Marlon Brando

"Acting is the expression of a neurotic impulse. It's a bum's life. ... The principal benefit acting has afforded me is the money to pay for my psychoanalysis."

"An actor's a guy, who if you ain't talking about him, ain't listening."



Dean Martin

"I can't stand an actor or actress who tells me acting is hard work. It's easy work. Anyone who says it isn't never had to stand on his feet all day dealing blackjack."



Robert Mitchum

"This is not a tough job. You read a script. If you like the part and the money is OK, you do it. Then you remember your lines. You show up on time. You do what the director tells you to do. When you finish, you rest and then go on to the next part. That's it."



George Clooney

"I cut tobacco for a living in Kentucky. That was hard work. I sold insurance door-to-door. That's hard work. Acting is not hard work. If you're lucky enough to be sitting at a table like this, you've been very lucky in your life. You caught the brass ring somewhere along the way."



Sir Laurence Olivier

"Acting is a masochistic form of exhibitionism. It is not quite the occupation of an adult."



John Hurt

"I remember once, when I told Lindsay Anderson at a party that acting was just a sophisticated way of playing cowboys and Indians, he almost had a fit."



Sir Ralph Richardson

"Acting is merely the art of keeping a large group of people from coughing."



Noël Coward

"You ask my advice about acting? Speak clearly, don't bump into the furniture and if you must have motivation, think of your pay packet on Friday."



Spencer Tracy

"Show up on time, know your lines, and don't bump into the furniture."



Johnny Depp

"I despise those prick actors who say, 'I was in character,' and 'I became the character,' and all that stuff. It's hideous. It's just masturbation at the highest level."



Gary Oldman

"Any actor who tells you that they have become the people they play, unless they're clearly diagnosed as a schizophrenic, is bullshitting you."



Sir Anthony Hopkins

"It's very easy. If you'd asked John Wayne he'd have probably said, 'Well, you just go to Monument Valley and get on a horse.' Acting is very, very simple... That's the trick great American actors have had. John Wayne didn't have to act, he just rode in. Gary Cooper, all those guys were smart. They didn't try to do too much."

"(re: Method acting) I think that's a lot of crap. I just don't understand that. If actors want to do that, fine. If they want to be miserable, that's up to them. I'm not interested. It's a job. I do the job. I'm certainly not going to make my life miserable just to be a character... It's a pain in the ass. Who the hell wants to be with some miserable grump because he wants to get his performance right, so you have to call him this or call him that? It's so boring. I've been with actors like that and they're a pain in the ass, they really are. They're unpleasant to work with and I don't think they're always that good either."

