Subject: Entertainment » Acting

They're not understudies, they're overstudies.

(1889 – 1961) Am. playwright, theater director & producer & humorist

Agent: Someone who believes an actor takes 85 percent of his money.

Watching Tallulah Bankhead on the stage is like watching somebody skating on thin ice – everyone wants to be there when it breaks.

(1865-1940) English actress

If [an actor] says, 'But what's my motivation?… 'I say, 'Your salary.'

(1899 – 1980) English filmmaker & producer

First of all, I choose the great [roles], and if none of these come, I choose the mediocre ones, and if they don't come, I choose the ones that pay the rent.

(1933 – ) English actor

Keir Dullea, gone tomorrow.

(1899 – 1973) English playwright, actor, composer, director & songwriter

A great actress, from the waist down.

(1848 – 1935) English actress

The scene is dull; tell him to put more life into his dying.

(1879 – 1974) film producer

Sarah Brightman couldn't act scared on the New York subway at four o'clock in the morning.

(1943 – 2007) American film critic

Actress Claudette Colbert: I knew these lines backwards last night.

Coward: And that’s just the way you’re saying them this morning.

(1899 – 1973) English playwright, actor, composer, director & songwriter

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

(1902 – 1983) English actor

Nowadays Mitchum doesn’t so much act as point his suit at people.

(1946 – ) British journalist & broadcaster

The best research [for playing a drunk] is being a British actor for 20 years.

(1933 – ) English actor

Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?

(1881 – 1958) American studio executive (Warner Brothers)

This isn’t exactly a stable business; it’s like trying to stand up in a canoe with your pants down.

(1925 – 2011) American actor

Apparently the understudy had to go because of her throat; I suppose someone threatened to cut it.

(1865-1940) English actress

I've made so many movies playing a hooker that they don't pay me in the regular way any more… they leave it on the dresser.

(1934 – ) American actress, dancer, activist & author

Ladies, just a little more virginity, if you don't mind.

(1852 – 1917) English actor & theater manager

Speak clearly, don't bump into the furniture.

(1899 – 1973) English playwright, actor, composer, director & songwriter

People like to hear me say 'shit' in my gorgeous voice.

(1904 – 2000) English actor, director & producer

Acting: A good training for political life; the only problem is the speeches are harder to learn.

(1911 – 2004) 40th U.S. president & actor