Quotes

The subtitle [of his memoir "The Good, the Bad and Me"] is "In My Anecdotage". Bill Clinton asked me if he could use it, and I said, "You sold two million copies of your book. How dare you try to steal my subtitle!".

I was at the premiere of The Holiday (2006), a movie I did with Kate Winslet. Surrounded by all these beautiful young women. And after they left, [wife Anne Jackson] comes up and says to me, "Honestly, I don't know what they see in you.".

Well, I go to the theater today, and its curtain - there is no curtain in this play; the lights go down and go up - and we start. And I live this character for two hours. There are only two of us in the play. And It's a complete experience.

I never lost my appetite for acting.

Having the critics praise you is like having the hangman say you've got a pretty neck.

I've learned that life is very tricky business: Each person needs to find what they want to do in life and not be dissuaded when people question them.

But Clint [Eastwood] I love, because Clint was my mentor. I knew nothing about making an Italian movie.

When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk.

When I saw the movie, I said, "I wish I had heard the music. I would have ridden the horse differently.".

I've never lost my appetite for acting; it's innovative and challenging.

And that movie was underrated - Nuts (1987) - because it deals with a terrible subject, but It's very well done.

And I did Batman (1966), too. I did Mr. Freeze. I get more mail for him than anything I've ever done.

Even if I don't want to slow down, I'm slowing down.

But I went to the University of Texas in the 30s, and while there I learned to ride. Mostly polo ponies.

And then the first was The Misfits (1961), which I enjoyed very much, with Marilyn and Gable.

Everyone thinks acting is easy. It's far from easy, but it's the most gratifying thing I do.

I love to tell stories and this is my way of getting them down on paper.

I always end up being the evil one, and I wouldn't hurt a fly.

I never dreamed I would do Westerns.

I was an original member of the Actors' Studio.

I always wanted to tell stories and act.

The big secret in acting is listening to people.

I've worked with wonderful actors like Marlon Brando and Henry Fonda.

One thing changes every evening: It's the audience, and I'm working my magic. I'm always learning from it.

The trouble with that movie is that you had to see Chinatown (1974) the day before you saw The Two Jakes (1990).

What is it in my makeup that makes me grab any offer and fly around the world? Will I ever be satisfied? Can't I ever just rest?

I met my wife and, for the next ten years, we did no films at all. She did the first movie and then I did several after. My first movie was written by Tennessee Williams and directed by [Elia] Kazan and was called Baby Doll (1956).

This country has a complex about age. It's unbelievable. If you're over thirty, you've had it in this country.

Well, I've maybe gotten 200 requests for interviews about Marilyn, and I just decided I'm gonna do my own.

Yes, I won the BAFTA. I thought the British were very intelligent.

Well, I was getting a lot of money then, and I wasn't getting any Hollywood films, so I just did those. I'd always do a play in between. Whenever I ran low on funds, I'd always rush off to do a movie somewhere.

My wife says that stage acting is like being on a tightrope with no net, and being in the movies, there is a net - because you stop and go over it again. It's very technical and mechanical. On stage you're on your own.

So I wanted to show what I did with the money. So I got red silk shirts, beautiful hats, wonderful saddles, a great horse, and two gold teeth. So that was the way I did it.

I'd come out of the Army after five years as a medic. I was a medical administrator and we ran hospitals, and I was a Captain in the Army at the end, in 1945.

I don't act to live. I live to act.

John Huston was a superb master. He knew how to make good films. I did three things with him. One is called Independence (1976). It plays in Philadelphia, for free. It's been playing there for 25 years.

[on directing in 1983] I simply don't have the temperament or the patience. I once tried to direct a play, and everyone emerged like me. A good director is like a nursemaid, a guide, a psychologist, a friend, one who leaves you room to stretch and grow. I don't have the patience for that, so I don't try. Dustin did it in a movie and directed a play of Murray's -- and did it very well. I find that I simply want to be an actor... not a businessman, not an entrepreneur, not a conglomerate... just an actor.

When my kids were little, they'd always plead with me to appear on 'Captain Kangaroo' or 'Batman' or 'Rawhide,' 'Howdy Doody,'.... Otto Preminger (who created Mr. Freeze) was unavailable for one sequence, so I stepped into the character, with his German accent intact. I was a little Batman and Robin since I was heavy, but it was fun for me. For years afterward, I was respected and honored by my kids. Later I did Trader Eli on 'Captain Kangaroo,' but received only half the kudos that I got for Mr. Freeze!

[on acting with a Cinerama camera in How the West Was Won] But no orientation, he didn't even... I thought it was a regular movie. I arrived, I saw these, these- this monster with three magazines and three lenses... and then I was told. If you're gonna play a scene with someone, don't look directly at them, look off to the side. It'll look like you're looking at them." Which gave the actor a strange sensation.

[on the Cinerama process in How the West Was Won] I must say, though, for telling a story as vast as the West, the process they used at Cinerama gave you a feeling of what the undiscovered country was like.