Kirk Douglas

“Fifteen years ago, I suffered a stroke, which caused me to lose my speech. Now, what does an actor who can't talk do? Wait for silent pictures to come back? I work with a speech therapist twice a week.”

“Fear is a terrible thing. It makes you do awful things.”

“All children are natural actors, and I'm still a kid. If you grow up completely, you can never be an actor.”

“In order to achieve anything you must be brave enough to fail.”

“Why can't a woman be more like a dog, huh? So sweet, loving, attentive.”

“I didn't think I was so tough until I did 'Champion'; then I was a tough guy.”

“If I have to speak in public, I am terrified.”

“I didn't start out to be a movie star. I started out to be an actor.”

“The biggest spur to my interest in art came when I played van Gogh in the biographical film Lust For Life. The role affected me deeply. I was haunted by this talented genius who took his own life, thinking he was a failure. How terrible to paint pictures and feel that no one wants them. How awful it would be to write music that no one wants to hear. Books that no one wants to read. And how would you like to be an actor with no part to play, and no audience to watch you. Poor Vincent—he wrestled with his soul in the wheat field of Auvers-sur-Oise, stacks of his unsold paintings collecting dust in his brother's house. It was all too much for him, and he pulled the trigger and ended it all. My heart ached for van Gogh the afternoon that I played that scene. As I write this, I look up at a poster of his "Irises"—a poster from the Getty Museum. It's a beautiful piece of art with one white iris sticking up among a field of blue ones. They paid a fortune for it, reportedly $53 million. And poor Vincent, in his lifetime, sold only one painting for 400 francs or $80 dollars today. This is what stimulated my interest in buying works of art from living artists. I want them to know while they are alive that I enjoy their paintings hanging on my walls, or their sculptures decorating my garden”

“Virtue is not photogenic, so I liked playing bad guys. But, whenever I played a bad guy, I tried to find something good in him, and that kept my contact with the audience.”

“My mother, we were a very poor family. When I was a kid, we would be in our little room, and there would be a knock on the door almost every night with a hobo begging for food. Even though we didn't even have enough to eat, my mother always found something to give them.”

“Acting is a youthful profession.”

“I have been an actor for most of my life. When I started out, I didn't think about anything except what was good for me. Like many movie stars, I became all wrapped up in myself.”

“Sometimes an interviewer will look at me and say, 'You're bright!' They're actually surprised I might be bright.”

“Acting is make-believe. I never believe I'm the character; I want you to believe.”

“כשמזדקנים אנו נותרים זה מול זה כפי שאנחנו, שני בני אדם שעברו את חייהם יחדיו.”

“אני חי בימי העבר.”

“ככל שהכינור מבוגר יותר, המוזיקה מתוקה יותר.”

“אני שמח לדעת שאלוהים בכל מקום: בשמש החמה, בגשם היורד ובאוויר הלילה הקריר.”

“שחקנים הם כמו ילדים שמסרבים לגדול. הם חיים בעולם של פנטזיות. הם משחקים מלחים, חיילים, קאובויים.”