- The subtitle [of his memoir "The Good, the Bad and Me"] is "In My Anecdotage". Bill Clinton asked me if he could use it, and I said, "You sold two million copies of your book. How dare you try to steal my subtitle!".
- I was at the premiere of The Holiday (2006), a movie I did with Kate Winslet. Surrounded by all these beautiful young women. And after they left, [wife Anne Jackson] comes up and says to me, "Honestly, I don't know what they see in you.".
- Well, I go to the theater today, and its curtain - there is no curtain in this play; the lights go down and go up - and we start. And I live this character for two hours. There are only two of us in the play. And It's a complete experience.
- I never lost my appetite for acting.
- Having the critics praise you is like having the hangman say you've got a pretty neck.
- I've learned that life is very tricky business: Each person needs to find what they want to do in life and not be dissuaded when people question them.
- But Clint [Eastwood] I love, because Clint was my mentor. I knew nothing about making an Italian movie.
- When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk.
- When I saw the movie, I said, "I wish I had heard the music. I would have ridden the horse differently.".
- I've never lost my appetite for acting; it's innovative and challenging.
- And that movie was underrated - Nuts (1987) - because it deals with a terrible subject, but It's very well done.
- And I did Batman (1966), too. I did Mr. Freeze. I get more mail for him than anything I've ever done.
- Even if I don't want to slow down, I'm slowing down.
- But I went to the University of Texas in the 30s, and while there I learned to ride. Mostly polo ponies.
- And then the first was The Misfits (1961), which I enjoyed very much, with Marilyn and Gable.
- Everyone thinks acting is easy. It's far from easy, but it's the most gratifying thing I do.
- I love to tell stories and this is my way of getting them down on paper.
- I always end up being the evil one, and I wouldn't hurt a fly.
- I never dreamed I would do Westerns.
- I was an original member of the Actors' Studio.
- I always wanted to tell stories and act.
- The big secret in acting is listening to people.
- I've worked with wonderful actors like Marlon Brando and Henry Fonda.
- One thing changes every evening: It's the audience, and I'm working my magic. I'm always learning from it.
- The trouble with that movie is that you had to see Chinatown (1974) the day before you saw The Two Jakes (1990).
- What is it in my makeup that makes me grab any offer and fly around the world? Will I ever be satisfied? Can't I ever just rest?
- I met my wife and, for the next ten years, we did no films at all. She did the first movie and then I did several after. My first movie was written by Tennessee Williams and directed by [Elia] Kazan and was called Baby Doll (1956).
- This country has a complex about age. It's unbelievable. If you're over thirty, you've had it in this country.
- Well, I've maybe gotten 200 requests for interviews about Marilyn, and I just decided I'm gonna do my own.
- Yes, I won the BAFTA. I thought the British were very intelligent.
- Well, I was getting a lot of money then, and I wasn't getting any Hollywood films, so I just did those. I'd always do a play in between. Whenever I ran low on funds, I'd always rush off to do a movie somewhere.
- My wife says that stage acting is like being on a tightrope with no net, and being in the movies, there is a net - because you stop and go over it again. It's very technical and mechanical. On stage you're on your own.
- So I wanted to show what I did with the money. So I got red silk shirts, beautiful hats, wonderful saddles, a great horse, and two gold teeth. So that was the way I did it.
- I'd come out of the Army after five years as a medic. I was a medical administrator and we ran hospitals, and I was a Captain in the Army at the end, in 1945.
- I don't act to live. I live to act.
- John Huston was a superb master. He knew how to make good films. I did three things with him. One is called Independence (1976). It plays in Philadelphia, for free. It's been playing there for 25 years.
- [on directing in 1983] I simply don't have the temperament or the patience. I once tried to direct a play, and everyone emerged like me. A good director is like a nursemaid, a guide, a psychologist, a friend, one who leaves you room to stretch and grow. I don't have the patience for that, so I don't try. Dustin did it in a movie and directed a play of Murray's -- and did it very well. I find that I simply want to be an actor... not a businessman, not an entrepreneur, not a conglomerate... just an actor.
- [on acting with a Cinerama camera in How the West Was Won] But no orientation, he didn't even... I thought it was a regular movie. I arrived, I saw these, these- this monster with three magazines and three lenses... and then I was told. If you're gonna play a scene with someone, don't look directly at them, look off to the side. It'll look like you're looking at them." Which gave the actor a strange sensation.
- [on the Cinerama process in How the West Was Won] I must say, though, for telling a story as vast as the West, the process they used at Cinerama gave you a feeling of what the undiscovered country was like.
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