Quotes by Celia Imrie

I was never a pretty girl, so I wasn't the one to get the boy. I used to cast myself as a good sport. Sometimes I wonder if I do that too much with roles I play, because if I'm absolutely truthful, I quite like being the best friend, or the supporting role, and actually I ought to gear-change and make myself the leading role.

— Celia Imrie

Friendship

A 'naughty pickle' is how I'd best describe myself. I think fun and laughter is the whole point of life.

— Celia Imrie

Life

Anorexia taught me to love life and to realise that starving yourself to death is a bloody waste of time. It's awful, and it hurts so many people around you. It's a terribly selfish thing to do.

— Celia Imrie

Love

Pat Phoenix kept that amazing sassy look. I always wonder, was that because she was thrilled with that look, and thought it looked marvellous, or was it because she was too scared to change it? It's a double thing. Security and insecurity.

— Celia Imrie

Wisdom

Anorexia is an awful thing, but you get yourself into it, and only you can get yourself out of it.

— Celia Imrie

Wisdom

I would do nearly anything for a laugh, to tell the truth. And I'm a particular favourite with young men with earrings.

— Celia Imrie

Truth

If I look back, my mother was always out. I can remember the perfume and her scarlet chiffon dress and crystal beads, going to a party. She used to play her violin at restaurants later on in life and at old people's homes. She loved the races, which she used to take me to as a child: our carpets were bought with her winnings. Loved her chickens.

— Celia Imrie

Life

I know if I had the chance of going aboard the Titanic in those days, I would have gone - I know I would have. I adore going on the Queen Mary - I think it's the only way to travel from New York.

— Celia Imrie

Wisdom

I watch people from the top of buses who don't know they're being watched. It's quite fascinating.

— Celia Imrie

Wisdom

I love not knowing what's going to happen next. With work, you never know. You rehearse and strive and get it right sometimes, and still you never know. Some people are like that with their marriages. They work and strive and labour and toil at them. God, what a bore! What an unromantic bore!

— Celia Imrie

Love

My first job was in pantomime; I was a chorus girl in 'Dick Whittington' at 16. I got the part by ringing the director daily to see if anyone had dropped out, and it paid off eventually, when I was cast as a rat!

— Celia Imrie

Wisdom

If I ever married, I know I would dread the daily sound of the key in the door and the casual expectancy of 'Hello! I'm home!'

— Celia Imrie

Wisdom

Anyone who goes on the stage is a show-off, aren't they? Acting's weird.

— Celia Imrie

Wisdom

I love Monet - I've nicknamed him King Blob. When you go up to the painting, it's a series of blobs - amazing.

— Celia Imrie

Love

I'm a bit of a fraud, really, as I didn't study acting at a drama school.

— Celia Imrie

Wisdom

I've had to spend an awful lot of my life trying to pretend I'm not posh. Although once I open my mouth, I rather let things out the bag.

— Celia Imrie

Life

While other girls swooned over The Beatles and the Rolling Stones, I worshipped Rudolf Nureyev and Isadora Duncan.

— Celia Imrie

Wisdom

My mother Diana was a true-blue aristocrat, descended from William the Conqueror and listed in 'Burke's Peerage.' My father David, from a poor Scottish family, was a doctor.

— Celia Imrie

Wisdom

I have a horror of boring someone or, worse still, of someone boring me. I said to my mother when I was seven, 'But, Mums, if it was only my husband and me in the house together, what would we talk about?' I've never wanted to answer my own question, and doubt I'll bother now.

— Celia Imrie

Wisdom

I landed the role of Bravo 5, the only female fighter pilot in 'Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.' I did my bit and fired my guns, but I haven't a notion of which side I was on or who I was firing the guns at.

— Celia Imrie

Wisdom

I left school the day I turned 16, the earliest day I legally could. Determined to follow a life on stage, preferably with some dance connection, I applied for and won a place at the local drama school. I was on my way.

— Celia Imrie

Life

I've made great friends through acting. When I'm with Victoria Wood and Julie Walters, we have grand fun. We can make each other howl with laughter because we know each other so well.

— Celia Imrie

Friendship

Living as an actor is rather like living life on the trapezes in a circus. Every time you jump on, you have to pray that, when the time comes for you to jump off, there is another trapeze swinging your way.

— Celia Imrie

Life

Mummy always wanted the five children, and she knew she couldn't look after them all because she was this absolutely glorious woman who loved going to parties and going to the races, and she just didn't have time.

— Celia Imrie

Wisdom