- Who wants to see me as Hamlet? Very few. But millions want to see me as Frankenstein so that's the one I do.
- If I played Hamlet, they'd call it a horror film.
- Teeth are a vitally important part of an actor's equipment. I have over 30 toothbrushes at home and always keep a good supply at the studio.
- I hate the word 'hate'.
- [on the wig he had to wear for Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974)] It made me look like Helen Hayes.
- "You have to have a sense of humour, darling, to be alive. Even a bit mad. It helps to be mad." - (1991)
- "People look at me as if I were some sort of monster, but I can't think why. In my macabre pictures, I have either been a monster-maker or a monster-destroyer, but never a monster. Actually, I'm a gentle fellow. Never harmed a fly. I love animals, and when I'm in the country I'm a keen bird-watcher." - ABC Film Review (Nov 1964)
- There is little chance for a person to exercise the imagination today in this complex, programmed society we have.
- Since Helen passed on I can't find anything; the heart, quite simply, has gone out of everything. Time is interminable, the loneliness is almost unbearable and the only thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that my dear Helen and I will be united again some day. To join Helen is my only ambition. You have my permission to publish that... really, you know dear boy, it's all just killing time. Please say that. - Radio Times 1972
- "You cannot make a film like this without integrity. To make the audiences believe in you, you must believe utterly in what you are doing." - (1972)
- My criterion for accepting a role isn't based on what I would like to do. I try to consider what the audience would like to see me do and I thought kids would adore Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977).
- "Strangely enough, I don't like horror pictures at all. I love to make them because they give pleasure to people, but my favourite types of films are much more subtle than horror. I like to watch films like The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), The Apartment (1960) or lovely musicals." - (1980s)
- As far back as I can remember, I had a passion for 'dressing up' and playing games of 'Let's Pretend', which are, of course, the basic principals of acting, and if you are lucky enough, you get paid for so doing, hard work though it may be.
- When Helen passed on six years ago I lost the only joy in life that I ever wanted. She was my whole life and without her there is no meaning. I am simply killing time, so to speak, until that wonderful day when we are together again.
- Television is rather a frightening business. But I get all the relaxation I want from my collection of model soldiers.
- There are all sorts of reasons why I don't do much work in the theater, the main one being that after two performances I feel I've given all I can. I hate repetition, I really do. It's like asking a painter to paint he same picture every day of his life.
- In the early days I played a lot of comedy in the theater and on television. But once an actor becomes well known in any kind of part, he tends to get stereotyped. After I played Frankenstein, I was only thought of in that light. Of course, some actors are better at drama and some are better at comedy. But they can certainly have a stab at both. An actor should be able to do it all.
- "It gives me the most wonderful feeling. These dear people love me so much and want to see me. The astonishing thing is that when I made the Frankenstein and Dracula movies almost 30 years ago the young audiences who see me now weren't even born yet. A new generation has grown up with my films. And the original audiences are still able to see me in new pictures. So, as long as these films are made I will have a life in this business -- for which I'm eternally grateful." (from a 1985 "Starlog" interview)
- An actor's job is to entertain and I'm glad to say that my films succeeded in that respect.
- [on Vincent Price] A dear, charming man with a great sense of humor. Strictly a professional, who cares far more about his work than he allows the public to know. I am extremely fond of him and bask in his gentle kindness and warmth.
- Every part is approached in the same manner - gleaning all I can from what the author has written. When called for, I add reaction to any given circumstance such as I've witnessed and observed in others through life, applying the emotion in terms of the character as opposed to the way I might react personally.
- [advice to Simon Ward, who was delivering his lines at an urgent pace] Now you know, dear boy, that at the end of every line leave a very tiny gap so they can get the scissors in.
- [on The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)] No-one had any idea it would be successful. It took the world by storm. The whole thing only cost 65,000 pounds. You wouldn't be able to get a lead actor for that today.
- If I feel I can't put out 100 percent, it's not really fair to anyone who's come to watch for me to go on creaking around. You need such energy. I love it, mind you. But you've got to be like athlete Zola Budd to work, which I'm not.
- We had Dracula among the kung fu in Hong Kong. It was called The Something of the Seven Golden Dragons, Dracula and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974). But I still had to drive a stake through Dracula's heart ... Once you've done Frankenstein, who creates the impossible, and Dracula, a man who drinks blood ... you've got to keep it on. It's awfully difficult to bring the changes up to date. They tried to keep it up to date with Steven Spielberg's Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), but it missed the atmosphere of the period.
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