20th-century Actor Quotes

I am fond of reminding my yoga students of the saying "It takes one to know one" when they become lost I condemnation and judgment of others. The world that we perceive is a reflection of our own states of mind and reveals our own level of consciousness. The world is little more than a Rorschach blot in which we see our own desire systems projected. We see what we want to see. (116)

Of all the characters I've played, I think I have more in common with that guy than with Reilly: Ace of Spies, referring to Carl Fitzgerald in Death in Brunswick.

Mike: I'm Mike Chapman from homestarrunner. com! People are all the time asking me "Mike, how do you do those stupid voices for your dumb animal characters?" and I say "I'm Mike! Matt does the voices!" Let's go!

The Brothers Chaps

No movement can afford to be caught in a time warp and exist in a state of suspended animation.

I'm rather relaxed about death. From quite an early age I've regarded it as part of the deal, the unwritten guarantee that comes with your birth certificate.

I'm gonna do four or five of these movies, and it's going to become my career. I'll have to keep expanding the bat suit, because I get fatter every year. I'll be bankrupt. I'll be out opening shopping malls, going from appearance to appearance in a cheesy van.

There's a kind of silliness in the theater about what one contributes to a show. The producer obviously contributes the money... but must the actor contribute nothing at all? I'm not a modest fellow about those things. I contribute a great deal. And they always manage to hang you for having an interpretation. Isn't [the theater] where your imagination should flower? Why must it always be dull as shit?

An Actor is an interpreter of other men's words, often a soul which wishes to reveal itself to the world but dare not, a craftsman, a bag of tricks, a vanity bag, a cool observer of mankind, a child and at his best a kind of unfrocked priest who, for an hour or two, can call on heaven and hell to mesmerize a group of innocents...

Because I am an Englishman I spent most of my life in a state of embarrassment.

Just how many did we kill? I honestly have the feeling of groping for words to explain this or I might say 'my God, what have we done?'

On the bombing of Hiroshima

Robert Lewis (director)

You've got to perform in a role hundreds of times. In keeping it fresh one can become a large, madly humming, demented refrigerator.

Ralph Richardson

I don't know what it is, truthfully, I think part of it is being still and all that. I don't know. I like to kind of come in at the side door. I like to act like a submarine; just don't do much and just let it evolve. It's resisting the urge to push the envelope. It's very difficult for an actor to avoid, you want to show a bit. But I think the less one shows the better

Anthony Hopkins

In television or a movie I bring my own ego and consequently can mess up. In the theatre I learnt very quickly to shut up and listen. Now I am able to get out of my own way.

This is the first award I received...In fact, I consider this priceless. [...] The spontaneous gesture in recognition of my art naturally is the most precious to me.

Mani Madhava Chakyar

I have lived my whole life on the stage and screen before you. I found purpose and meaning in your response. For an actor that is no greater loss than the loss of his audience. I can part the Red Sea, but I can't part with you, which is why I won't exclude you from this stage in my life.
For now, I'm not changing anything. I will insist on work when I can; the doctors will insist on rest when I must. If you see a little less spring in my step, if your name fails to leap to my lips, you will know why. And if I tell you a funny story for the second time, please laugh anyway.

Charlton Heston

Somehow it is the male's duty to put the best years of his life into work he doesn't like in order that he may "retire" and enjoy himself as soon as he is too old to do so. This is more than just the system - it is the credo. It is the same thing that prompted Thoreau to say, in 1839: 'The majority of men lead lives of quiet desperation.'

Sterling Hayden

If a rumor comes out that I'm gay, I could care less. There are so many worse things that they could be saying.

James Van Der Beek

I've always believed film is most close to music of all the other arts.

Fred C. Dobbs don't say nothin' he don't mean.

Humphrey Bogart

I made a terrible social gaffe. I went to a Ken and Barbie party dressed as Klaus Barbie.

Error is not just acceptable, it is necessary for the continuation of life, provided it is not too great. A large error is a catastrophe, a small error is essential for enhancing existence. Without error, there is no movement. Death follows.

What the hell kind of conclusion can you come to there? The most important thing, from the patient's perspective, they don't talk about.

Many a man owes his success to his first wife and his second wife to his success.

It's nice to have a nun around. Gives the place a bit of glamour.

Arthur Mathews (writer)

I was so pleased to be offered Doctor Who. To me kids are the greatest audience - and the greatest critics - in the world.

William Hartnell