--- title: Elaine Stritch Quotation: Documentary and Learning About Oneself description: The late, great actress spoke to TIME earlier this year canonical: https://time.com/3002108/elaine-stritch-lessons/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-17T19:01:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:12:43.002Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Elaine Stritch Quotation: Documentary and Learning About Oneself og:description: The late, great actress spoke to TIME earlier this year og:url: https://time.com/3002108/elaine-stritch-lessons/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ae4b6788e398491/69869c303bc999e5a01a4958/10elaine_stritch.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Elaine Stritch performs at the Kennedy Center Honors on October 29, 1994. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Elaine Stritch Quotation: Documentary and Learning About Oneself twitter:description: The late, great actress spoke to TIME earlier this year twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ae4b6788e398491/69869c303bc999e5a01a4958/10elaine_stritch.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Elaine Stritch on Learning About Yourself: "They're Hard Lessons" ## Video: Elaine Stritch - Shoot Me Official Trailer [Watch (HLS stream): Elaine Stritch - Shoot Me Official Trailer](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FMoCp9rl.m3u8) (2:16)  _Published 2014-07-17_  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 17, 2014 7:01 PM UTC  Elaine Stritch performs at the Kennedy Center Honors on October 29, 1994. Elaine Stritch performs at the Kennedy Center Honors on October 29, 1994.CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Jul 17, 2014 7:01 PM UTC Elaine Stritch, who died Thursday at 89, was best known as the legendary stage performer who made Broadway brassier — but her most recent acclaimed performance had been as _herself_. Stritch was the subject of a documentary, _Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me_, which was released in February. Then, Stritch [spoke to TIME](http://entertainment.time.com/2014/02/20/elaine-stritch-shoot-me/) about the release of the film. What she had to say about seeing herself on film in that manner was a lesson that can apply much more broadly: --- > “” --- Stritch also told TIME that, as of February, though she had left New York City for a quieter life, it wouldn’t be accurate to call her retired. “That is not accurate at all,” she said. “I’d be thrilled to death to find a good new play.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3002108/elaine-stritch-lessons/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3002108/elaine-stritch-lessons/"},"headline":"Elaine Stritch on Learning About Yourself: \"They're Hard Lessons\"","datePublished":"2014-07-17T19:01:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:12:43.002Z","description":"The late, great actress spoke to TIME earlier this year","url":"https://time.com/3002108/elaine-stritch-lessons/","keywords":["remembrance","movies","broadway","celebrity"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ae4b6788e398491/69869c303bc999e5a01a4958/10elaine_stritch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1ae4b6788e398491/69869c303bc999e5a01a4958/10elaine_stritch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Elaine Stritch performs at the Kennedy Center Honors on October 29, 1994.","caption":"Elaine Stritch performs at the Kennedy Center Honors on October 29, 1994.","creditText":"CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3002108/elaine-stritch-lessons/","name":"Elaine Stritch on Learning About Yourself: \"They're Hard Lessons\""}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Elaine Stritch - Shoot Me Official Trailer","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FMoCp9rl/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-07-17T18:06:55.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FMoCp9rl.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3002108/elaine-stritch-lessons/","duration":"PT2M16S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3002108/elaine-stritch-lessons/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```