I was very much a tomboy. I've always been rather outspoken, headstrong, and I'm pretty much that way to this day.

- Mary Badham

In 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' I was just playing and having a good time.

- Mary Badham

I lost my parents very early in my life. My mom died three weeks after I graduated from high school, and my dad died two years after I got married.

- Mary Badham

Most of the performances I see on TV and in movies are so self-conscious and overacted. I would think a natural actress would be welcome.

- Mary Badham

My mother was a leading lady in a local theatre in Birmingham, Alabama, where I grew up.

- Mary Badham

That's so important for children when they're growing up, to have a strong male role model.

- Mary Badham

I know that I wouldn't mind going back to work if I could find the right script and the right crew to work with.

- Mary Badham

I wasn't a child who wanted to be an actor.

- Mary Badham

If more people would try and reach up instead of going to the lowest common denominator, I think we'd be a lot better off.

- Mary Badham

I didn't know anything about movies or movie stars or the Academy or anything. I was just a blank sheet of paper. I was totally ignorant of all that stuff. I never went to the movies, didn't know anything about the movies.

- Mary Badham

When I retired, I was at an in-between age. I wasn't a child anymore, I wasn't really a woman yet, and they weren't really writing scripts for that age.

- Mary Badham