A biography for Donald Pleasencehasn’t been written yet.
“The idea of dying and coming back is what makes the Halloween films work.”
“The first Halloween was very well made. The second one was also well made, though I didn't like it as well as the first one. The third one had nothing to do with the series at all and perhaps shouldn't have been made at all.”
“I was offered a choice of a flat salary up front or a percentage of the film's future earnings. I took the up front money. Nobody could have figured what Halloween would ultimately become.”
“I believe you can frighten people without showing their heads caved-in.”
“I loved working with Jamie Lee Curtis, and I felt she was a wonderful actress even that early in her career.”
“John Carpenter created the idea of Halloween, so his vision remains the most focused and intelligently directed of the series. The directors that have followed have kept the original intent of the concept.”
“I am not one of those actors who believes he has to live the part he is playing. I can turn it on and off.”
“At this point in my career, it doesn't bother me much that I'm probably hopelessly typecast. I like to work, and horror films definitely keep me working.”
“Loomis has always felt himself responsible for the fact that he did not stop Michael when he first murdered his sister, and so he's got that guilt to live with.”
“It's gotten to the point where it's big news when I don't do a horror film.”
“Continental directors, as opposed to British and American, tend to be somewhat high-handed in their approach.”
“I'm hardly physically right for the hero parts, now am I?”
“I don't really know how many films I've done, and I don't look at this as a race that I necessarily want to win. Nor is it a race that I want to stop running.”
“All the real work is done in the rehearsal period.”
“What can I tell you about things like Circus of Horrors except that I get killed by the bear?”
“The process of creation goes on all the time. When I get through, I feel I know what the character will do in every situation. But the building up of the part is not mechanical or deliberate. It grows out of the text.”
“The play is on top of me all the time, and I am constantly thinking about it. Even when I leave the theatre, I'll mumble the lines to myself or think about the way the character walks or holds himself.”
“I do think the story in Halloween 5 is a bit stupid, and there's a lot more blood. They're obviously going to take the Halloween series in a different direction.”
“I'm the sort of actor who likes to talk about what we're going to do.”
“I think people have a tendency to read into more than there is.”