Eli Wallach Quotes

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

There`s a scene in Baby Doll where we`re sitting around the dining table that was played in toto. It was wonderful because it had an alive quality.

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 Kazan and was called Baby Doll.

All of these stories bounced around in my mind for a long time.

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.

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.

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

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

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 always wanted to tell stories and act.

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

The big secret in acting is listening to people.

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

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.

From the age of four or five. I went to see a lot of Westerns then. But it was silent movies and I loved everything that happened then.

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, which I enjoyed very much, with Marilyn and Gable.

Even if I don`t want to slow down, I`m slowing down.

I was an original member of the Actors` Studio.

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

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.

And I did Batman, too. I did Mr. Freeze. I get more mail for him than anything I`ve ever done.

I always end up being the evil one, and I wouldn`t hurt a fly.

I never lost my appetite for acting.

In the book, I tell the story of seeing old movies when I was young and acting out scenes at home. Now I get scripts, and I act them out.

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

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

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

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

My first Western was called The Magnificent Seven.

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

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.

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

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

When you have to shoot, shoot, don`t talk.

I never dreamed I would do Westerns.