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Make them laugh, make them cry, and hack to laughter. What do people go to the theatre for? An emotional exercise. I am a servant of the people. I have never forgotten that. Mary Pickford
Nay, faith, let me not play a woman; I have a beard coming. William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream I ii 50
I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove; I will roar you as ’twere any nightingale. ibid. I ii 85
A stage where every man must play a part,
And mine a sad one. William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice I i, Antonio
Duke Senior: Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy.
This wide and universal theatre.
Presents more woeful pageants than the scene
Wherein we play in.
Jaques: All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. William Shakespeare, As You Like It II vii @135
The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical, pastoral, scene individable, or poem unlimited. ibid. II ii 424
Good, my lord, will you see the players well bestowed? Do you hear, let them be well used; for they are the abstract and brief chronicles of the time: after your death you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live. ibid. II ii 545
He would drown the stage with tears,
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty, and appal the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze, indeed,
The very faculties of eyes and ears. ibid. II ii 596
Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. ibid. III ii 1
Suit the action to the word, the word to the action, with this special observance, that you o’erstep not the modesty of nature. ibid. III ii 19
O, there be players that I have seen play, and heard others praise, and that highly, not to speak it profanely, that, neither having the accent of Christians nor the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted and bellowed that I have thought some of nature’s journeymen had made men and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably. ibid. III ii 32
Like a dull actor now,
I have forgot my part, and I am out,
Even to a full disgrace. William Shakespeare, Coriolanus V iii 40
As an umperfect actor on the stage,
Who with his fear is put beside his part,
Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,
Whose strength’s abundance weakens his own heart;
So I, for fear of trust, forget to say
The perfect ceremony of love’s rite. William Shakespeare, Sonnet 23
I can’t get in a mild discussion without turning it into an argument. There must be something in my tone of voice, or this arrogant face – something that antagonizes everybody. Nobody likes me on sight. I suppose that’s why I’m cast as the heavy. Humphrey Bogart
Dietrich has sex but no positive gender. Her masculinity appeals to women and her sexuality to men. Kenneth Tynan
Garbo still belongs to that moment in cinema when capturing the human face plunged audiences into the deepest ecstasy. Roland Barthes
There is no Garbo, there is no Dietrich. There is only Louise Brooks. Henri Langlois
The fourth Warner Brother. Bob Hope, re Bette Davis
No actor could’ve done that. Not even Reagan. Playhouse Presents: Nixon’s the One, Sky Arts 2012
Please don’t make me a joke. End the interview with what I believe. I don’t mind making jokes, but I don’t want to look like one ... I want to be an artist, an actress with integrity. Marilyn Monroe
Unfortunately, I am involved in a freedom ride protesting the loss of the minority rights belonging to the few remaining earthbound stars. All we demanded was our right to twinkle. Marilyn Monroe
An actress is not a machine, but they treat you like a machine. A money machine. Marilyn Monroe
That’s the trouble, a sex symbol becomes a thing. But if I’m going to be a symbol of something, I’d rather it be sex than some of the things we’ve got symbols of ... I just hate to be a thing. Marilyn Monroe
First, I’m trying to prove to myself that I’m a person. Then maybe I’ll convince myself that I’m an actress. Marilyn Monroe, Ms Magazine 1972
I’m not a film star, I am an actress. Being a film star is such a false life, lived for fake values and for publicity. Vivien Leigh
Movies are a fad. Audiences really want to see live actors on a stage. Charles Chaplin
Actors search for rejection. If they don’t get it they reject themselves. Charlie Chaplin
Acting is a question of absorbing other people’s personalities and adding some of your own experience. Jean-Paul Sartre
Players, sir! I look upon them as no better than creatures set upon tables and joint-stools to make faces and produce laughter, like dancing dogs. Samuel Johnson
Life’s like a play; it’s not the length but the excellence of the acting that matters. Seneca
Hi diddle dee dee
An actor’s life for me. Ned Washington, 1940 song
Acting is half shame, half glory. Shame at exhibiting yourself, glory when you can forget yourself. John Gielgud
Acting is a nice childish profession – pretending you’re someone else and at the same time selling yourself. Katherine Hepburn
I think it was probably a very necessary thing at the time because the radical liberals were going to take over our business. John Wayne, interview The Parkinson Show
I know very little about acting. I’m just an incredibly gifted faker. Robert Downey junior
Acting is the expression of a neurotic impulse. It’s a bum’s life. Quitting acting, that’s the sign of maturity. Marlon Brando
The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the object it loves. Carl Gustav Jung
With any part you play, there is a certain amount of yourself in it. There has to be, otherwise it’s just not acting. It’s lying. Johnny Depp