Sissy Spacek Biography

Strawberry blonde, freckle-faced, and willowy, Sissy Spacek was among the most popular female stars of the late '70s and '80s. The Texas born and bred actress originally aspired to become a singer, and, after heading east to New York, got her start singing at coffee houses in Greenwich Village. Billing herself as "Rainbo," Spacek also cut a single, "Johnny, You Went Too Far This Time." On the side, she earned money by recording backup vocals on television commercials.When the acting bug bit, Spacek enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatrical Institute. While she technically made her film debut as an extra in Andy Warhol's Trash (1971), her official debut is listed as Michael Ritchie's Prime Cut (1972). The actress' first crack at stardom came in 1973, when she played a teenage accomplice to ruthless cross-country killer Martin Sheen in Terrence Malick's disturbing Badlands. The role earned her critical acclaim, as did her portrayal of a sweet teen who becomes a violent radical in the made-for-television movie Katherine (1975).Spacek's true breakthrough came when she played a troubled, shy teenager who discovers that she has telekinetic powers and uses them to get bloody revenge upon her cruel schoolmates and mother in Brian De Palma's chilling adaptation of Stephen King's novel Carrie (1976). Her work in the film earned her a Best Actress nomination, as well as permanent cult status. She once again experimented with emotional instability in Robert Altman's Three Women the following year, and then got to show off her singing abilities playing Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter in 1980. Her portrayal of Lynn became one of Spacek's best-known roles, and it earned her an Oscar for Best Actress.In 1981, Spacek starred in Raggedy Man, which was directed by her husband, Jack Fisk. Her career remained in high gear through the mid-'80s with such memorable turns as her Oscar-nominated work in Missing (1982) and The River (1984), but after 1986, when she was again nominated for an Oscar for her work in Crimes of the Heart, Spacek partially withdrew from acting to concentrate on raising kids. Throughout the 1990s, she occasionally returned to the big screen, lending her talents to such features as JFK (1991), The Grass Harp (1996), and Affliction (1998). In 1999, she turned in memorable performances playing Brendan Fraser's mother in Blast From the Past and Richard Farnsworth's speech-impaired daughter in David Lynch's The Straight Story. In 2001 the quietly intense actress shined once again in director Todd Field's critically praised In the Bedroom. Suffering from severe trauma and depression after her son is viciously murdered, Spacek's brooding and sympathetic performance in Bedroom found the actress taking home a Golden Globe for Best Actress and earning an Oscar nod in the same category. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

• 1. Margaret White: Red. I might have known it would be red.
  2. Carrie White: It's pink, Mama.
  3. Carrie White: Look what Tommy gave me, Mama. Aren't they beautiful?
  4. Margaret White: I can see your dirty pillows. Everyone will.
  5. Carrie White: Breasts, Mama. They're called breasts, and every woman has them.
  From Carrie. Submitted by Frédéric E (11 days ago)

• 1. Loretta Lynn: [waving fists in a full length gown, coming off stage] All I could hear was them dad-burn drums, a-beatin' in my ears!
  From Coal Miner's Daughter. Submitted by Glenn R (4 months ago)

• 1. Loretta Lynn: [performing for her children, but her sons are wrestling] You boys quit fightin' and listen to me sing!
  From Coal Miner's Daughter. Submitted by Alyssa B (7 months ago)

• 1. Margaret White: Give me your sweatshirt.
  2. Carrie White: No mama.
  3. Margaret White: We'll burn it together and pray for forgiveness.
  From Carrie. Submitted by Noah G (8 months ago)

• 1. Carrie White: They' re all gonna laugh at you.
  From Carrie. Submitted by Noah G (8 months ago)

• 1. Missus Walters: I may have trouble rememberin' my own name, or what country I live in. But there's two things I can't seem to forget. That my own daughter threw me into a nursin' home and that she ate Minny's shit. Good night.
  From The Help. Submitted by Arlen D (8 months ago)

• 1. Loretta Lynn: If you boys don't settle down on this porch I'm gonna have to whup you!
  2. Loretta and Mooney's Child: That's right?
  From Coal Miner's Daughter. Submitted by Alyssa B (8 months ago)

• 1. Carrie White: I didn't sin, Mama.
  2. Margaret White: First sin was intercourse, first sin was intercourse, first sin was intercourse.
  3. Carrie White: And the first sin was intercourse. Mama I was so scared, I thought I was dying. And the girls all laughed at me.
  From Carrie. Submitted by Nick P (8 months ago)

• 1. Margaret White: Witch! Got Satan's power.
  2. Carrie White: It got nothing Satan mama. It's me, Me! If I concentrate hard enough, I can move things.
  3. Margaret White: Ain't this clever?
  4. Carrie White: Mama, I'm not the only one. Other people can do it, I read about it!
  5. Margaret White: I have one child, do you know he doesn't let you know He's working through you?
  6. Carrie White: Mama, I know.
  7. Margaret White: He ended your father and carried him off.
  8. Carrie White: He ran away Mama. He ran away with a woman, Mama. Everybody knows that.
  From Carrie. Submitted by Nick P (8 months ago)

• 1. Carrie White: I've accepted it, Mama! I've accepted, I've accepted it!
  2. Margaret White: Come to your closet!
  3. Carrie White: No!
  4. Margaret White: After all you've been taught?
  5. Carrie White: Everyone ain't bad, mama! Everything isn't a sin!
  6. Margaret White: Come to your closet and pray asked to be forgiven.
  From Carrie. Submitted by Nick P (8 months ago)

• 1. Missus Walters: I spent good money on this pie.
  From The Help. Submitted by Tracy M (8 months ago)

