Big Mama
There ain't nothin' wrong with Big Daddy but nerves...He's as sound as a dollar, and now he knows he is. That's why he ate such a supper. He had a load off his mind, knowin' he wasn't doomed to what he'd thought he was doomed to.
Played by Judith Anderson 
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) · 38 quotes
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) · 38 quotes
Scenes with Big Mama
4 scenes Big Mama
Big Mama
The exploratory operation proved there's nothin' wrong with Big Daddy. Nothin' at all. Just a little ol' spastic colon and that's all.
Maggie
That's the best birthday present of all.
...
Big Daddy
Well, I'm gonna live, Maggie, I'm gonna live. You know, they had me real scared. You know, I've wasted so much time, you know, I've got a million different kinds of feelings left in me. And I want to use 'em. I want to use 'em all.
Big Mama
Oh shoot, Maggie, you just don't like children.
Maggie
Why that's not true! I adore them - well brought up.
Big Mama
Well why don't you have some then and bring them up well instead of all the time pickin' on Gooper's an' Mae's?
Maggie
...Big Mama, what you said about havin' children, it's still kind of a secret but...
Big Mama
Oh shoot, Maggie, stop playing so dumb. I mean, is he still drinkin' this stuff much?
Maggie
Oh, well he may have had a little highball...
Big Mama
Don't laugh about it! Some single men stop drinking when they get married. Others start. Brick never touched liquor before he was...
Maggie
[crying out]
THAT'S NOT FAIR.
Big Mama
Fair or not fair. I want to ask you a question, one question: 'Do ya make Brick happy?' Well?
Maggie
Why don't you ask me if he makes me happy?
Big Mama
Cause I know that ...
Maggie
It works both ways.
Big Mama
Somethin' ain't right. You're childless and our son drinks... [she pats the bed for emphasis] When a marriage goes on the rocks, the rocks are there, right there!
Maggie
[now alone in the room]
That's not fair.
Big Daddy
I put up with a lot of bull around here because I thought I was dyin'. That's when you started takin' over. Your loud voice and your old busybody buttin' in here, there, and everywhere. Sashayin' around here, makin' a big noise like a boss. I'm the only boss around here. I built this place with no help from you. And I'll run this place 'til the day I die. Now is that plain to ya, Ida? Is that perfectly clear to ya? Now I ain't gonna die. There ain't nothin' wrong with me but a spastic colon! Made spastic, I reckon, by all the lies and liars I've had to put up with around here. And all the hypocrisy I've had to live with these forty years I've lived with you.
Big Mama
In all these years, you never believed I loved you. And I did. I did so much. I did love you. I even loved your hate and your hardness.
