- I was on cloud nine all the time. After I made my hit in Salome, Where She Danced (1945), Universal sent me to New York so I could learn to be a proper movie star. I lived at the Sherry-Netherland for two months and I went to the John Robert Powers school. They taught me things like how to walk off a New York curb and how to enter a room in a manner befitting a big-time movie star.
- I was named Margaret Yvonne - Margaret because my mother was very fond of one of the derivatives of the name. She was fascinated at the time by the movie star Baby Peggy, and I suppose she wanted a Baby Peggy of her own.
- [on The Munsters (1964)] It meant security. It gave me a new, young audience I wouldn't have had otherwise. It made me "hot" again, which I wasn't for a while.
- [on Howard Hughes] A man came over... he said "Mr. Hughes would like to meet you." Well, I was not too much aware of Mr. Hughes at the time - who he was or anything. So, I said, "Oh, yes, fine." And so I looked and I thought, "Wow, this would be a terrific boyfriend for my aunt."
- [on one of her scenes in Salome, Where She Danced (1945)] I came through these beaded curtains, wearing a Japanese kimono and a Japanese headpiece, and then performed a Siamese dance. Nobody seemed to know quite why.
- [on being Yvonne De Carlo and Lily Munster at the same time] I guess I lead a double life, and I must admit I'm happy with both.
- [on writing her own autobiography] If I could, I'd change a lot of things because I'm not proud of everything I've done in my life. But to those people who helped me, and there were a lot, I say, thank you. They're the reason I wrote this book.
- Men, no matter what their promises, rarely leave their spouses - the louses.
- [on The Munsters (1964)] I had moments of terror and fear that my public would not understand the makeup and all that. I really wondered if it was the right thing to do.
- [on offers for guest appearances in television series, shortly after her husband's accident] Everybody has just been marvelous. Particularly because no one has suggested they were helping, but that I was right for the parts.
- [on Lily Munster] They told me to play her just like Donna Reed. That sounded strange to me until I tried it. Now it works. She acts just like any housewife. The difference is in her approach to things, as when she tells her little child to go to bed, "And don't forget to close your lid."
- [on Lily Munster] I had misgivings when I was told about the role. After all, I didn't want to destroy whatever image I had established. So I asked the makeup man what the makeup was supposed to be.
- I wear a tight, fitting gray dress. The kind of thing it would be nice to be buried in. A long train and long, bat - like things banging from the sleeves. And low cut.
- [1971, when asked if she was nervous about appearing on a Broadway musical] I'm from Hollywood, I'm too dumb to be nervous about New York.
- [1972, on her romance with Howard Hughes] Howard taught me how to land a plane and how to take off. But he never taught me anything about flying in between. He thought that I had learned the difficult parts, and that was enough.
- [after she visited Israel, where her "Arabian Nights"-type films were very popular] But I was amazed at how much the people over there [Israel] like those pictures. I talked to many natives - cab drivers, hair dressers, hotel clerks - who said they had seen Song of Scheherazade (1947) four and five times. And they seemed to have liked Casbah (1948), too, although I don't know why. Every time I played a concert, someone would yell, "Sing something from Casbah."
- [after she returned from Israel, where she played sold-out concerts in Haifa, Ramat Gan, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Jaffa] It would have happened to any film performer playing there. At every performance, there were between 150 and 200 civilian and military policemen to hold back the crowds. The hall would hold 1,500 people, but always the side doors would be pushed open and many more would stand in the aisles.
- [when asked in 1949 about Jock Mahoney's fame] What fame is he talking about? The only fame he has had is what he got by being seen with me!
- [on how Cecil B. DeMille picked her for the role of Sephora in The Ten Commandments (1956)] I had done a picture at Metro titled Sombrero (1953) which wasn't too much of a hit. But I had portrayed a saintly type of woman similar to what DeMille had in mind for Sephora. He saw the picture, was very much impressed, and promptly said: "You're it.".
- [at the premiere of The Ten Commandments (1956)] Thanks to Mr. DeMille, I can get in some Class A pictures.
- [when asked in 1945, "Who else is beautiful, like you, in Hollywood? Really stunning?"] That's a heck of a question to ask a lady! But if you insist - Merle Oberon and Hedy Lamarr.
- [at the premiere of The Ten Commandments (1956)] There were a lot of old, old opinions against me in Hollywood which Mr. DeMille has changed.
- I'd always wanted to work in a DeMille picture. I set my mind once on getting a part in The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944), but Carol Thurston beat me out. My heart was broken, but in the light of events, it was just as well. The part didn't do very much for Carol and it probably wouldn't have done any more for me. It also taught me not to try too hard for any definite role! It's better to take things as they come. The role of Sephora fell into my lap. I guess that's the best way for things to happen.
