Rex Harrison Quotes

(When asked if he received any special privileges upon becoming a knight): Alas, no. In the old days I believe you at least got a couple of horses out of the deal.

There is always a struggle, a striving for something bigger than yourself in all forms of art. And even if you don`t achieve greatness, even if you fail, which we all must, everything you do in your work is somehow connected with your attitude toward life, your deepest secret feelings.

Exhilaration is that feeling you get just after a great idea hits you, and just before you realize what`s wrong with it.

When I was ten we moved and I decided that none of the names I was then called - Reggie, Bobby, Baa - suited me. Somehow I hit on Rex. I must have heard someone calling for their dog and thought it sounded rather nice.

Whatever it is that makes a person charming, it needs to remain a mystery once the charmer is aware of a mannerism or characteristic that others find charming, it ceases to be a mannerism and becomes an affectation. And good Lord, there is nothing less charming than affectations!

(quote by Rachel Roberts, Harrison`s fourth wife): Rex cannot be pleased. Servants have got slapped with his tongue or hand. Eventually his servants and wives leave him. Rex is one of those who thinks living well is the best revenge. It may be, but the revenge is taken out on his nearest and dearest.

(Rex`s son, Noel Harrison, recalling sitting watching a storm with his father and Rex exclaiming this when a bolt of lightning obliterated a tree in their yard): Well hit, God!

It takes a long time to learn to treat the camera as a friend and confidant, which finally you have to do if you`re to become a good film actor.

(1980): I`m now at the age where I`ve got to prove that I`m just as good as I never was.

Wives are like gilt-edged stocks. The more you have, the greater your dividends.

(After viewing The Sound of Music (1965)): That was the only time I`ve ever rooted for the Nazis.

Heston is an enormously tall man - if I`m six foot one, he must be about six foot three - and I asked my wardrobe man, as I was wearing long robes, to put a little lift in my shoes, so that I could gain a couple of inches, and meet Heston at his own level. The lifts were duly put in, and I eyed Heston and congratulated myself that at least he no longer towered above me. As the film went on, however, it seemed to me that he was growing. Eyeball to eyeball he was once more a couple of inches taller than I. I looked down at his feet - not a sign of lifts! He must have grown through sheer tenacity. Nether of us made any comment, nor did our wardrobe men - it was a very funny, silent contest. - On making The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965) with Charlton Heston