As my mother said, I never sprang out of bed with a glad shout! My voice needed oiling and then it took off.
I do ask myself sometimes, what am I doing writing about animals that talk like we do? But I guess it’s okay if it brings across a point.
You know, making an animated movie is such a lonesome thing. You mostly don’t see your fellow actors or anything. You go into your booth, you record all your dialogue. It’s very much an issue of trust. You leave it all up to the director.
I’m never lonely when I’m writing, because you live with the characters that are so alive in your mind. And you really see them and know them and get to be friends with them.
I’ve got a good right hook.
I think it’s the essence of any film and any stage production – any work where you do work with other people – of course collaboration is hugely important. One does for awhile become family.
Unfortunately something always has to go by the wayside.
I play with my grandchildren. I tend to my garden, which I love. Of course, I love to read, and family is really what it’s all about.
As you become older, you become less judgmental and take offense less. But marriage is hard work; the illusion that you get married and live happily ever after is absolute rubbish.
Beginnings are always hard.
I work out as little as I can for as much gain as I can. Yoga and a little bit of ballet – only 30 or 40 minutes every other day. I keep supple for myself more than for roles.
I was raised never to carp about things and never to moan, because in vaudeville, which is my background, you just got on with it through all kinds of adversities.
I miss singing very, very much, but the best thing is I have never been busier.
Because of the Thames I have always loved inland waterways – water in general, water sounds – there’s music in water. Brooks babbling, fountains splashing. Weirs, waterfalls; tumbling, gushing.
Once upon a time, there was a Magic Kingdom made of hopes and childhood fantasies. A timeless place where every land was filled with wonder. A place where everyone who entered its gates would be given the gift of the young at heart.
I can’t believe 50 years have gone by since that film was released. I blinked and suddenly here I am. We all really felt blessed and as for me; how lucky can a girl get. Great music does more than enhance a film, it cements our memories in the film going experience.
Success is terrifying. Like happiness, it is often appreciated in retrospect. It’s only later that you place it in perspective. Years from now, I’ll look back and say, ‘God, wasn’t it wonderful.’
I adored my birth father and constantly worried that I was being disloyal to him and his schoolteacher roots if I spent too much time performing and enjoying it.
If you remain calm in the midst of great chaos, it is the surest guarantee that it will eventually subside.
In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and – SNAP – the job’s a game!