"Independent film is film that has thought in it. There's no independent thought in studio films. It's collective thought. These things you get from Hollywood are no more than computer games, where you might as well have a little wired handset that you could blow up this truck if you want instead of that one, that would at least allow audience participation. With independent film, simply because they don't have the money to make a big-budget film, they're forced to make a story that's important to them, that they would like to see on film, a personal story that people can relate to, about people, where you can see the love of the characters."

(Seymour Joseph Cassel, attore; Detroit, 22 gennaio 1935 – Los Angeles, 7 aprile 2019)  

"Sono stata una delle prime fan di Renato Zero, quando ancora tutti lo prendevano in giro, tanti anni fa. Lui cantava alla Campanella di Roma, dove io facevo cabaret, e io mi fermavo ad applaudirlo, contro tutti che lo prendevano per pazzo. Invece Renato era vero, credibile allora, come lo è oggi. Al di là del suo modo esasperato di affrontare il pubblico, c'erano già allora le sue bellissime, sofferte canzoni. C'era il suo modo di stare in scena, di inventare ogni sera qualcosa di nuovo, servendosi di uno straccetto, di due fazzoletti colorati… Sono sempre una grande fan di Renato, si merita tutto il successo di oggi, proprio perché non ha avuto niente gratis. E il pubblico lo sa e anche per questo gli vuole bene." dall'intervista di Cristina Maza, Perché vi piace Renato Zero?, 1979.

(Marisa Anna Solinas, attrice, modella, cantante; Genova, 30 maggio 1939 – Marino, 13 febbraio 2019) 

 

"I don't even know who Brad Pitt is." quando nel 2007 gli dissero che ai suoi tempi era stato più famoso di Brad Pitt. 

(Jan-Michael Vincent, attore; Denver, 15 luglio 1945 – Asheville, 10 febbraio 2019)

 

“Kids learn by example. I always tell them that they have to walk down the street with the posture and pride of an artist, of a good person…. Some of them will become beautiful dancers or beautiful models. Others will be beautiful moms or dads. We’re building dancers, but we’re also building audiences. Once they learn something here, nobody can ever take it away from them. It’s theirs forever.”

(Mel Alexander Tomlinson, ballerino e coreografo; Raleigh, 3 gennaio 1954 – Huntersville, 5 febbraio 2019) 

 

Lisa Seagram, alla nascita Ruth Browser (New York, 7 luglio 1936 – Burbank, 1º febbraio 2019), modella e poi attrice specializzata nei ruoli di bella svampita, segretaria procace e cameriera sexy.  

 

"I could walk around unrecognised, but all that changed with Keeping Up Appearances."

(Clive Walter Swift, attore; Liverpool, 9 febbraio 1936 – Londra, 1º febbraio 2019) 

 

"I always make sure that whoever I work with, they’re aware of me as a person and not just a token for the brand. If I’m on set and the set is not accessible, I make sure to say something. If you’re hiring someone who uses crutches, yet there are no elevators on set, or they have to climb a bunch of stairs just to get to hair and makeup—that’s a problem. I feel like people recognize that I’m a black woman, but oftentimes they forget the disability part. On one hand, that’s a good thing because sometimes that’s the only thing people focus on. But we have a multitude of identities—there’s pride in being a woman, there’s pride in being black, and there’s pride in being disabled."

(Mama Cax, nata Cacsmy Brutus, modella e attivista per i diritti dei disabili; New York City, 20 novembre 1989 – Londra, 16 dicembre 2019)

 

"When I had my cover on Elle magazine, everyone wanted to work with me, you know... I earned a lot of money in six months, because I did Coca-Cola for England, Palmolive, Pepsodent for the Germans. Everything I could find. So that's how Jean-Luc Godard saw me, because on one side of the Champs Elysées I was selling one brand of soap, and on the other I was selling Palmolive."

(Anna Karina, nata Hanna Karin Blarke Bayer, modella, attrice, regista, sceneggiatrice, produttrice cinematografica e compositrice; Solbjerg, 22 settembre 1940 – Parigi, 14 dicembre 2019)

 

"If [we] hadn't met, I don't know if I would have been able to continue in Roxette much longer. I couldn't handle the personal side of life on tour. I was hanging out in bars, drinking too much. I was sad a lot of the time and had a hard time with the press, when I always had to be nice and say the right things, always having to be available to everybody, always putting on a smile and being happy. Marie Fredriksson the performer had grown in stature, at the expense of Marie the private person. I had less and less space to be myself, and when I was myself I felt uncertain, small and lost." a proposito del marito, il tastierista Mikael Bolyos.

