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James Stockdale
Medal of Honor
When he was beating me up, he was being heard by about 200 Americans who were living in cells three deep all around that area, and it was dark. And that was when I was brought out. They were getting me put back in the bath stall and somebody had a wet towel and he was snapping it. The people would think "That's his bath towel and he's just doing it." But he said "G." G, okay? Dom-dom-dom-dom, that's G. "B," dom-dom-dom: B. Oh, no. "GB," dom, dom, dom, dom, dom, dom, dom, "U." "G-B-U-J-S." So I got more -- I was more moved by that than many other things. Almost more than anything else because there half of the prison crowd knew that I was out there getting beat up.
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James Stockdale
Medal of Honor
As soon as I could I got my head wet and lathered up, I started with that safety razor, just cutting a track down the top of my head that I judged would make it impractical for them to take me downtown. He came back to the peephole and I ducked down, just showing him my behind, which is all he could see because I was stooped over, and then back up and again. I didn't realize that I was bleeding so bad. And then he came in and grabbed me, grabbed my arm and he knew he was in trouble, too. There was blood running down my shoulders and there were secretaries in the courtyard that we went by and they were looking. That was the headquarters prison of the whole country of North Vietnam so they had offices and they had everything you can expect. He took me back into this room and boy, those two officers, they said, "How dare you? How dare you?" I just got down in the position for the ropes and he said, "You have no right to take the ropes." I knew I was getting him screwed up. Finally they said, "I got it. We'll get a hat and we'll take you down to the press conference with a hat on." So as soon as they locked the door, I looked around for something else to do damage to myself with, and I saw the old toilet can that had been there for years, and I knew every chunk of it, but that was infection and one thing -- and then I said, "Well, what's wrong with this mahogany stool?" and bang, bang, bang, bang, and the secretaries across the hall wondered what the noise was and they started shaking the door. I didn't -- couldn't see them. But by the time they got back my eyes were closed and there was no question about it. They couldn't do anything and said, "What do you want me to tell the commissar?" I said, "You tell the commissar the CAG decided not to go downtown tonight." And they went out and then they gave me -- you know, then through that -- other times I'd used other devices.
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Robert Strauss
Presidential Medal of Freedom
I said, "There is one thing I want," and he said, "What's that?" I said, "Well, when you start appointing those judges and filling these commissions and when people out of the Dallas establishment come to call on you, just listen to them and say, 'Well, I've got your suggestions now, and I'm certainly going to consider them, and I'll discuss it with Bob Strauss the first chance I get, and you'll hear from him or me." And he started laughing, and he said, "Are you kidding?" And I said, "That's all I want, John. Just say, 'Well, I want to discuss it with Strauss.'" Of course, nothing could have pleased me more, and I was so vain, anyway, about it and annoyed with them for ten years or more of what I thought was neglect or abuse or whatever you'd call it. They really were nice people, they just didn't care for me. It wasn't mutual. I was ready to join the crowd, but the crowd didn't want me, to be very blunt about it. But Connally did that a couple times, and that's all I needed, and I liked it. It made the whole thing worthwhile.
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Hilary Swank
Two Oscars for Best Actress
That preparation for me was so important in who I am today, because if I woke up in the morning, I ached everywhere. Everything. I just thought, "I'm so tired right now, and I can't go. I can't train today, I can't." And with that attitude, I wasn't growing. With that attitude, I was staying where I was, and I realized that the biggest obstacle was my mind. It was the biggest obstacle, and if I could get out of the way of myself, I would grow. So every time I had that attitude, I changed it, and I'd say, "You can. Today you can, and take it one day at a time, and today, I'm going to get up and I'm not going to think about the other six days of this week. I'm going to get up right now, and I'm going to go to the gym, and I'm going to learn about my boxing, and I'm going to be in the moment." You know, in anything, you hit a wall, and then you have to break through it, and I just had to get out of my own way.
