Quotes

The camera never moves arbitrarily in any of my films. It follows somebody across the room or some kind of action; therefore you are not particularly conscious of the camera moving. Unnecessary camera movement destroys the concentration of the audience.

[on Carole Lombard] She was really a sweet, even tempered girl. Strong but sweet - not even her colorful syntax made her less sweet. She had tolerance, and her patience was just incredible and rare. She didn't fly into rage very often, but she'd let it all come out and then feel cleansed. She was so very fair, and fairness was really all she asked of others. When she became really angry, it was always over someone's dishonesty. She just didn't like to be crossed.

If an actress is satisfied with the way she looks on the screen, she'll devote all other attention to her acting.

[on directing 'social conscience' films] If I want to send a message, I'll call Western Union.

The son of a very dear friend of mine had committed suicide, and she was terribly broken up over it. I took a flying chance one day. I took her to the projection room and left her there alone and had Death Takes a Holiday (1934) run for her. She came out a completely different person. She said, "You've explained death, you've made it beautiful to me. I no longer feel the way I did." This was worth a great deal to me, and made the effort of doing it worthwhile if you could affect that many people and explain something they have been horrified of. As Death himself says, "Why do men fear me?".

To me, an actor is hopeless if he hasn't got a sense of timing. There's just no way you can give it to him if he doesn't already have it; I've even tried to have them count "one, two, three" and say the line, but it never worked. [Carole] Lombard was superb; she could time it to a breath. Jean Arthur had a fantastic sense of timing, so did [Claudette] Colbert. [Fred] MacMurray developed a wonderful sense of timing and [Ray] Milland did too, once he did comedy.

Alan Ladd was a very quiet, serious man, a very conscientious actor. Every time his wife came on to the set [of Captain Carey, U.S.A. (1949)], he'd get nervous and they'd get into a fight. Finally he barred her from visiting the set, which suited me fine.