An Affair to Remember (1957)

Deborah Kerr: Terry McKay

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Quotes 

• Terry McKay : Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories. We've already missed the Spring.

  Nickie Ferrante : Yes. This is probably my last chance.

  Terry McKay : Mine too.

• Terry McKay : What makes life so difficult?

  Nickie Ferrante : People?

• Terry McKay : Oh, it's nobody's fault but my own! I was looking up... it was the nearest thing to heaven! You were there...

• Terry McKay : You name the place and I'll obey.

  [curtsy] 

  Nickie Ferrante : I don't know. I can't think. How about the top of the Empire State Building?

  Terry McKay : Oh, yes! That's perfect. It's the nearest thing to heaven we have in New York.

  Nickie Ferrante : 102nd floor. And don't forget to take the elevator.

• [last lines] 

  Terry McKay : Oh darling. Don't - don't worry darling. If - if you can paint, I can walk. Anything can happen, don't you think?

  Nickie Ferrante : Yes, darling. Yes, yes, yes.

• Terry McKay : And all I could say was, "hello".

• Nickie Ferrante : But you have such an honest face.

  Terry McKay : I have?

  Nickie Ferrante : I can trust you can't I?

  Terry McKay : Yes, I suppose so.

  Nickie Ferrante : Good, come with me.

  Terry McKay : Yes, but the Captain has an honest face too! Why can't you tell him your troubles?

• Terry McKay : It's not that I'm not prudish; but, my mother told me never to enter a man's room month's ending in "R".

• Terry McKay : I'm getting married and I want you to be the first to congratulate me.

  NYC Cab Driver : Marriage is something to rush to?

• Terry McKay : [to Nickie Ferrante]  You go think in your room and I'll think in mine... as we miss each other.

• Terry McKay : My father drank beer. In the morning.

  Nickie Ferrante : He was a beer drinker?

  Terry McKay : Later in the day, he drank anything.

• Nickie Ferrante : [opening his cigarette case]  You don't happened to have match?

  Terry McKay : You could light it from that inscription, couldn't you?

• Nickie Ferrante : Tell me. Did you write the song "I'll Never Smile Again"?

  Terry McKay : [laughs]  No. But I'm thinking of writing one called "Moon Over La Gabriella." Do you think it will ever take the place of night baseball?

  [Shakes her head] 

  Terry McKay : .

• Terry McKay : We were talking about the place where I was born...

  Nickie Ferrante : I can hardly wait for you to grow up.

• Nickie Ferrante : Oh, you know, this couldn't be nicer. You saved my life. I was bored to death. I hadn't seen one attractive woman on this ship since we left. Now, isn't that terrible? I was alarmed. I said to myself, "Don't beautiful women travel any more?" And then I saw you. And I was saved. I hope.

  Terry McKay : Tell me. Have you been getting results with a line like that? Or would I be surprised?

  Nickie Ferrante : If you were surprised, I'd be surprised.

• Terry McKay : This is frightfully intimate. I know just enough French to be embarrassed.

• Nickie Ferrante : I'm in trouble - serious trouble.

  Terry McKay : Well, I could've told you. Playing around yachts - the poor thing.

• Nickie Ferrante : I must talk with someone.

  Terry McKay : Well, I'm not very good at that sort of thing. I talk a lot. I've tried to break myself of the habit.

• Nickie Ferrante : I beg your pardon, I, I think you have my cigarette case.

  Terry McKay : I might as well confess. I am a jewel thief.

• Terry McKay : Does your fiancée know the lady of the yacht...

  Terry McKay , Nickie Ferrante : Gabriella?

  Nickie Ferrante : Well, certainly. She's her best friend.

  Terry McKay : Chummy little group.

• Terry McKay : And when you were little, what did your nurse read to you at bedtime?

  Nickie Ferrante : Well, let me see.

  Terry McKay : The memoirs of Casanova?

  Nickie Ferrante : Every night. And then we'd turn out the light.

  Terry McKay : "We"?

  Nickie Ferrante : I was only so big.

  Terry McKay : You must have had a happy childhood.

• Terry McKay : And women...

  Nickie Ferrante : Oh, women.

  Terry McKay : You've known quite a few, haven't you?

  Nickie Ferrante : Oh, I don't know.

  Terry McKay : Or, perhaps "few" is the wrong word.

  Nickie Ferrante : Well, let's say it's not precise.

• Nickie Ferrante : I idealize them. Every woman I meet, I put up there. Of course, the longer I know her, and the better I know her...

  Terry McKay : Yes. It's hard to keep them up there, isn't it?

  Nickie Ferrante : Yes, isn't it.

  Terry McKay : Pretty soon, the pedestal wobbles and then - topples.

• Terry McKay : Oh, you have the most - beautiful place here.

  Grandmother Janou : Thank you.

  Terry McKay : I think I could stay here for ever.

  Grandmother Janou : Oh, no, no, no! You are too young for that, my dear. It is a good place to sit and remember, but you have still to create your memories.

• Terry McKay : I grew up - quickly. Then, I went to New York and I got a job singing in a nightclub from ten to three in the morning. And the manager used to chase me round the office until four, and then - I went home.

