Fanny Brice

Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be, because sooner or later, if you are posing, you will forget the pose, and then where are you?

Fanny Brice (29 October 1891 – 29 May 1951) was a popular and influential American comedian, singer, theatre and film actress and entertainer.

Quotes

• Your audience gives you everything you need. They tell you. There is no director who can direct you like an audience. You step out on the stage and you can feel it is a nervous audience. So you calm them down. I come out before an audience and maybe my house burned down an hour ago, maybe my husband stayed out all night, but I stand there. I'm still. I don't move. I wait for the introduction. Maybe I cough. Maybe I touch myself. But before I do anything, I got them with me, right there in my hand and comfortable. That's my job, to make them comfortable, because if they wanted to be nervous they could have stayed home and added up their bills.
  • As quoted in The Fabulous Fanny : The Story of Fanny Brice (1953) by Norman Katkov, p. 71

• Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be, because sooner or later, if you are posing, you will forget the pose, and then where are you?
  • As quoted in Words of Wisdom : More Good Advice (1990) by William Safire and Leonard Safire, p. 185

Quotes about

• John always said he had three favorite women. Fanny Brice, Carole Lombard and me.
  • Ruth Nelson, as quoted in The Day I Became an Autodidact : and the advice, adventures, and acrimonies that befell me thereafter (1989) by Kendall Hailey, p. 105