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Portrait of Uta Hagen

Uta Hagen

(1919–2004) Television Actor United States

31 quotes in 201 categories

Uta Hagen was a television actor from the United States, best known for Respect for Acting.

Quick Facts About Uta Hagen

Born: June 12, 1919
Died: January 14, 2004
Nationality: United States
Profession: Television Actor
Notable works: Respect for Acting
Spouse: Herbert Berghof

About Uta Hagen

Uta Thyra Hagen was a German and American actress and theatre practitioner. She originated the role of Martha in the 1962 Broadway premiere of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, who called her "a profoundly truthful actress." Because Hagen was on the Hollywood blacklist, in part because of her association with Paul Robeson, her film opportunities dwindled and she focused her career on New York theatre.

Biography source: Wikipedia

Awards & Honors

Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play National Medal of Arts Drama League Award Donaldson Awards Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress

Quotes by Uta Hagen

All tedious research is worth one inspired moment.

Inspiration

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I won't go to England because they won't let my dog in.

Dog

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The need to be loved and protected is at a peak when we feel abandoned and are particularly vulnerable to difficult circumstances.

Abandoned

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One cannot demand of art that it pay you in any other way than in the satisfaction of the work itself.

Art

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Theoretically, the actor ought to be more sound in mind and body than other people, since he learns to understand the psychological…

Actors

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The knowledge that every day there is something more to learn, something higher to reach for, something new to make for others,…

Each day

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We had a relationship that lasted 44 years. Herbert and I lived together 10 years before we were married. He always gave…

Anniversary

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To rebel or revolt against the status quo is in the very nature of an artist.

Art

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I love going to the movies; I love watching good movie actors. They must know something I don't.

Good movie

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The actor must know that since he, himself, is the instrument, he must play on it to serve the character with the…

Actors

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I think, by and large, the level of acting is mediocre. When I go to the theatre, I get so angry. I…

Acting

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Maybe the one I enjoyed playing most was A Month in the Country.

Country

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We were not allowed to say, Screw, but we could say, Hump the hostess, because hump is in Shakespeare.

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Usually, someone who's in a show gets me a ticket. I feel cornered. I can't walk out if I don't like it.

Cornered

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Keep pace with the present. Take a trip to the moon. envision the future.

Moon

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I love playing Chekhov. That's the hardest; that's why I love it most.

Chekhov

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Working with Brando was fun. It was like a tennis match. We played unbelievably well together.

Brando

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Talent is an amalgam of high sensitivity; easy vulnerability; high sensory equipment (seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting intensely); a vivid imagination as…

Acting

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Awards don't really mean much.

Awards

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We must overcome the notion that we must be regular... it robs you of the chance to be extraordinary and leads you…

Chance

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Thoughts and feelings are suspended in a vacuum unless they instigate and feed the selected actions, and it is the characters actions…

Action

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I'm a bad liar; I don't know what to say backstage.

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Marlon was so sensitive, you thought the poor guy just had a bad education.

Bad

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no work of art is ever finished, nothing is ever static, no performance is for keeps.

Art

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Once in a while, there's stuff that makes me say, That's what theatre's about. It has to be a human event on…

Events

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