Jason Robards

“That's what acting is: really make-believe.”

“I almost failed one drama course. All the actors talked in phony accents. It shocked me. I went out for track instead.”

“I got hooked on 'All Things Considered.'”

“Any actor worth his salt is looking for truth, the core of truth of the particular situation he is portraying, of that play. The playwright, the actors and the audience, that's what we're all there seeking. When it's working, time is destroyed. Sometimes 'Moon,' a play of four hours, would go by in a snap of the fingers.”

“When I was little, my father was one of the biggest names in Hollywood. Suddenly - and how it happened to him was always a great mystery to me - he wasn't a star anymore; he was on the fringe. From the time I was 14, I was always conscious of a sense of worry, of terrific insecurity - agents, phony talk, the waits for the phone to ring.”

“I don't want actors reasoning with me about 'motivation' and all that bull.”

“I was a radioman first class in the Navy. I put in seven years. I was around a lot of admirals; I served on destroyers, cruisers, and a flat top for a little while.”

“It was 1939. There was no money or jobs around. I did my parents a favor and joined the Navy.”

“Projection of sound gives the stage a life different from real life. As actors and interpretive artists, we must not only be able to know the attitude of the script, we must also make ourselves heard - without amplification.”

“Eugene O'Neil is always exploring our want to love but can't get it out there.”

“To be true to a play, you can't add something that takes away from the author's intent.”

“It's part of an actor's equipment to project a voice.”

“I love the theater because it's alive. It's a beginning, a middle and an end, and it begins a life.”

“It's 90 percent rejection, being an actor.”

“I go to the theater and dream. You learn your lines, and that gives you the security to allow the imagination and heart to come out.”

“When you act, you take on the attitudes and the emotions of others. There has to be a release. Most often done in conviviality. That's why there are clubs like the Players, the Friars - in London, the Garrick.”

“I had a choice whether to live or die, and I chose to live.”

“I've always wanted to be part of a family.”

“All I know about acting is that I just have to keep on doing it.”

“As a baseball player, you know the commodity you're selling, but with acting, you wonder, 'What the hell am I doing that is so hot?'”