Quotes

I have no regrets, except perhaps one: I should have tried harder to be a better actor.

People say I'm a one-note actor, but the way I figure it, those other guys are just looking for that one right note.

[in 1978] I liked doing comedies, but as I got older I was better suited to do Westerns. Because I think it becomes unattractive for an older fellow trying to look young, falling in love with attractive girls in those kinds of situations . . . Anyway, I always felt so much more comfortable in the Western. The minute I got a horse and a hat and a pair of boots on, I felt easier. I didn't feel like I was an actor anymore. I felt like I was the guy out there doing it.

[about Ride the High Country (1962)] When it came out the studio didn't sell it. But the critics grabbed onto it. Neither Randy Randolph Scott nor or I had ever gotten such criticism. We were surprised, though we knew it wasn't a regular shoot-'em-up. I really enjoyed "Ride the High Country", Both Randy and I were washed-up actors playing washed-up lawmen.

After 87 pictures in 47 years, I knew when to quit.

Cowboys are not beyond swearing, but we used it if a horse stepped on a foot.

I don't believe in anti-heroes. John Wayne played a mean guy but never an anti-hero.

[on Cecil B. DeMille] A lot of actors thought he was hammy, but they were hammy actors so they shouldn't have worried about it. And Coop [Gary Cooper] wasn't hammy. He liked the old man and I did too.

Acting? I never attempted it. A placid sort of fellow, that's me. So when I face the cameras I just stay placid.