Donald Spoto > Quotes

“But there is probably nothing in the world as determined as a child with a dream”
― Donald Spoto

“Centuries later, it is often presumed that such a pious tone and environment would create boredom, cynicism, and even open rebellion among any militia. But in an era when faith was a fact of life, prayer was ubiquitous, ritual respected, and the presence of clergymen taken seriously, the result was a fresh discipline and respect - even a chivalric courtliness - among many of the troops. Joan herself was so obviously and sincerely devout that the major captains of her met-at-arms and crossbowmen were more than impressed: they followed her example as best they could.”
― Donald Spoto, Joan: The Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint

“She had an understanding about people, and compassion—she didn’t talk about it, but you heard how she spoke and saw how she behaved.”
― Donald Spoto, High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly

“I would like to be remembered as a person who accomplished something who was kind and loving. I would like to leave behind me the memory of a human being who behaved properly and tried to help others.”
― Donald Spoto, High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly

“Less is more” was one of Meisner’s mantras. “Silence has myriad meanings. In the theater, silence is an absence of words, but never an absence of meaning.” Most of all, Meisner urged his students to think of acting a role as “living truthfully under given imaginary circumstances.”
― Donald Spoto, High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly

“From his earliest years, Alfred Hitchcock was a loner and a watcher, an observer rather than a participant. "I don't remember ever having a playmate," he recalled as an adult. At family gatherings: "I would sit quietly in a corner, saying nothing. I looked and observed a great deal. I've always been that way and still am. I was anything but expansive. I was a loner—can't even remember having had a playmate. I played by myself, inventing my own games.”
― Donald Spoto, The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock

“In the Christian tradition, for example, the only model for faith is Jesus of Nazareth. His proclamation, one observes in the New Testament, was not particularly religious: he spoke of God, certainly, but only in relation to ordinary human life with its quotidian struggle and suffering. Nor did he speak or preach in especially religious or secretarian terms; in fact, it maybe be said that Jesus came to set the world free from enslavement to and obsession with mere (humanly made) religion. "He went about doing good" is the biblical summary of his life and mission, and no words are more moving or provocative.”
― Donald Spoto, Joan: The Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint

“Thus, beginning in 1955, a formidable file on Marilyn Monroe also began to accumulate in Washington [...]. They represent some of the most ludicrous waste of paper in history.”
― Donald Spoto, Marilyn Monroe: The Biography

“Owls belong to the night world" as Hitchcock pointed out; "they are watchers, and this appeals to Perkins's masochism. He knows the birds and he knows that they're watching him all the time. He can see his own guilt reflected in their knowing eyes." This explains other avian imagery: the crucial shot of Perkins knocking over a sketch of a bird when (in his "son personality") he discovers the body of Janet Leigh—the last "stuffed bird" is, aptly, a woman named Crane, who came from Phoenix (a city named for the mythic bird that returns from the dead); and why, when Perkins suggested candy, Hitchcock insisted it be candy corn, a confection that resembles the kernels pecked by chickens. (As will become clear, everything about Psycho points forward to and aesthetically necessitates Hitchcock's next feature film, The Birds.)”
― Donald Spoto, The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock

“I have turned to work again and again over the years as an antidote to the pains of life. Work is the best alleviator of sorrow I know, and once again, it is standing me in good stead. So I will work--and cry on my own time.”
― Donald Spoto, Possessed: The Life of Joan Crawford

“Why wouldn’t she settle down in Philadelphia and marry a nice, rich Catholic boy? “I hear some of your school chums are coming out,” Jack said to Grace, raising the prospect of the formal entrance into polite society that was common at the time. “Do you want to come out, too?” Her reply was firm: “I am out! Do you think that to get a date I have to use those women who sell mailing lists of boys’ names?” No, she had other plans and was not to be stopped.”
― Donald Spoto, High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly

“Va, et advienne que pourra. Go, and come what may.”
― Donald Spoto, Joan: the Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint