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Hilary Swank
Two Oscars for Best Actress
Hilary Swank: Staph is very dangerous. When I got to my doctor's, he said, "Put your foot down. Stand up." Not on it, but to stand up. "Put your foot down. I'll be right back in." He came back in, and he said, "This is very serious. You have to stop boxing immediately, and you are going to stay right here." He drew a line on my leg, so it wouldn't go above that, because if that gets to your heart, you die. So if that infection makes it up to your heart, that's it. So obviously, it was devastating news to me that I wasn't going to be able to box, and I only had this limited amount of time. So he said, "I can't express to you " I said, "I need to box. I need to box. Two days? Will it be over in two days?" and he said, "Listen to me. You have to stop. This is life-threatening. You have to stop. Just stop. Get your infection, until it's gone, and then you can go training again." So I took most of the advice. When I felt like the line was gone and it wasn't red anymore, I couldn't box still 'cause I couldn't pivot on it, but I was still doing weight training. My trainer would piggyback me to the gym, and I'd do everything I could where I wasn't standing on it. I was doing all my upper body and my sit-ups, and then he'd piggyback me back to my place.
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Hilary Swank
Two Oscars for Best Actress
Hilary Swank: I was cast on Beverly Hills, 90210 when it was in its eighth season and no one watched it anymore. Yet, I was still very grateful for the job. I never, ever knocked an opportunity to learn my craft. I did a handful -- every single year -- I'd do a pilot. You know, a pilot is something that you get that they make, and they only pick up maybe four of them. They probably make 50 of them. So every year, I was thankful enough to get a pilot. Not all of them obviously got picked up, but then I got on 90210, and I was very grateful for the opportunity to continue to learn, even though it was something that was kind of old news. I signed a two-year contract, which is a very big deal. As a working actor, you have that security. I would say security is not the number one thing that most actors have, 'cause you never know what's going to happen tomorrow. So having a two-year contract was actually wonderful. It gave me the opportunity, like I said, to continue to grown and learn. And about maybe 14 episodes into the first year, I was fired. I remember going in and them saying, "This isn't really working. It's not working." I was devastated. I went home, and I thought, "I'm not good enough for 90210 in the eighth season! What does that say about me?" It's actually one of those great lessons in trusting fate, because about maybe four months later, I got Boys Don't Cry, and I wouldn't have been able to do that, had I not been fired.
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Hilary Swank
Two Oscars for Best Actress
There's criticism everywhere, and not all of it's constructive. So you walk a fine line of trying to figure out what is healthy and what's not. If someone says, "Your lips are too big," which I've heard, was that constructive? Is there anything I can do about that? No. If someone says, "We feel you're too half-hour," that's great that that's their opinion and that's why I didn't get that job, but I'm not going to take that upon myself and say, "Okay. Well, then I'm just going to do comedy, and I'm only going to go in for comedy." So it's a fine line of figuring out what do you take in and have to help you grow. It's a business, too. You can't close off and become bitter at things that people say, even though you might not always want to hear it. So I would take some of the things in, and incorporate that into my craft, or to my auditioning, or to whatever it may be. And then other things, I'd have to really say, "Oh, that really stings. That's a real bummer to hear that," but not allow it to close me up, to continue to stay open, and say, "But that's their opinion."
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Hilary Swank
Two Oscars for Best Actress
After I won my first Academy Award, I thought, "Wow, everything's going to change. I'm going to get so many offers, I'm not even going to have time to read everything, and I'm going to get all of these opportunities to work with people who inspire me and finally get real quality material." Yes, that was partly the case, but what I realized was my first role was a role where people saw me as looking like a boy. So that was their first impression of me. Well, of course, that's not who I am. I had long hair, and I'm a girl before I got the role, but I realized that that role, being everyone's first impression, that I had a lot to prove. I still had a lot to prove. They didn't see me as the girl next door or the funny girl or the pretty girl, and that I understand. And I didn't become angry about it. I said, "Wow, well now my job is to continue to go in, to meet people, to read things, to fight for things, to prove that I'm not just that, that I can be so much more." It's a constant, constant job. It's not easy for me. You know, even after Million Dollar Baby, there are still people who say, "Well, I don't really see her in this role," and I have to go in, and I have to persuade them and talk to them and tell them why I am.
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