Quotes About Acting

You still get these waves of doubt that come over you, for example, when you get a bad review or you accept a part and think, 'Oh, God, what have I just accepted? I can't do that.' I don't think that's something that will ever go away in me.

It's extraordinary to hear waves of laughter after you've been playing something, night after night, to nothing. That's why I'm still hooked on acting: the terror of the possibility of things going wrong, the thrill when they go right, and the joy of the company.

I have a nervous breakdown in the film and in one scene I get to stand at the top of the stairs waving an empty sherry bottle which is, of course, a typical scene from my daily life, so isn't much of a stretch.

As far as inspiration is concerned, I only have one person - Madhubala. She was beautiful like a wax doll. And I just love her eye movement and those pure emotions which strike your heart.

My favorite movie is 'House of Wax.'

For a man it's not easy to play a woman onscreen. You have to wax your body. You dress up a lot to be able to do justice to the portrayal.

In all, I was in 16 movies, including 'The Bishop's Wife' with Cary Grant, Loretta Young and David Niven; I was in 'Rio Grande' with John Wayne, 'Albuquerque' with Randall Scott, 'Blue Skies' with Bing Crosby and 'Hans Christian Anderson' with Danny Kaye.

I remember playing John Wayne Gacy, serial killer, very sick, neurotic, screwed-up guy. You know what? There's a part of me there, too, and you explore that.

My most useful acting tip came from my pal John Wayne. Talk low, talk slow, and don't say too much.

When did Jimmy Stewart not play Jimmy Stewart? When did John Wayne not play John Wayne? But that's what we like about them. When you talk about acting, you really have to respond to somebody's personality.

I can do a good John Wayne.

I guess John Wayne would be one. I just respected the way he acted.

Although it wasn't that easy to do, it was wonderful working with John Wayne.

My roles in comedies from 'Austin Powers' to 'Tommy Boy' to 'Wayne's World,' were sort of comedic 'straight man' parts. My character on 'Parks & Recreation' is the comic relief in a comedy. To play a character that appears strictly for laughs is sort of new for me and really fun.

I've never been typed. John Wayne played 'that guy' all the time - mostly because that's all he could do. Gable played Gable parts, and Bob Taylor played Bob Taylor parts, whether he was in armor or a full-dress suit. I resisted that.

Wayne was coming out of a session as Mickey for 'Totally Minnie.' We met in the hallway. We just blended really well.

It's fun to get away from myself for a while when I take on these roles that have very different personalities from my own. I get to say things I normally wouldn't say or act in ways I normally wouldn't act. After all, such roles are more challenging because you really have to immerse yourself in the character.

We play many emotions in our careers, emotions that in real life we would perform just once. For example, my character has died in about 10 films, so you have to keep searching for different ways to do it!

There's so many ways to play a bad guy, and usually people choose the obvious one.

Acting has influenced my approach to beauty in both practical and fun ways as well as influencing my style. I do like to be more adventurous - for some reason, I feel safer in that.

I learn my lines in a few different ways. A lot of my dialogue sticks with me in a general sort of way when I read the entire script for the first or second time. Then, when I get the shooting schedule, I have a better idea of what scenes are shooting when. I then will focus on those that are coming up first.

My movies are unadorned, they're not particularly fancy, I think they're kind of workmanlike in some ways, focusing on the writing and the acting.

Character actors are becoming a thing of the past. They're just going by the wayside. They're just cutting through that caliber of acting.

Whenever I don't have anything to do, I play Candy Crush or Scrabble. We actors have time between shots, which we need to kill. And we cannot call friends or family, as you are called at a moment's notice. So you need to do something which you can dispose of immediately when called for a shot.