Quotes from Van Heflin

The stage is where I started, and there is a tremendous satisfaction in doing a good play.

Take these actors who adhere to a rigid schedule. They will say they are going to do two pictures a year or three or one. Now any actor who does that is in business, not in art.

I started out in Hollywood and I owe a certain amount of loyalty to both the American movie industry and this country.

I don't want to be painted any one color and that can happen to you in Hollywood if you make a hit in a particular role.

You have to be careful of the pictures you make. You should ask, Will it have universal appeal, will it have an appeal at home?

As an actor, you're not working every day and sometimes not for long periods of time.

I often come across a script I would like to do, but when it comes down to brass tacks I find the producer won't allow enough practice time.

I believe all conscientious actors feel the same way - that there is too much hurry-scurry in TV to permit a sufficient amount of rehearsal time.

Too many women without sufficient interest in the home to occupy their time drift into the habit of three-hour lunches with their friends, followed by fashion shows, matinees and shopping sprees.

In Hollywood I ask Peter Lawford to help me shop.

I'm a character actor, always have been.

You knew when a woman loves you like that, she can love you with every card in the deck and then pull a knife across your throat the next morning.

A director in films is closer allied to the writer than anyone else.

Every film is a comeback, no matter what I did the last time.

I'm absolutely an amoeba. It's my survival value.

Sometimes when an actor returns to work after three or four years in service, he is assigned inferior roles because the studio claims popularity has to be built again.

I don't want to fall into any single category. I don't want to be known for portraying drunks or heavies or saints.

Being under contract gives you financial and emotional security. But you lose the sense of accomplishment that goes hand in hand with being a free agent.

On matinee days I could never be sure I'd make the curtain for the matinee. I'd put on my makeup in the morning, rush to the studio and do the radio shows,then try to get across town before the curtain went up.

I'm happy for all the small things a man never gets around to putting his finger on - the things we take for granted.

An actor doesn't have a regular job. He is dependent upon the roles which are given him.

Believe me, you're shooting dice every time you do a part.

If I pull in a fish I have no intention of eating, I release him immediately or give it away. If he's swallowed the hook and you know the fish is going to die, rather than leave him to the sharks you should bring him in for the vitamin content. Aquariums welcome fish for feeding the dolphins and whales.

I think it's all right for an actor to appear on television as a guest maybe three or four times a year. Perhaps to preview a future movie or a play.