Willem Dafoe
Actor
How doesn’t matter—it’s when that matters. When I’m ready!
How would you like to die?
Question
What is your greatest fear?
Identity & self
Question
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Values & belief
Question
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Identity & self
Question
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Values & belief
Question
What are you most proud of?
Identity & self
Question
Which trait do you most dislike in yourself?
Identity & self
Originally asked
Vanity Fair, to its interview subject, The Proust Questionnaire
A fixed final question in Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire, repeated verbatim across respondent pages.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Singing onstage—and everyone walking around me saying, “Look how happy she looks.”
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, 24 October 2012 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 44 →
John Lewis
U.S. Representative from Georgia, 1987–2020; Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 1963–1966
I don't want to die. I don't think I'm going to die…but we all have to die. Since I do, I hope I live on in the hearts and minds of people.
Eugene Levy
Actor and writer
In my sleep. In bed. With a half-eaten egg salad sandwich on my chest.
Neil Patrick Harris
Actor
Quickly and by surprise. I don’t want the specter of death to linger.
More from Dolly Parton
View profile →Flipping my wig.
Dishonesty and being late for appointments.
A big loaded baked potato and a good book with time to eat it and read it.
Any person trying to uplift mankind.
Well, I’m proud of all of them. I think the one that’s most personal to me is the lil’ Coat of Many Colors, because it talks about my mom, my parents, and kind of gives you an insight. It also covers bullying, acceptance and all that.
Recorded
Guardian reader “VerulamiumParkRanger”; as told to Rich Pelley, Guardian reader interview, The Guardian, 31 October 2024
source ↗
The fact that sometimes my mouth is a little too big and a little too open and sounds too much like a sailor.
More on death & what remains
- What would you like to be remembered for? 214 answers
- How close have you come to death? 209 answers
- What song would you like played at your funeral? 178 answers
- If you had only one day left to live, how would you spend it — and what would you deliberately avoid doing? 54 answers
- What happens when we die? 51 answers
- What would you like to leave your children? 44 answers
Also answered this
Eugene Levy, Robert De Niro, Stephen Fry, Helena Bonham Carter, Patrick Stewart, Diane Keaton
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Explore further
- All death & what remains questions
- The The Proust Questionnaire questionnaire — 5 questions from the same format
- Explore the archive — by field, age, era, and subject