Quotes

On the morning Jim [James H. Nicholson, his partner at American International Pictures] would come in and say, "What do you think of this title: The Beast with a Million Eyes (1955)?" Ahhh, I could hear the money rolling in.

Exhibitors would come up to me and say "Sam, if we could just punch sprocket holes in the campaign and throw the film away...."

Thou shalt not put too much money into one picture. And the money you do spend, put it on the screen; don't waste it on the egos of actors or on nonsense that might appeal to serve highbrow critics.

[on working with Basil Rathbone] I still felt that he was playing other kinds of roles a bit. My guess is that he was doing horror more for the money than because he really loved it. I always had the feeling about Basil that he would just as soon have been in a different kind of picture.

[on working with older, established stars in his horror pictures] Vincent [Vincent Price] started out during serious stuff [ . . . ] [Bela Lugosi] had been a serious dramatic actor in Europe, and Basil Rathbone had been a stage actor. Rathbone had no humor; he was in a couple of our pictures. Vincent had a lot of humor, and so did Peter Lorre--he was really my favorite.

[on why he left AIP after it merged with Filmways] Because I couldn't get along with one of the asses who was heading Filmways.