People break down after a couple of hours. All the defenses go down, and there’s a kind of communication that if I spent 20 years in a living room with one of these people, I would never, never know as much about them as I do in that one day.
Meaning of the quote
When people feel comfortable and let their guard down, they can open up and share more about themselves in a short time than if you spent years with them. This is because people often put up walls and act differently when they're trying to impress others or keep their personal lives private. But when those defenses come down, you can learn a lot about who they truly are in just one day of close interaction.
About Lee Grant
Lee Grant is an acclaimed American actress, documentarian, and director. She has had an impressive career, earning an Oscar nomination for her film debut, winning an Oscar for her role in Shampoo, and being recognized with two Emmy Awards. Lee Grant was also one of many entertainment industry professionals blacklisted during the 1950s, but she was able to rebuild her acting career in the mid-1960s and later found success as a director as well.
More quotes from Lee Grant
I’ve been married to one Marxist and one Fascist, and neither one would take the garbage out.
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When I became a director, I wanted to convince a very reluctant Sidney into allowing me to go on the journey of his life. Sidney had gone ahead of every other African American actor.
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I don’t think I fit the Marilyn Maxwell mode.
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You don’t need a love scene to show love.
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Every actor in the room honored Sidney for being there so many years before. And everybody was so moved to be at a place where history was being made again. It was tangible.
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I know what you go through when you learn someone close to you has died.
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This is our lives. The way to give it dignity is to tell the truth.
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A lot of very, very big stars were going down and not being seen or heard from again. Kirk took a huge chance in putting a blacklisted writer’s name on the screen and somehow or other, he survived it, like he survives everything.
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What goes on between a father and a son, which is usually such a private matter, is that they are able to be honest with each other, and be honest with me, as a director. It’s just remarkable.
American actress
It’s a very good feeling to be around a man who thinks women are juicy.
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Kirk is a man, and he loves it. He loves women.
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I did my very first film with Kirk in Detective Story when he was the greatest, greatest star in the world. I fell in love with him, had a crush on him then.
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I am proud of Kirk. I think he drums to his own drummer in every way.
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My instinct was that it was Sidney’s childhood in the Bahamas that gave him the fearlessness to fight racism. So this documentary was a kind of rounding out of what had begun in that scene in In the Heat of the Night.
American actress
People break down after a couple of hours. All the defenses go down, and there’s a kind of communication that if I spent 20 years in a living room with one of these people, I would never, never know as much about them as I do in that one day.
American actress