• 1. Loretta Lynn: Doolittle; are you leavin'?
  2. Doolittle "Mooney" Lynn: [come back in the house] Naw, Loretta; *I* ain't leavin'.
  From Coal Miner's Daughter. Submitted by Alyssa B (9 months ago)

• 1. Loretta Lynn: I may be ignorant, but I ain't stupid!
  From Coal Miner's Daughter. Submitted by Alyssa B (9 months ago)

• 1. Missus Walters: You should read that book, Hilly.
  From The Help. Submitted by Alyssa B (9 months ago)

• 1. Mr. Fromm: Any criticisms? Anybody?
  2. Carrie White: It's beautiful.
  3. Mr. Fromm: Carrie White! Beautiful. Beautiful. BEAUTIFUL! Oh, beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain. Is that the kind of beautiful you mean? Is it, Carrie? I'm afraid, Carrie, this is hardly a criticism.
  4. Tommy Ross: (under his breath) You suck.
  5. Mr. Fromm: Tommy? Did you say something, Tommy?
  6. Tommy Ross: Who me?
  7. Mr. Fromm: Yes.
  8. Tommy Ross: I said, 'Aw shucks.'
  From Carrie. Submitted by Creep F (12 months ago)

• 1. Carrie White: It was bad, Mama. They laughed at me.
  From Carrie. Submitted by Creep F (12 months ago)

• 1. Margaret White: Witch. Got Satan's Power.
  2. Carrie White: It has nothing to do with Satan, Mama. It's me. Me. If I concentrate hard enough, I can move things.
  From Carrie. Submitted by Creep F (12 months ago)

• 1. Margaret White: Carrie, you haven't touched your apple cake.
  2. Carrie White: It gives me pimples, Mama.
  3. Margaret White: Pimples are the Lord's way of chastising you.
  From Carrie. Submitted by Creep F (12 months ago)

• 1. Carrie White: Why am I here?
  2. Tommy Ross: Because it's the prom.
  3. Carrie White: Why am I here with you?
  4. Tommy Ross: Because I asked you.
  5. Carrie White: Why'd you ask me?
  6. Tommy Ross: Because I wanted to.
  7. Carrie White: Why'd you want to?
  8. Tommy Ross: Because you liked my poem. Only I didn't write it. Somebody else did.
  9. Carrie White: Oh.
  From Carrie. Submitted by Creep F (12 months ago)

• 1. Miss Collins: Carrie? Carrie. Carrie, what's the matter? What happened?
  2. Carrie White: Nothing.
  3. Miss Collins: Was it one of the girls? Did one of the girls do something to you?
  4. Carrie White: No.
  5. Miss Collins: What is it, then? You can trust me, you know that? Would you tell me?
  6. Carrie White: I got invited to the prom.
  7. Miss Collins: That's great! That's fantastic! So what are you down here moping around for?
  8. Carrie White: Tommy Ross asked me.
  9. Miss Collins: That's even better. He's really cute, huh?
  10. Carrie White: I know who he goes around with. They're just trying to trick me again. I know.
  From Carrie. Submitted by Creep F (12 months ago)

• 1. Margaret White: I should've killed myself when he put it in me. After the first time, before we were married, Ralph promised never again. He promised, and I believed him. But sin never dies. Sin never dies. At first, it was all right. We lived sinlessly. We slept in the same bed, but we never did it. And then, that night, I saw him looking down at me that way. We got down on our knees to pray for strength. I smelled the whiskey on his breath. Then he took me. He took me, with the stink of filthy roadhouse whiskey on his breath, and I liked it. I liked it! With all that dirty touching of his hands all over me. I should've given you to God when you were born, but I was weak and backsliding, and now the devil has come home. We'll pray.
  2. Carrie White: Yes.
  3. Margaret White: We'll pray. We'll pray. We'll pray for the last time. We'll pray.
  From Carrie. Submitted by Creep F (12 months ago)

• 1. Margaret White: (reading to Carrie from her bible) And Eve was weak, say it!
  2. Carrie White: No!
  3. Margaret White: Eve was weak!
  4. Carrie White: No!
  5. Margaret White: Eve was weak, say it woman!
  6. Carrie White: No!
  7. Margaret White: Say it!
  8. Carrie White: Eve was weak, Eve was weak.
  9. Margaret White: And the Lord visited Eve with the curse, and the curse was the curse of blood!
  10. Carrie White: You should have told me, Mama! You should have told me!
  11. Margaret White: (kneels down and grabs Carrie's hand) Oh, Lord! Help this sinning woman see the sin of her days and ways. Show her that if she had remained sinless, this curse of blood would never have come on her!
  From Carrie. Submitted by Creep F (12 months ago)

• 1. Margaret White: Go to your closet.
  2. Carrie White: No!
  3. Margaret White: After all you've been taught, Carrie?
  4. Carrie White: Everyone isn't bad, Mama! Everything isn't a sin!
  5. Margaret White: Go to your closet and pray, ask to be forgiven.
  From Carrie. Submitted by Creep F (12 months ago)

• 1. Margaret White: (referring to Carrie's prom gown) Red. I might have known it would be red.
  2. Carrie White: It's pink, Mama. (Shows a corsage) Look what Tommy gave me, Mama. Aren't they beautiful?
  3. Margaret White: I can see your dirty pillows. Everyone will.
  4. Carrie White: Breasts, Mama. They're called breasts, and every woman has them.
  From Carrie. Submitted by Creep F (12 months ago)

• 1. Margaret White: They're all going to laugh at you.
  From Carrie. Submitted by Jeffry O (14 months ago)

• 1. Miss Collins: You can choke on it for all I care, just get it out of your mouth!
  From Carrie. Submitted by Jeffry O (14 months ago)

• 1. Carrie White: They're all going to laugh at you!
  From Carrie. Submitted by Jeffry O (14 months ago)