“I had to read Plato and Kant, and at times I was overwhelmed. But I have always …” — Barbara Sukowa

I could imagine actually being a scientist or a detective, but not a detective who puts his hands into gory, bloody things. But more like someone who figures things out. I like to figure things out.

When I auditioned for Tim Robbins for 'Cradle Will Rock,' the young girl who read with me was very young, and I said to Tim, 'I'm sorry, but I don't have enough imagination to pretend this girl is my husband!' And he said, 'Well, I'll read it with you.' Which was very nice; he was the director. And I ended up getting the part.

I was very lucky: I started acting in this highly subsidized German theater world, so there was not so much job insecurity. We had great working conditions, long rehearsal times, well paid.

Arendt did have a certain snobbishness, though in some of her writing she expressed more democratic attitudes.