Uta Hagen (1919–2004) was a German-born American actress and influential acting teacher. Notable for roles on Broadway, such as Martha in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and author of “Respect for Acting” (1973), she significantly impacted both the stage and the art of acting. Emphasizing a realistic approach, Hagen stressed the actor’s connection to their character, the authenticity of the situation, and the use of personal experiences in her teachings. Alongside her husband, Herbert Berghof, she established the respected HB Studio in New York City, contributing to the development of actors. Her books, including “A Challenge for the Actor” (1991), continue to be influential in acting education, cementing her enduring legacy in the world of theater.
Uta Hagen Quotes
1. “We must overcome the notion that we must be regular. It robs you of the chance to be extraordinary and leads you to the mediocre.”
— Uta Hagen
2. “The knowledge that every day there is something more to learn, something higher to reach for, something new to make for others, makes each day infinitely precious.”
— Uta Hagen
3. “To rebel or revolt against the status quo is in the very nature of an artist.”
— Uta Hagen
4. “All tedious research is worth one inspired moment.”
— Uta Hagen
5. “Keep pace with the present. Take a trip to the moon. envision the future.”
— Uta Hagen
6. “I’m a bad liar; I don’t know what to say backstage.”
— Uta Hagen
7. “I have disassociated myself from that book.”
— Uta Hagen
8. “I love going to the movies; I love watching good movie actors. They must know something I don’t.”
— Uta Hagen
9. “Thoughts and feelings are suspended in a vacuum unless they instigate and feed the selected actions, and it is the character’s actions which reveal the character in the play.”
— Uta Hagen
10. “One cannot demand of art that it pay you in any other way than in the satisfaction of the work itself.”
— Uta Hagen
11. “Once in a while, there’s stuff that makes me say, That’s what theatre’s about. It has to be a human event on the stage, and that doesn’t happen very often.”
— Uta Hagen
12. “We had a relationship that lasted 44 years. Herbert and I lived together 10 years before we were married. He always gave me a little heart for whatever anniversary.”
— Uta Hagen
13. “Maybe the one I enjoyed playing most was A Month in the Country.”
— Uta Hagen
14. “The need to be loved and protected is at a peak when we feel abandoned and are particularly vulnerable to difficult circumstances.”
— Uta Hagen
15. “I love playing Chekhov. That’s the hardest; that’s why I love it most.”
— Uta Hagen
16. “If you want a bourgeois existence, you shouldn’t be an actor. You’re in the wrong profession.”
— Uta Hagen
17. “Awards don’t really mean much.”
— Uta Hagen
18. “Marlon was so sensitive, you thought the poor guy just had a bad education.”
— Uta Hagen
19. “I won’t go to England because they won’t let my dog in.”
— Uta Hagen
20. “Usually, someone who’s in a show gets me a ticket. I feel cornered. I can’t walk out if I don’t like it.”
— Uta Hagen
21. “Working with Brando was fun. It was like a tennis match. We played unbelievably well together.”
— Uta Hagen
22. “I think, by and large, the level of acting is mediocre. When I go to the theatre, I get so angry. I don’t go.”
— Uta Hagen
23. “We were not allowed to say, Screw, but we could say, Hump the hostess, because hump is in Shakespeare.”
— Uta Hagen
24. “It must be noted that it is often the colleague or direct disciple of a new thinker who gets stuck in literal interpretations of the work, tending to freeze the new ideas and language into an inflexible, static condition.”
— Uta Hagen
25. “Overcome the notion that we must be regular; it robs you of the chance to be extraordinary.”
— Uta Hagen
