A scene from “Beautiful Babe”

Bill Paley: He said six months? He used that phrase? "You have six months to live"?

Babe Paley: I asked him if I'd make it to Thanksgiving, and he just looked down and shook his head. Why is it, with these doctors, they can't just say it straight? My father, a surgeon, he gave it with both barrels and everyone respected him for it. Of course, it was Boston and stoic.

Bill Paley: Look, there's a new drug. Here's what we do. I've done some research. Tamoxifen. It's just about to get FDA approval. I know who to call...

Babe Paley: Yes, yes, you know everyone, Bill. Yes, we know that. You know everything. It's enough. You keep giving me orders, like I'm the vice president of programming. Which I'm not.

Bill Paley: Jesus, please don't smoke. What can I do to make you stop smoking?

Babe Paley: What can you do to make me stop? How about you don't do a fucking thing? No more jewelry. No more paintings. No more Lucian Freud or Picabia. No more purchasing my forgiveness or my affection.

Bill Paley: You would forgive Truman before me. The fucking smoking! Even after they told you you had to stop. Did you want to die? Was it so bad with me that you wanted to kill yourself?!

Babe Paley: Well, Bill, yes. Could have been worse. Could have been Librium. But, no, it was ciggies and high-end booze. At least I was a coherent hostess. It's how I medicated myself.

Bill Paley: Medicated yourself from what?

Babe Paley: You. The smoking and the Scotch soda that started the very first hint of dusk or sooner. How else could it work? You know what I want? Some quiet. And solitude. And I want to speak to my, my children. I don't know why she won't speak to me.

Bill Paley: Because you're cold. You are. You are a cold person. And your daughter feels that she was a minor consideration in your life and that she came after all the myriad ways you had of showing the world your beauty and your perfection.

Babe Paley: Shut up, Paley! For God's sake, won't you shut up?! Were you a model parent, with your barely disguised contempt for your son, whatever he did? No, she won't speak to me because, because I chose you instead of her. No, actually, we both chose each other.

Bill Paley: Paley. You've been calling me that for a while now. At first I thought it was some sort of tough, affectionate affectation. But then I realized there was ice all around it.

Babe Paley: I think people earn how they're addressed, don't you?