Quotes

Love the public the way you love your mother.

An artist carries on throughout his life a mysterious, uninterrupted conversation with his public.

[on why he preferred personal appearances to films] The cinema is rather like a beautiful woman whom you would court only by telephone.

Old age isn't so bad when you consider the alternative.

[on Jeanette MacDonald] I later heard her referred to as the "Iron Butterfly", although I was surprised to hear that she found that amusing. I never thought she had much of a sense of humor. When we worked together she always objected to anyone telling a risqué story.

Many a man has fallen love with a girl in a light so dim he would not have chosen a suit by it.

[on Clara Bow] Clara Bow, with her tousled mane of red hair and intense black eyes, who generated sex appeal and excitement with breathtaking ease.

[on Grace Kelly] Grace Kelly was a Dresden doll, I thought, with a kind of platinum beneath the delicate porcelain, a beautiful girl who I felt was always in control of her world.

[In response to a contract offer from Irving Thalberg if he would consent to a screen test] Either people are interested in hiring me or they're not. I don't audition any more.

I am too old for women, too old for that extra glass of wine, too old for sports. All I have left is the audience, but I have found it quite enough.