Elia Kazan Actors Quotations

You have no idea how fragile an actor's self-worth is.

I was not what you'd call a first-class actor, but I did all right.

I was very intense. I think it's a privilege to be an actor.

There is only one thing I respect in so-called Broadway actors... and that is their competitive sense.

The first thing you should do with an actor is not sign a contract with him. Take him to dinner. And take him for a walk afterwards.

Very often the Group actor is a critic when he's acting and an actor when he's criticizing.

I will say nothing to an actor that cannot be translated into action.

When you know what an actor has, you can reach in and arouse it. If you don't know what he has, you don't know what the hell is going on.

It's difficult, if not impossible, to get away with anything false before the camera. That instrument penetrates the husk of the actor; it reveals what's truly happening - if anything, if nothing. A close-up demands absolute truth. It's a severe and awesome truth

I was able to capture on film things the actors didn't even know they were doing.

Take it from a director: if you get an actor that Sandy Meisner has trained, you've been blessed.