Quotes

Every night I say "Heil Hitler", because, without the son of a bitch [Adolf Hitler], I wouldn't be in Three Rivers, California, I'd still be in Berlin.

[about The Wolf Man (1941), one of Universal Pictures' biggest hits of 1941, which he wrote] After "The Wolf Man" made its first million, [producer-director] George Waggner got a diamond ring for his wife and [executive producer] Jack Gross got a $10,000 bonus. I wanted $25 more a week and [Universal] wouldn't give it to me.

[about Peter Lorre, with whom he worked on The Beast with Five Fingers (1946)] He was really a sadistic son of a bitch--liked to look at operations. He really was the type, a very weird character.

My pictures run on television and I don't get a penny out of it. But the guys are all dead, and I'm still alive, so who's winning?

[on Curucu, Beast of the Amazon (1956)] I had no money at the time, so I wrote "Curucu" . . . It was done in Brazil . . . I shot it down there, in the jungles. I never recovered, physically.

[on Donovan's Brain (1953), the second film version of his novel, and its producer, Tom Gries] Tom Gries . . . didn't like me. He had these advertisements made for the film saying, "Based on the famous book". Period. [He] wouldn't let me direct it because of a personal dislike. He was the meanest son of a bitch I had ever seen.

[on The Lady and the Monster (1944), the first film made from his novel, "Donovan's Brain"] It was a piece of shit.

[on Boris Karloff who demanded - and obtained - Bela Lugosi's role in Black Friday (1940) ] Karloff didn't want to play the dual role in Black Friday. He was afraid of it. There was too much acting in it. It was too intricate.