It was considered that you were stepping down by doing television. I almost turned Cybill down because I so wanted to remain a theater actress.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
When I decided to become an actress, I think I let some people down. It was a kind of rebellion.
I didn't really have any aspirations to do TV when I first decided to be an actor.
I wasn't straining at the bit to become a movie star any more than I had plotted to get out of vaudeville and into Broadway musicals.
For a long time I did not want to do television because I did not want to get stuck playing the same person. I wanted the ongoing challenge of a variety of roles.
When I first got out to Hollywood, they were pushing me for sitcoms, and I didn't really have an interest in them. I wanted to do films and slowly worked that way. And then it became, I guess, this curse of the leading man.
I wanted to be involved in TV and film in some capacity, so a compromise, because acting seemed unrealistic, and so risky, was to get into the production side. And it was a really fortunate, smart move looking back on it, because it gave me perspective on another side of the business.
I imagine I was supposed to become a lawyer or something. But this was the Depression; the lawyers I saw were all driving cabs. So I thought, 'Well, if I'm going to be badly off anyway, I might as well be badly off in the theater, where you get used to it.'
For a long time, I was almost ashamed of being an actress. I felt like it was a shallow occupation. People would be watching my every move.
I turned down the opportunity to be in some films that went on to be blockbusters.
I've made a career of taking roles that other actresses didn't want.