Powell Quotes

"Bill Powell is the only intelligent actor I`ve ever met."

(On her work with William Powell) "I never enjoyed my work more than when I worked with William Powell. He was a brilliant actor, a delightful companion, a great friend and above all, a true gentleman."

(on William Powell) The later ones (the Thin Man pictures) were very bad indeed, but it was always a joy to work with Bill Powell. He was and is a dear friend, and in the early Thin Man films with Woody Van Dyke, we managed to achieve what for those days was an almost pioneering sense of spontaneity.

The two times I performed at the White House, for the Kennedy Center Honors, I was made fun of. The first time, in 2001, I wore a nice Gucci suit and tie, which cost more than my rent. And when I met President Bush, he said, `Thanks for dressing up.` Everybody else was in a traditional tux. It was really funny. I totally got mocked by the President. Then the next year, I had on a black suit with a tuxedo shirt and a great light-blue straight tie. It was just a little different. But Colin Powell said, `Hey, next time wear a bow tie.`

This thing that Colin Powell`s son is expected to do is kind of scary when you think that television and radio and newspapers are what make people think what they think.

There were many good actresses in my time like Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds, but I was the only dancer.

The person that probably stopped me in my tracks as a child - because I used to love to go to the cinema - was David Lean with Great Expectations (1946). I thought everything was somehow better than most of the other movies in terms of the way it looked - the way it was dramatised and the way it was photographed. In fact he was detailed from corner to corner and that is what I picked up with John Ford and then Kurosawa (Akira Kurosawa) - then Carol Reed, Michael Powell - those were all the fundamental characters at that time - and Orson Welles of course. There are Frenchmen too of course who will be remembered as well but I wasn`t open to the French cinema at that point - so it was American and English film directors - so those were the influences.

On his character Paramedic Greg Powell from ER: I got a lot of recognition from that role. I mean, like, I`d be in a Burger King getting a burger and the girl at the window goes, `Hey, you`re the guy who kissed Julianna Margulies on ER`.

I`m basically a writer. I never wanted to be a producer. Dick Powell made me a producer, because I was writing his host spots on Zane Grey Theater.

(from a 1988 interview) I`ve never looked at acting as "Ahhh!" and "Gee!" I started in vaudeville when I was five and for me it was just walking on a stage and I`m gonna perform. Later on I was impressed by many things, like when I worked with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in Tough Guys (1986). That was an "Ahhh!" for me. When I look back, even today, I guess I can go "Ahhh!" because I worked with Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell in Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) when I was nine. Then they were just grown-ups on the stage. As I look back, I`m more awed now than I was when I was actually doing it.

Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin`s still learning.

(on tap dancer Eleanor Powell) Eleanor was an out-and-out dancer. She danced like a man. She slammed the floor and did it great and that`s fine and suddenly she`s on her toes in the ballet sequence -- it did look kinda funny.

Even Colin Powell who was everywhere before he became secretary of state, just stopped going out. I think part of it was he didn`t want to be viewed suspiciously by the other people in the White House who rarely go anywhere.

(Keith Powell and Chris Eger, Pascagoula animal control officers, waded toward their father-in-law`s home, dragging a canoe with two shotguns (for killing snakes and possibly alligators) and a cold, wet dog.) He was perched in a tree, halfway in the water, ... He was struggling to hold on when we found him.

I have great respect for President Bush, Secretary Powell and Secretary Ridge.

President Bush has had an outstanding Secretary of State in Colin Powell and there are not many people who could replace him, making Condoleezza Rice an excellent choice.