- Perhaps the actor is not the best judge of what he should do. He only knows what he wants to do, or likes to do. I feel the role of Sephora will do a lot for me. It is far different from anything I've ever played. It runs all through the picture, and at the end of it I am an old, old woman.
- I look terrible as a blonde. I once put on a Brunhilde wig at the studio and not one cameraman gave me a second look. I was terribly offended.
- Yvonne is my middle name, and De Carlo was my mother's maiden name. I changed it because, well, I just wasn't the June Allyson type. It's not Spanish, it's Sicilian, honey.
- [on Paris, France] They don't care about celebrities there; they are too busy enjoying life.
- I was in Egypt and remember how the British papers hooted about "DeMille bringing his own pyramids." But why not? In Biblical days the pyramids must have been beautiful, but now with all the alabaster and stone torn off them, they don't look so good. Mr. DeMille made his own.
- [on her favorite films] Of course I was thrilled to death with Salome, Where She Danced (1945), because all of a sudden I was a star. I couldn't believe it. Another picture I remember very fondly was The Ten Commandments (1956), which was a great experience for me in many ways. And I enjoyed the pictures I made with Peter Ustinov [Hotel Sahara (1951)] and Alec Guinness [The Captain's Paradise (1953)].
- [on movie fans in Spain] Sometimes you find a crowd a block long following you.
- Mr. DeMille had seen me in a picture called Sombrero (1953) which I made three and a half years ago in Mexico. He said, "That's the face I want [for the role of Sephora]'. Get me that face."
- [1946] Apparently there's no other word for pin-up in any language. I've received letters in French, Spanish, Italian and even Chinese, and I don't have to wait for translations to answer them. The word pin-up is always written just that way and it's usually in the first paragraph.
- [on Salome, Where She Danced (1945)] All that "most beautiful girl" stuff was publicity of course. But there had been quite a few other actresses lined up for Salome.
- As a child I wanted to be a writer and I made quite a bit of pocket money with my poems.
- [1953] I can't dance with a man or even shake hands with him without flashbulbs popping and people speculating on whether we're engaged.
- [on her Paramount Pictures contract] It didn't mean much really, but they saw I was eager so whenever they had to arrange a test for a player they sent me along to appear in it with him.
- I just don't like a great number of parties. I always feel that I am missing something important in life when I stand around trying to talk about trivialities with people.
- [on Walter Wanger] I think he first noticed me because he felt I looked a bit like Joan [Joan Bennett].
- I enjoyed being in The Ten Commandments (1956). That was a great experience - to suddenly become one of those holy people. I was holier than thou.
- I think Yvonne De Carlo was more famous than Lily. But I gained the younger audience through The Munsters (1964). And it was a steady job.
- [on her 1987 autobiography] As far as my writing is concerned - I tried. But I think that when they have an established author, they usually use his stuff more. I put a lot of stuff in there, but they didn't use much of it.
- I enjoyed the comedies with Alec Guinness, and I had a real great time with Peter Ustinov in Hotel Sahara (1951). I found I had the ability to do comedy. My timing was really inborn.
- [on the publisher's insistence that she include her romances in her autobiography] They insisted on that. I didn't want to be nasty. Burt Lancaster will laugh. Bob Stack's wife will laugh. I don't know if Bob will laugh.
- [on her final role, in The Barefoot Executive (1995)] She is a woman who used to be a stand-in for movie people. There are still people who live back in the '30s. I have known people like her. She has these outrageous costumes - six of them - and it's just a small part. But I like to do small things now.
- [on her entire career] It's all been very exciting. I've loved it all.
- [on her home at Solvang, CA] It's really nice. I have a view and a pool and I lived for 12 years without any cable. Now I have cable. It's quite interesting. Imagine someone living with only two stations all that time. I have a huge library of movies and documentaries.
- [on Lily Munster's appearance] I had to think about that makeup because of the image that was made of me. But there is a bit of glamor. It wasn't like playing a beastie or a creature.
- [1995] I have somebody who is really getting me in there and finding me things [roles]. I pick what I want. I'm back in the mood, obviously. What I should do actually is the voice-over thing. My voice is somehow recognizable even to clerks and people on the phone.
- Burt Lancaster, Howard Duff and Ava Gardner - we were all there together at the beginning of our careers when [producer] Mark Hellinger was there at Universal.
- [on her uncredited bit role in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)] I know I sat for days and days on the set talking with the director, Sam Wood. He was so nice. He put me in a chair next to his, and Gary Cooper came by and talked. I think they just stuck me in there as atmosphere.
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