ACTORS QUOTES

quotations about actors

Of course, if you have thought up to now that an actor relies merely on inspiration you will have to change your mind. Talent without work is nothing more than raw unfinished material.

KONSTANTIN STANISLAVSKY

An Actor Prepares


In Hollywood the man who cleans your pool is an actor. The man who sells you your copy of Variety is an actor. I don't think there's a real person left in the place.

NEIL GAIMAN

Signal to Noise

Tags: Neil Gaiman, Hollywood


There are two kinds of actors -- one sits in a dressing room waiting for his call and the other gets out into the business and polishes his craft by absorbing everything. I don't know enough, I'll never learn everything I need to learn. When a guy thinks he's already learned it, he can only go backwards.

CLINT EASTWOOD

Clint Eastwood: Interviews

Tags: Clint Eastwood


Show me a great actor and I'll show you a lousy husband; show me a great actress, and you've seen the devil.

W. C. FIELDS

Playbill, 1965

Tags: W. C. Fields, women


An actor is a man with an infinite capacity for taking praise.

EVAN ESAR

20,000 Quips & Quotes

Tags: Evan Esar, praise


For an actress to be a success she must have the face of Venus, the brains of Minerva, the grace of Terpsichore, the memory of Macaulay, the figure of Juno, and the hide of a rhinoceros.

ETHEL BARRYMORE

attributed, The Theatre in the Fifties

Tags: Ethel Barrymore


If I wasn't an actor, I'd be a secret agent.

ELIJAH WOOD

attributed, Quotes about Acting and Actors


An actor should refine public taste.

ARISTOPHANES

attributed, Day's Collacon

Tags: Aristophanes


A ham is simply any actor who has not been successful in repressing his natural instincts.

GEORGE JEAN NATHAN

The American Mercury, 1942


The author writes a play, then is through with it, aside from collecting royalties. Four weeks of rehearsing and the director's work is done. Theirs are creative jobs. But how would the author feel if he had to write the same play over each night for a year? Or the director to restage it before each performance? They'd be as balmy as Nijinsky in a week. Even the ushers traffic with different people every night. But the actress? She's a caged parrot.

TALLULAH BANKHEAD

Tallulah: My Autobiography

Tags: Tallulah Bankhead


Actors are one family over the entire world.

ALFRE WOODARD

attributed, Quotes about Acting and Actors


Remember: there are no small parts, only small actors.

KONSTANTIN STANISLAVSKY

Selected Works


I believe that God felt sorry for actors so he created Hollywood to give them a place in the sun and a swimming pool. The price they had to pay was to surrender their talent.

SIR CEDRIC HARDWICKE

A Victorian in Orbit

Tags: Cedric Hardwicke


He who is incapable of feeling strong passions, of being shaken by anger, of living in every sense of the word, will never be a good actor.

SARAH BERNHARDT

The Art of the Theatre

Tags: Sarah Bernhardt


Many an actor does the stage more ham than good.

EVAN ESAR

20,000 Quips & Quotes

Tags: Evan Esar


There are always going to be more actors than anybody can ever use.

EDWARD ALBEE

WNBC TV interview, Jan. 9, 1966

Tags: Edward Albee


In the performer's body, you don't care how you look. It doesn't matter if you're old, fat, beautiful, or ugly. It doesn't change anything. The only thing is your charisma and how you express your idea.

MARINA ABRAMOVIC

"Once Upon a Time", Harper's Bazaar, Feb. 7, 2012

Tags: Marina Abramovic


I call for actors burning at the stakes, laughing at the flames.

ANTONIN ARTAUD

The Theater and Its Double

Tags: Antonin Artaud


We're actors -- we're the opposite of people.

TOM STOPPARD

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Tags: Tom Stoppard


The actor is an athlete of the heart.

ANTONIN ARTAUD

The Theatre and Its Double

Tags: Antonin Artaud