Eli Wallach Quotations

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

Having the critics praise you is like having the hangman say you've got a pretty neck.

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?

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

When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

I always end up being the evil one, and I wouldn't hurt a fly.

And then the first was The Misfits, which I enjoyed very much, with Marilyn and Gable.

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

Even if I don't want to slow down, I'm slowing down.

I always wanted to tell stories and act.

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

My first Western was called The Magnificent Seven.

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

The big secret in acting is listening to people

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

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.

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

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 was an original member of the Actors' Studio

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

The richest man is the one with the most powerful friends.

But I went to the University of Texas in the 30s, and while there I learned to ride. Mostly polo ponies.

I never dreamed I would do Westerns

Recipe? Recipe? We don' need no stinkin' recipe.

What do I need a movie for? The stage is on a higher level in every way, and a more satisfying medium. Movies, by comparison, are like calendar art next to great paintings. You can't really do very much in movies or in television, but the stage is such an anarchistic medium.

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

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

Fifty million dollars is not to be sneezed at. Of course, I never catch cold.

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

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.

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.

If you work for a living, why do you kill yourself working?

I don't act to live. I live to act.

No, I never thought of it in those terms. I used to go into agents' offices and they'd have pictures of these handsome movie men and I knew I'd never be up there. I'm a journeyman actor. I didn't think about stardom.

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

I still get more mail for that one episode of 'Batman' than just about anything else.

The whole thing was chaotic. Everyone spoke a different language. I knew a little French, so that's how I conversed with Leone.

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.

Not me, ... When I go, I want to be cremated. They can do what they like with the ashes.

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