a great privilege for me to have a role of such great texture for such a long time. No actor expects to get a seven-year run on anything.