“Gas She had never been in this part of Paris before—only reading of it in the novels of Duvain, or seeing it at the Grand Guignol. So this was the Montmartre? That horror where danger lurked under cover of night; where innocent souls perished without warning—where doom confronted the unwary—where the Apache revelled. She moved cautiously in the shadow of the high wall, looking furtively backward for the hidden menace that might be dogging her steps. Suddenly she darted into an alley way, little heeding where it led . . . groping her way on in the inky blackness, the one thought of eluding the pursuit firmly fixed in her mind . . . on she went . . . Oh! when would it end? . . . Then a doorway from which a light streamed lent itself to her vision . . . In here . . . anywhere, she thought. The door stood at the head of a flight of stairs . . . stairs that creaked with age as she endeavoured to creep down . . . then she heard the sound of drunken laughter and shuddered—surely this was—No, not that. Anything but that! She reached the foot of the stairs and saw an evil-smelling wine bar, with wrecks of what were once men and women indulging in a drunken orgy . . . then they saw her, a vision of affrighted purity. Half a dozen men rushed towards her amid the encouraging shouts of the rest. She was seized. She screamed with terror . . . better had she been caught by her pursuer was her one fleeting thought as they dragged her roughly across the room. The fiends lost no time in settling her fate. They would share her belongings . . . and she . . . Why! Was this not the heart of Montmartre? She should go—the rats should feast. Then they bound her and carried her down the dark passage, up a flight of stairs to the riverside. The water rats should feast, they said. And then . . . swinging her bound body to and fro, dropped her with a splash into the dark, swirling waters. Down she went, down, down. Conscious only of a choking sensation, this was death . . . then . . . "It's out, Madam," said the dentist. "Half a crown, please."—HITCH”
― Donald Spoto, The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock

“Grace was tough and strong—mentally, emotionally and physically—and she cut through a lot of the nonsense. Hollywood was like a game for her. She was also a good businesswoman, and this allowed her to win in her struggles with MGM. She knew how to play the corporate game, and she played it so that it worked for her.”
― Donald Spoto, High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly

“Guilt, of course, is the predominant theme of Hitchcock's films. It derives not only from the complexities of his own inner life: guilt is also one of the great themes in all art, and especially in contemporary art and literature.”
― Donald Spoto, The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock

“When we renounce our fear of life and give up trying to have it under our control—that is, when we acknowledge our contingency and utter dependence on God—then God comes to us and turns us toward Himself.”
― Donald Spoto, Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi

“Decades later, we do not watch her as a movie star playing at or around a role, nor are we conscious of her gestures, her slight raising of the eyebrows, the sudden drop of her voice. We do not observe an “artiste” struggling to impress. Grace Kelly, the beautiful actress, disappears when we watch Georgie Elgin in The Country Girl; we see only the real weariness of a woman almost out of strength, almost empty of feeling—except that her feeling, and ours, is indeed too deep for tears.”
― Donald Spoto, High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly

“The gravity of Kennedy’s condition was not detailed in the daily press, but the news traveled in New York society. When Kennedy’s condition improved slightly, Grace sent a note to Jackie, asking if she could visit the hospital. Mrs. Kennedy thought this was a marvelous idea, and she invited Grace to arrive wearing a nurse’s uniform, for Jack had complained that all the nurses were homely old crones. Grace arrived to find a platoon of bustling attendants hovering over a bone-thin, frail and ashen patient; he was thirty-seven, but he looked much older—nothing like the picture of glowing energy normally presented by the media.”
― Donald Spoto, High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly

“The idea of Christian perfection, which began in the ancient monasteries and spread to the world as an ideal, is one of the most appealing, demanding and ultimately hopeless notions of the spiritual life. By definition, only God is perfect—that is, complete and independent unto [God’s] self. Humans, on the other hand, are radically imperfect, and that, paradoxically, is welcome news, for the recognition of our incompleteness throws us on the mercy of God and enables us, as Saint Paul stressed, to put up with one another’s faults.”
― Donald Spoto, Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi

“Joan's openness to God, in other words, had practical consequences that could be understood only with the passing of time - precisely the way every person discovers a meaning and purpose in life. In Joan's case fidelity to God's summon came to mean a commitment to alleviate human suffering by lifting the siege of Orleans. For now that was the essential meaning of "saving France" - not a political act but a humanitarian one. As for the crowning of Charles at Reims, it seems that this goal became clear only later, as a sort of coda after the successes at Orleans and elsewhere in the Loire Valley.”
― Donald Spoto, Joan: The Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint

“And what of Joan's presence among so many young, armed men? Perhaps of all the nobles and military men, the Duke of Alencon - that dedicated, courageous and skillful commander - may be trusted most. Although he was a man who had a keen eye for attractive and available women, he too recognized a rare quality of sincere devotion that deflected any tendency to make sexual overtures. 'Sometimes I lay down to sleep with Joan and the soldiers,' Alencon recalled. 'We were all in the straw together, and sometimes I saw Joan prepare for the night. Sometimes too I looked at her breasts, which were beautiful. And yet I never had any carnal desire for her.”
― Donald Spoto, Joan: The Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint

