Quotes from Margo Martindale

I've always learned in show business: you take the job.

So many actors who are really gifted and talented just don't get the opportunity. I happened to get that opportunity.

I'm delighted with how my career unfolded.

I played an old woman in a wheelchair at 18.

'The Good Wife' was so unbelievably luxurious to step into.

Wine has class. I love wine. The drier, the better. But beer? I just can't do it.

I'm from East Texas, yes.

Texas people are very open, because it's open.

I'm gaga over Richard Jenkins.

If you need things, you work harder to get them.

In order for me to have fun, I have to be able to not be buttoned down.

You can call me whatever you want to call me, just keep hiring me.

I did a lot of commercials starting in about '75, yeah. Well, not 'a lot'; I never was a big old commercial gal, but I made a good living. I didn't immediately make 'a living' at commercials; the first year I made maybe a living was about '80. I had a great year in '85. I had a nice little supplement.

I am just so grateful for every single day, and if I could just not think past today, I would be living the life that I think God meant me to live.

I love Kentucky people, but you have to get on the inside before they accept you.

I loved 'Dexter.' I loved the writing of 'Dexter.' I thought that was a brilliant show, and Michael C. Hall was just brilliant.

My favorite thing to do is just sit outside on the stoop and talk with all my neighbors. I can go out with curlers in my hair, and nobody blinks twice. It's just sad when people want to take a picture!

I love television because it's the most alive, because you don't know how it's going to end. It's a living thing. Sometimes the writers are watching you to see how things will unfold. Sometimes the writers have written it, and you come to it, and they have to change their way of going because of what you've done.

I played Big Mama in 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' when I was 20 years old at the University of Michigan.

TV is the only thing that's really alive, because it's happening as you go. You don't know the end, so another day brings a new life to it. Unlike a play, unlike a movie, where you know the beginning, middle, and end.

I love Steve Harvey on 'Family Feud.' I love 'Antiques Roadshow' and 'Fixer Upper.' Anything that's mind-numbing.

I had done plays all my life. Many, many, many plays, off-Broadway plays.

And I love having the job to go to every week. With movies, there's a lot of downtime. I like working, and television really does that.

I've been very, very, very, very fortunate, and I'm very grateful for my career and that, at 60, I won an Emmy.