31 Fascinating Answers To Questions About Life, Happiness, Fear And More From The Vanity Fair Proust Questionnaire
By Kim Quindlen
The Vanity Fair Proust Questionnaire is an intimate look into the lives of some of the most prominent cultural figures of the last several decades, through a series of fascinating questions. What began in 19th-century France as a popular parlor game among the bourgeois crowd was taken on by Vanity Fair in 1993 as a way of learning more about some of the most famous people of the last 50 years. Here are 31 of the most fascinating, hilarious, thought-instigating answers.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
I’ve made only the movies I wanted to make.
-Robert Altman, Filmmaker
What is your current state of mind?
Up.
-Bill Blass, Fashion Designer
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Waking up in the morning.
-Lauren Bacall, Actress
What is your favorite journey?
The ones I take in my head.
-Giorgio Armani, Fashion Designer
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
It’s never going to be absolutely perfect. There will always be something you would change if you could.
-Aretha Franklin, Singer
Who are your heroes in real life?
No one should have heroes. It is degrading.
-George Carlin, Comedian
What is your motto?
“Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.” [Don’t let the bastards grind you down.]
-Margaret Atwood, Writer
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Legend.
-Johnny Cash, Musician
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Chastity.
-Julie Andrews, Actress
Which living person do you most despise?
I have a rule of keeping all negatives out of my life, so if there was someone I was going to despise, I wouldn’t waste the energy on them – they disappear. I remember a philosopher said to me once, “You should only hate people you love. The rest of them are not worth the energy.”
-Sir Michael Caine, Actor
What is your motto?
“You never know.”
-Nora Ephron, Author, Screenwriter, and Director
What do you most value in your friends?
Their faithfulness. The fact that after all these years they are still my friends. I have very few friends.
-Brigitte Bardot, Actress and Animal-Rights Activist
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Blindly following.
-Harry Belafonte, Entertainer and Civil-Rights Activist
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
My need to rush.
-Annette Bening, Actress
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
While in New York, tolerance.
Outside of New York, intolerance.
-David Bowie, Musician
What is the quality you like most in a man?
Integrity – that takes care of everything. Take care of your kids, watch your family, try to be a good man, walk as close as you can to what you believe in.
-James Brown, Musician
What is your favorite journey?
Going home.
-William F. Buckley Jr., Writer and Editor
What is your greatest regret?
That I never taped or documented my grandfather’s stories of his years at sea.
-Jimmy Buffett, Musician
What is your most treasured possession?
My hands. They guide everywhere I go, and they allow me to play the piano and other instruments, which has been my lifeline since an early age.
-Ray Charles, Musician
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Being in the moment.
-Eric Clapton, Musician
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Frank Sinatra. He did it his way.
-Jackie Collins, Writer
What is your most marked characteristic?
I, like Popeye, am what I am.
-Ellen DeGeneres, Comedian and Talk-Show Host
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I’m afraid that “one thing” would just lead to another thing, making this a question only the truly greedy would try to answer.
-Joan Didion, Writer
What is your motto?
“It’s better to be interested than interesting.”
-Jane Fonda, Actress
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Virginity and/or cynicism and/or machismo.
-Allen Ginsberg, Poet
What is it that you most dislike?
Receptions and dinners in noisy places with people talking too loud, riding in stretch limos, waste.
-Jane Goodall, Primatologist and Environmentalist
What is your greatest fear?
Of ever becoming a grown-up, please.
-Quincy Jones, Musician and Producer
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
My idea of perfect happiness is a healthy family, peace between nations, and all the critics die.
-David Mamet, Playwright and Director
What is your greatest fear?
Puberty.
-Conan O’Brien, Comedian and Talk-Show Host
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I wouldn’t change a single thing, because one change alters every moment that follows it.
-Sidney Poitier, Actor
If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be?
One ride is enough for me.
-Bobby Short