“In the climactic moments of that spiritual testament to Hitch’s own soul, Scottie (James Stewart) confronts Judy (Kim Novak) about her exploitative lover, who turned her into the replica of another woman: “He made you over, didn’t he? He made you over just like I made you over—only better. Not only the clothes and the hair, but the looks and the manner and the words. Did he train you? Did he rehearse you? Did he tell you exactly what to do and what to say? You were a very apt pupil!”
― Donald Spoto, High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly

“she began to choose her own projects, Marilyn”
― Donald Spoto, Marilyn Monroe: The Biography

“In addition to a pitiable cycle of search and inevitable disappointment, she sometimes chose unsuitable partners for friendship, romance, or marriage - perhaps in the unacknowledged belief that in repeating the unhappiness of the past she might, at last, reverse its effects.”
― Donald Spoto, Marilyn Monroe: The Biography

“What Joan impressed on the men by her faith and her actions, then, had more to do with the things of God that the machinery of war or prevailing politics. For her the struggle against English occupation and the eventual permanent establishment of French sovereignty were matters of justice, and justice was regarded as a major virtue in the Middle Ages. From justice came the origins of chivalry, which was about much more than mere courtesy: it concerned the order of a sovereign society and its place in the economy of God's plan for the world.”
― Donald Spoto, Joan: The Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint

“She was determined to go places without leaning on anybody or using influence.” Added Judith, “She left a prominent Philadelphia family to become a struggling actress in New York. It was an independent move. She had a certain amount of maverick in her, and she was entirely self-sufficient. She knew how to depend on herself.” Grace was single-minded in her ambition to succeed as a professional actress. “I rebelled against my family and went to New York to find out who I was—and who I wasn’t.”
― Donald Spoto, High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly

“joined by”
― Donald Spoto, Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi

“But she never distanced herself from others, and she was enormously friendly to everyone—no stuffy attitude, no star complex. As for her talents, Grace acted the way Johnny Weissmuller swam or Fred Astaire danced—she made it look easy. And she probably went through life being completely misunderstood, since she usually said exactly what she meant.”
― Donald Spoto, High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly

“Joan's claim that God had France in HIs care because France was sacred to him may not be merely a medieval trope, embarrassingly old-fashioned language that today we must expunge from our vocabularies. To claim that France is sacred does not imply that only France is sacred. Throughout history, men and women have arisen everywhere who testify to the sacredness of nations. Perhaps today more than ever, we are aware that the identity and integrity of nations are supremely significant for the human race - that the facile invasion of a sovereign state and genocide are abbhorent.

In this regard, the entire Jewish-Chrisian faith tradition is based on the belief that God once summoned ordinary people and through them worked extraordinary eeds for HIs own purpose, which is to bring all peoples to Himself. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and the prophets were but a few of thsoe called to establish and save the nation of Israel. But Israel was brought into existence and alter triumphed over its enimies not only for its own sake. This is made clear throughout the Hebrew scriptures: God saved the nation so that all nations might be emraced. Israel was to be "a light to the gentiles," as both Old and New Testaments reiterate. God chose the ISraelites not to dominate or control but rather to serve others. The Christian Scriptures make the point more specific: the gentiles are not excluded from God's embrace, for the light of ISrael shines on the gentiles and shows the way into that embrace. All the peoples of the world are to be brought into the capacious light of the knowledge of God's friendship.Nowhere is it implied that Israel, or any other nation, should cease to exist.

Because no single person or roup represents what it means to be human, its the variety of people within a nation that gives it an irreplaceable character - its national personality. As with individuals, so with nations: it is the diversity of peoples that furthers the process of the world. Although many nations have tried, none may set itself up as the only or the predominant nation, forcing its culture, ideology, religion or political agenda on any other nation. For Joan of Arc, this was precisely what England was trying to do through its nobels, armies and war machinery. France deserved its identity and, as a symbol of its people, the king.”
― Donald Spoto, Joan: The Mysterious Life of the Heretic Who Became a Saint

“I always tell actors not to use their face for nothing. Don’t start scribbling on the paper until you have something to write.”
― Donald Spoto, High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly