Happy Birthday Angela Lansbury!

I started in London, as a kid. My mother knew I had sort of an inbred talent. She was an actress, so I inherited it from her. But I think I got a lot of it from my grandfather, who was a great politician.

I think of myself as a journeyman actress. I will attempt almost anything that I think that I can bring off. It could be almost anything.

A sitcom. I hate that word.

Children in our business suffer from exposure. Mine did because I was Broadway star. And my children's generation was the first to be confused by reality, The Sixties was a bad time to find yourself.

She is an original. There has never been anyone, before or since, who could touch her.

The Manchurian Candidate was the most important movie I was in, let's face it.

Here I am, I still go on, you know, like the tides.

Clint Eastwood is an extraordinary director because he knows the value of a buck. He knows where it will show on the screen.

I was put under contract. A major studio. I got nominated for an Academy Award. Isn't that ridiculous? I mean, at the age of 18!

I never regretted what I turned down.

I was a very serious teenager at that time and I considered the work to be the most important thing and I concentrated on that. I was a bit goody goody. I didn't fool around at all, which is a bit of a shame, I think. I've missed on a lot of fun, but I've made up for it later.

I felt extremely nervous. I felt I was working with a group of people who are so wonderfully integrated among themselves to produce wonderful sound, music, singing - their voices are so pure, so clear. I've listened so much to them in the past to be singing down with them, I was very nervous.

I really can't honestly give any tips beyond hang on to your dream. Hang on to what you want, what you feel you want to achieve and go for it. We are all the victims of our own talent and our own shortcomings sometimes, and we have to be aware of those things because they will trip us up and stop us from achieving what our aims are.

I've had an incredible relationship with my husband, with my family. I know they've had problems of their own, but we have never wavered in our closeness as a family. I've had a hell of a life.

Work in the theatre just keeps revitalizing me, it keeps giving me the excitement and the fun of something new coming up and that's a great gift.

I'm never left behind. I'm the bionic woman.

I absolutely do not have a retirement age... I'm only 87 - which today is nothing. It's just like 60 a few years back. I believe age should not stop you from keeping on.

Actors are not made, they are born.

My son said to me "Mom, honestly, the best thing for you would be to keep working and just go out on stage." and I think that's a good thing to aim for.

Providing I can put one foot in front of the other, I will continue to act.

I rest, I take a nap, I don't eat stupidly, I take care of the bod and that's very, very important when you get to a certain age. I'm the bionic woman; I've got knees, hips, everything is new and that has made a tremendous difference to me; replacements are high on my list of goodies.

I just stopped playing bitches on wheels and peoples' mothers. I have only a few more years to kick up my heels!

I think it's a mistake to call it "Murder, She Wrote", because "Murder, She Wrote" will always be about a Cabot Cove and this wonderful little group of people who told those lovely stories and enjoyed a piece of that place, and also enjoyed Jessica Fletcher, who is a rare and very individual kind of person. So I'm sorry that they have to use the title "Murder, She Wrote", even though they have access to it and it's their right.

It has been erroneously reported that I am a Republican! I am not a Republican. It's all over the Internet and It's bizarre. I'm a huge Obama fan. I've already voted for him by absentee ballot. I am Democrat from the ground up.

I'm joining a marvelous group of women I greatly admire like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. It's a lovely thing to be given that nod of approval by your own country and I really cherish it.

I've worked with the greatest actors, and they're all gone. This is what's so desperate to me.

Believe me, it jabs you. When you're on the side of buses and New York loves you, you love to go out there every night. It's like a race. Curtain opens, out you go, and New York is yours.

Mystery is something that appeals to most everybody.

We all have levels of performance.

The theater is magical and addictive.

I have never directed. But I think I could. I have thought about it. I'm a bit long in the tooth to start.

I don't think about going back to the theater.

I made about 56 movies, I think. Not that many.