"Bette Davis was great. I kept blowing my lines in one scene with her because they were so awful to try to say. I finally told the director that and Bette immediately came to my rescue. "She's right," Bette shouted. "This girl is absolutely right." Later she told me, "Ruthie, never forget what you did today. . . never be afraid to fight for what you know is right." And I never did forget."

“My happiest 26 days in the movies were spent making the picture Champion. For, though you hear a great deal about teamwork in Hollywood, you almost never see as much of it as we did while shooting this film. Whenever there was a question about a scene, we'd hold a group conference, complete with producer, director and cast, to thrash the matter out. Each suggestion was not only considered but also thoroughly discussed. . . All this was immensely helpful to me in playing the role of Emma, for I was very young in pictures then, and this was quite a different type of role from the few I'd played.”

“Acting is my life. The profession can break my heart. In fact, it already has several times. But I love it.”

“He surprised me on the second day of shooting by saying, "Do you know that this picture is going to make you?" I couldn't believe that but Kirk insisted and even offered to make a bet on it. If I had taken the bet I would have lost, for the role of Emma did more for my career than any other role.”

“I'm either very sweet or very bad in pictures, there seems to be no in-between.”

“I'm grateful to the studio. They gave me a buildup I couldn't have gotten if I hadn't been under contract. I admit I worked hard. I did around eight pictures in one year. I scarcely had time to get married. I worked up until 7:30 on Strangers on a Train the night we were flying to Las Vegas to get married. That was a Saturday night, and I had to be back at work at 9:30 Monday morning. But I was lucky to have made all those pictures. I got good experience. Then I was off the screen for two years while raising a family. It was fortunate that I had that backlog of pictures.”

“The scene I liked best was the one on the beach, and apparently a number of fans agreed with me. About half the letters I received asked for a picture of me in the bathing suit.”