People think that if you look fairly reasonable, you can’t possibly act, and as I only care about acting, I think beauty can be a great handicap.

Meaning of the quote

The quote suggests that people often assume that someone who is physically attractive cannot be a good actor. However, the actress Vivien Leigh believes that beauty can actually be a disadvantage for an actor, as they may be judged more on their appearance than their acting skills. She cares more about her ability to act than how she looks, and feels that beauty can be a hindrance in her profession.

About Vivien Leigh

Vivien Leigh was a British actress who won two Academy Awards for Best Actress, for her roles in Gone with the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire. She was also known for her stage performances and her marriage to actor Laurence Olivier, though she struggled with mental health issues and chronic tuberculosis throughout her career.

More about the author

More quotes from Vivien Leigh

I’m not a film star, I am an actress. Being a film star is such a false life, lived for fake values and for publicity.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

My parents were absolutely delighted that I knew what I wanted to do.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

I have just made out my will and given all the things I have and many that I haven’t.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

I’ve been a godmother loads of times, but being a grandmother is better than anything.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

I don’t know what that Method is. Acting is life, to me, and should be.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

You know the passage where Scarlett voices her happiness that her mother is dead, so that she can’t see what a bad girl Scarlett has become? Well, that’s me.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

I am going to be a great actress.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

I’m a Scorpio, and Scorpios eat themselves out and burn themselves up like me.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

I know I am right for Scarlett. I can convince Mr. Selznick.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

People think that if you look fairly reasonable, you can’t possibly act, and as I only care about acting, I think beauty can be a great handicap.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

When I come into the theatre I get a sense of security. I love an audience. I love people, and I act because I like trying to give pleasure to people.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

Life is too short to work so hard.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

I need something truly beautiful to look at in hotel rooms.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

My first husband and I are still good friends and there is no earthly reason why I should not see him. Larry and I are very much in love.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

I never found accents difficult, after learning languages.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

Dear Lord, I’m so grateful I’m still loved.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

I always know my lines.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

I think any classical training in the theatre is of enormous value.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

I think Edith Evans is the most marvelous actress in the world and she can look beautiful. People who aren’t beautiful can look beautiful. She can look as beautiful as Diana Cooper, who was the most beautiful woman in the world.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

English people don’t have very good diction. In France you have to pronounce very particularly and clearly, and learning French at an early age helped me enormously.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

I adore dancing.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

Shaw is like a train. One just speaks the words and sits in one’s place. But Shakespeare is like bathing in the sea – one swims where one wants.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

Streetcar is a most wonderful, wonderful play.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

A lucky thing Eva Peron was. She died at 32. I’m already 45.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

Classical plays require more imagination and more general training to be able to do. That’s why I like playing Shakespeare better than anything else.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

One is just an interpreter of what the playwright thinks, and therefore the greater the playwright, the more satisfying it is to act in the plays.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

I loved fencing and dancing and elocution.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

When I was at school at Paris, I had special lessons from Mademoiselle Antoine, an actress at the Comedie Francaise, and I was taken to every sort of play. I felt very grand.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

Sometimes I dread the truth of the lines I say. But the dread must never show.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

I’ve always been mad about cats.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

Every single night I’m nervous. You never know how the audience is going to react.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

I’m not afraid to die.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

Comedy is much more difficult than tragedy-and a much better training, I think. It’s much easier to make people cry than to make them laugh.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

I’m not young. What’s wrong with that?

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)

My parents were French and Irish and our family even has Spanish blood-and I do so love the United States and consider myself part American.

Vivien Leigh

British actress (1913-1967)