  Nickie Ferrante : Did he ever...

  Terry McKay : Oh, no, no.

• Terry McKay : I wish I could share your confidence.

  Grandmother Janou : You will have it when you need it. That is your character.

• Nickie Ferrante : We've created a problem.

  Terry McKay : Yes, I know, so let's not complicate it any more. Being a woman, I'm more cautious and I can think more clearly when you're not around. So you go think in your room, and I'll think in mine.

• Kenneth Bradley : What's the matter? Was it a rough crossing?

  Terry McKay : Yes. It was a little.

• Terry McKay : Ladies and gentlemen, this is my last night, so I would love to sing a song for you that is very close to my heart.

  [singing] 

  Terry McKay : Our love affair, Is a wondrous thing, That we'll rejoice in remembering...

• Terry McKay : I'm fine. I've got my job and I'm on a budget. And if things come out right, and then maybe if I'm a very good girl, I'll get what I want next Christmas.

• Terry McKay : Well, the show is over. The boy got the girl. Shall we go?

• Terry McKay : That sounds like a nasty crack.

• Terry McKay : Don't tell me you're the famous - oh, I have read so much about you in "Life" and "Look" and...

  Nickie Ferrante : Possibly "Good Housekeeping"?

• Terry McKay : He had to go to Texas on a big merger.

  Nickie Ferrante : Ah, yes.

  Terry McKay : He thought it'd be a good idea if I took a little trip while he consummated this big deal, because I have no head for business. It's beyond me how the more money a corporation loses, the more it makes, because of the carry-overs with the write-offs.

  Nickie Ferrante : Oh, yes. Yes.

  Terry McKay : The big secret seems to be to merge a sick corporation with a big, fat healthy one, and then everybody gets well.

  Nickie Ferrante : Silly, isn't it?

  Terry McKay : He doesn't think I'm dumb, but he doesn't think I'm very bright - about things like that.

  Nickie Ferrante : Well, it isn't necessary, is it?

  Terry McKay : Thank you.

• Nickie Ferrante : This ship is going much too fast. We ought to take advantage of every moment. Don't you think that life should be gay and bright and bubbly, like champagne?

  Terry McKay : I like pink champagne.

  Nickie Ferrante : Yes, that's the kind I mean. Pink champagne. Now, is there any reason why from now on this trip shouldn't be pink champagne?

• Terry McKay : Well, that sort of brings us up to date. Now my life is an open book.

  Nickie Ferrante : Now, that's only one page.

• Terry McKay : What is it about this place? Something about it makes you want to whisper. It's so peaceful here. It's like another world.

• Nickie Ferrante : You've been crying?

  Terry McKay : Beauty does that to me.

• Terry McKay : Let's get some air.

  Nickie Ferrante : Come on. I'll show you the rudder.

  Terry McKay : Where is it?

  Nickie Ferrante : Aft.

• Terry McKay : We're heading into a rough sea, Nickie.

  Nickie Ferrante : I know. We changed our course today.

• Terry McKay : [singing]  Can't you think of something spiteful? Something mean that you could do

  Nickie Ferrante : Must you be so darn delightful?

  Terry McKay , Nickie Ferrante : You make it easy to be true...

• Terry McKay , Nickie Ferrante : [singing]  Day by day I'm growing fonder, Of those tender things you do...

• Terry McKay : I'm going to turn in now. Do some more rolling and tossing...

• Nickie Ferrante : It's now or never.

  Terry McKay : Never is a frightening word.

• Terry McKay : If you say "A penny for your thoughts" I'll jump overboard.

• Terry McKay : [singing]  Your troubles like bubbles will vanish In air, Ask me how do you get to tomorrowland?

• Miss Webb : I'd be most happy to take care of you. Now, what did you have in mind?

  Terry McKay : Well, I want something irresistible, inexpensive, and - pink.

• Kenneth Bradley : Terry, let me ask you again. Why won't you let me help you?

  Terry McKay : All right, then, I will tell you again. If you paid for my getting well, he wouldn't like it, and he wouldn't like it, I wouldn't like it. And if you did get me well and I went to him, you wouldn't like it.

  Kenneth Bradley : But certainly he ought to know.

  Terry McKay : No! Because, if he found out, he'd insist upon doing it himself - if he had the money, which I doubt. And then, if I didn't get well - that'd be awful. No.

• Bugsy - Student's Parent : I wanna thank you for what you're doin' for my son, Tyrone. Now he won't grow up to be a mug like me.

  Terry McKay : You're too modest, Mr Bugsy.

  Bugsy - Student's Parent : No, I ain't. I'm so stupid, I ain't even ignorant.

• Terry McKay : You can't go on like that. It isn't right for you. I wish I could say you were wrong.

  Nickie Ferrante : I was, once.

• Nickie Ferrante : Then what did you say to yourself?

  Terry McKay : Oh, then I said "Oh, go on home and get tight."

  Nickie Ferrante : But you didn't do that.

  Terry McKay : Didn't I?

  Nickie Ferrante : No. Well, maybe just a little one, every hour, for about a month.