- [on James Dean] Dean's body was very graphic; it was almost writhing in pain sometimes. He was very twisted, as if he were cringing all the time. Dean was a cripple anyway, inside--he was not like [Marlon Brando]. People compared them, but there was no similarity. He was a far, far sicker kid and Brando's not sick, he's just troubled.
- [on Marlon Brando] To my way of thinking, his performance in On the Waterfront (1954) is the best male performance I've ever seen in my life.
- [on Natalie Wood] The quality I remember about her was a kind of sweetness. When her persona fitted the role, you couldn't do better. She was it.
- [on Marlon Brando] He was deeply rebellious against the bourgeois spirit, the over-ordering of life.
- [on James Dean] He was sad and sulky. You kept expecting him to cry.
- [on John Ford] Orson Welles was once asked which American directors most appealed to him. "The old masters," he replied. "By which I mean John Ford, John Ford and John Ford." Well, I studied Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), for example. As I say, John Ford had a big influence on me.
- [on Kirk Douglas] He fits into being an advertising man and a driving, ruthless person better than [Marlon Brando] could have. You would always suspect Brando. Kirk's awfully bright. He's as bright a person as I've met in the acting profession.
- [on James Cagney] I learned something from Jimmy Cagney--he taught me quite a lot about acting. Jimmy taught me some things about being honest and not overdoing it. He even affected my work with [Marlon Brando] a little bit. I mean, "Don't show it, just do it."
- [on Faye Dunaway] Faye carries a cloud of drama round with her. There is something in her at hazard.
- [on working with Marlon Brando] Every word seemed not something memorized but the spontaneous expression of an inner experience--which is the level of work all actors strive to reach.
- [on Marlon Brando's performance in On the Waterfront (1954)] If there is a better performance by a man in the history of film in America, I don't know what it is
- [on Franchot Tone] He died before he should have and without fulfilling his promise or his hopes.
- [of Charles Bickford] Men like that will eat a director alive, if he allows it.
- Lee Strasberg was God almighty, he was always right, only he could tell if an actor had had it--the real thing--or not. To win Lee's favor and the reassurance it would convey was everyone's goal.
- So it goes in America: great plans in youth, realism at the end.
- [at the Group Theater, 1932] I think Franchot Tone takes pleasure in upsetting the chalice of high art here. You can't help admiring him. He's better educated, just plain smarter, than most of the others and has greater curiosity about life and boldness in dealing with his desires. I like him. Perhaps some of the self-righteous members think of Tone as a sinner because he wakes the sinner in them... Meanwhile, he continues as the chink in their idealism. He does what he wants and isn't a bit docile. He believe in the Group idea but is not sure it's for him; he asks questions. Despite all, the directors admire him. He could burn the place down and still be the white-haired boy. He's the only really top-grade actor here--in my opinion--and that's the problem. I mean, that's their problem, the directors: how to hold people of his talent and temperament while they get rid of three or four duds they've got here who believe! Oh, how those mediocrities believe! Oh, how they listen to Lee Strasberg and nod and smile at his quips. Me, too.
- Fredric March was as warmhearted and genuine a man as ever lived... Poor, blacklisted Freddie was no more a Communist than my cat.
- [on the labored introspection demanded of students in Actors Studio workshops] There have been days when I felt like I would swap them all for a gang of wandering players who could dance and sing, and who were, above all else, entertainers.
- [on the possibility of casting Paul Newman as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (1954)] This boy will definitely be a film star. He's just as good looking as [Marlon Brando] and his masculinity, which is strong, is also more actual. He's not as good an actor as Brando yet, and probably will never be. But he's a darn good actor with plenty of power, plenty of insides, plenty of sex.
- [from a letter to John Steinbeck, while casting East of Eden (1955)] I looked through a lot of kids before settling on this [James Dean]. He hasn't [Marlon Brando]'s stature, but he's a good deal younger and is very interesting, has balls and eccentricity and a "real problem" somewhere in his guts, I don't know what or where. He's a little bit of a bum, but he's a real good actor and I think he's the best of a poor field. Most kids who become actors at 19 or 20 or 21 are very callow and strictly from NY professional school. Dean has got a real mean streak and a real sweet streak.
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