I don't like showing the technique. I don't like people who say, "Here, I'm going to act, but first I have to bounce off this wall." If you have to bounce off the wall, do it by yourself. Don't feature the technique. My old drama coach used to say, "Don't just do something, stand there." Gary Cooper wasn't afraid to do nothing.

It can be a simple sentence that makes one simple point, and you build from that. You zero in on the one moment that gets that character: you go for it. That's it man, and if you fail, the whole thing is down the drain, but if you make it, you hit the moon.

Don't get married to an actress, because they're also actresses in bed.

A lot of what acting is is paying attention.

Don't use your conscious past. Use your creative imagination to create a past that belongs to your characters.

It's such a cuckoo business. And it's a business you go into because you are egocentric. It's a very embarrassing profession.

It's not true that I said "actors are cattle." I said "they should be treated like cattle."

(Acting) is an extension of life. How you're capable of performing in your life, that's how you're capable of performing on screen.

Acting is a matter of giving away secrets.

I believe you can't be an actor if you haven't had the feeling of being abandoned as a child.