(Marie Fredriksson, cantante; Össjö, 30 maggio 1958 – Djursholm, 9 dicembre 2019)

 

"They're still on, those things. It's quite amazing. It's like, "Ah, God, there I am again!" The thing I can say about that is I had never seen the show when they asked me to do it. I'm not a big television-watcher. It sounded stupid to me, so I turned it down. And my daughter, then, who was of that age, said, "No, you have to do it, you have to do it! I love that show, and I want to meet those kids". She had to meet those kids. I said, "All right. I'll do it. I'll do it once, but that's all I'm doing". So I did, and had a very nice time, and they asked me back, and my daughter did get to meet those kids, so I was a big hero in the house. It's amazing, the power of the tube. I've done all this body of work, and they say, "Oh yes, Rachel's father". I go, "Give me a break."...He was nasty, which made it more fun. Nice guys are boring. I don't mean in real life. As an actor, those characters are boring. I loved that he was difficult, particularly to the Ross character, David Schwimmer's character. Most of my stuff was with Jennifer Aniston and David, which was terrific, because I really like them both. I didn't have much to do with the other people. But when I first came on, I didn't know who was who, because I'd never seen the show. So I started talking to Lisa Kudrow, thinking she was Jennifer Aniston. I had no idea. This was the second year of Friends (1994), or maybe the end of the first year. They weren't the huge stars that they became later. I had no idea who was who. But they were kind enough to point me in the right direction. Pathetic, I know." a proposito del suo ruolo nella serie tv Friends.

(Ronald Leibman, attore e doppiatore; New York, 11 ottobre 1937 – New York, 6 dicembre 2019)

 

"Teach your children how to behave with animals. Adopt a pet. Don't go buy one. Please. That's a sin. Let's get these puppy mills out of business."

(Shelley Morrison, nome d'arte di Rachel Mitrani, attrice caratterista, famosa per il ruolo della cameriera Rosario nella serie tv Will & Grace; New York, 26 ottobre 1936 – Los Angeles, 1º dicembre 2019)

 

"Hippies. They make them out to be bad. I'm not bad. I love everybody. Well, I like everybody."

(Michael J. Pollard, nato Michael John Pollack, Jr., attore; Passaic, 30 maggio 1939 – Los Angeles, 21 novembre 2019)

 

"Non c’è passione, c’è chi ha scritto sul cuore optional e lo usa solo quando capita; e poi non è che si ha paura a seguire la nostra linea melodica: spesso non se ne possiedono le qualità. L’ultimo a darmi dei brividi è stato Cocciante, dopo di lui è davvero difficile trovare una bella canzone; diffidate di quelli che sono in testa alle classifiche, di quelli che vendono milioni di dischi: non sono artisti." da un'intervista del 2002.

(Fred Bongusto, pseudonimo di Alfredo Antonio Carlo Buongusto, cantautore; Campobasso, 6 aprile 1935 – Roma, 8 novembre 2019)

 

Virginia Leith, attrice, ricordata soprattutto per il ruolo di una donna decapitata nel film horror Il cervello che non voleva morire del 1962; Cleveland, 15 ottobre 1925 – Palm Springs, 4 novembre 2019)

 

"La vie est une suite de Waterloo! J'ai une philosophie zen : l'échec est un événement à vivre aussi calmement qu'une joie…"

(Marie Laforêt, nome d'arte di Maïtena Marie Brigitte Doumenach, cantante e attrice; Soulac-sur-Mer, 5 ottobre 1939 – Genolier, 2 novembre 2019)

 

"I always wanted to be a Vegas comic, and that's what I am. Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world -- if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. Although I'm not a devout actor, it's nice to be able to do movies and TV, too. I want to be the second banana who works all the time. The ultimate for me would be to stay home and do a TV series for 13 weeks and then go do my nightclub act."

(Rip Taylor, pseudonimo di Charles Elmer Taylor, attore e comico; Washington, 13 gennaio 1931 – Los Angeles, 6 ottobre 2019)

 

"In the beginning, I found myself dealing with a show business dictated by male white supremacists and chauvinists. As a black female, I had to learn how to tap dance around the situation. I had to ... find a way to present my point of view without being pushy or aggressive. In the old days, the only women I saw in this business were in makeup, hairdressing, and wardrobe departments. Now I'm surrounded by women executives, writers, directors, producers, and even women stagehands."

(Diahann Carroll, all'anagrafe Carol Diahann Johnson, attrice e cantante; New York, 17 luglio 1935 – Los Angeles, 4 ottobre 2019)

 

"Nel ’96 ho proposto alla Casagit, detta volgarmente cassa mutua dei giornalisti, l’estensione della convenzione a quella che allora era la mia compagna. Ne è nata una battaglia per il riconoscimento delle coppie di fatto omosex, cosi come già si faceva per quelle etero. Abbiamo vinto, cosa rara in questi ambiti. Ho capito ancor di più quanto fosse necessaria in Italia una corretta informazione su concetti come “orientamento sessuale”, “identità di genere”, e simili, che per molti sono ancora alla stregua di Ufo mentali."

 (Delia Vaccarello, giornalista, scrittrice e attivista per i diritti LGBT+; Palermo, 7 ottobre 1960 – Palermo, 27 settembre 2019)

 

"When I turned 21, I knew my breasts would turn out to be something special ... and they've been pretty special ever since."

(Candy Samples, nome d'arte di Patsy Ruth, ballerina, modella e attrice; Lincoln, 12 aprile 1928 – 26 settembre 2019)

 

"One of the disadvantages of being a "good guy" is having to look heroic and clean cut, while the "heavy" can be as grungy as he pleases...or sometimes wears far more fancy duds than his pursuer...maybe even be better looking!"

(Jan Merlin, nome d'arte di Jan Wasylewski, attore; New York, 3 aprile 1925 – Los Angeles, 20 settembre 2019)