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I preferred delivering my performance in person. I liked to be in control. You couldn't be in films.

Ethel Merman

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Ethel Merman
Age: 76 †
Born: 1908
Born: January 16
Died: 1984
Died: February 15
Actor
Actress
Film Actor
Singer
Stage Actor
Television Actor
Writer
Ethel Agnes Zimmermann
Couldn
Control
Film
Preferred
Persons
Delivering
Person
Performance
Liked
Performances
Films

More quotes by Ethel Merman

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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
Ethel Merman
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I am known to be able to take care of myself when I become angry. I don't mince words.
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Legend has it that when God created me, he gave me a big distinctive voice, a lot of boldness and no heart.
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If I feel in need of sleep, I just open a book or turn on the television. Both are better than any sleeping pill.
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The only things I read are gossip columns. If I read three pages of a book, I'm out like a light. When I pick up the book again, I've forgotten what I've read and have to start over again. By page three, even if I've just awakened from a nine -hour nap, I fall asleep again. So if anyone gives me a book, it had better have lots of pictures.
Ethel Merman
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I can hold a note as long as the Chase National Bank.
Ethel Merman
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I work as often as I want and yet I'm free as a bird
Ethel Merman
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I take a breath when I have to.
Ethel Merman
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My beloved Mom and Pop always rated tops with each other, and that's the way it will always be
Ethel Merman
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I've made a wonderful living playing that theatrical character - the professional brassy dame
Ethel Merman
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I have plenty of invitations to go places, lots to do. If I'm not working, I go to have my hair taken care of and work at needlepoint
Ethel Merman
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I was born in my parents' bedroom on January 16. The World Almanac says it was 1909. I say it was 1912. But what difference does it make as long as I feel 33?
Ethel Merman
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At a flea market I always head for the junk jewelry table first.
Ethel Merman
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When I'm asked how to succeed in show business, I always say I haven't the foggiest
Ethel Merman
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I have been ambitious to be a somebody from the time I was 5 years old
Ethel Merman
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I told her that there was something about Christmas carols that always brought tears to my eyes. I added that I also cry at weddings. To me weddings are very solemn occasions. I should have cried at a couple of my own.
Ethel Merman
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The slapdash way producers used to assemble a show seems a little unbelievable when we talk about them now
Ethel Merman
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Music, in the past few years... anything singable or understandable is square.
Ethel Merman
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I attend surprisingly few shows. The type of theater that is popular today just doesn't appeal to me.
Ethel Merman
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Cole Porter wrote Anything Goes and four more hits for me
Ethel Merman