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
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