A biography for Van Heflinhasn’t been written yet.
“My predecessors in this business of acting were fully convinced their work would never be recorded, except in the form of reviews or paintings.”
“It is a terrible thing to become a legend in your own time.”
“The stock company, as I knew it is dead. Road companies are few and far between. Still the theater must survive.”
“I think it's a disgrace to make actors become pitchmen. You see it on 'The Beverly Hillbillies,' you see it on 'Bonanza.'”
“The professional's love for the theater is less pure than that of the non-professional's.”
“Foreign films have helped me because I've become identified with international stars.”
“If producers want to lure the few TV holdouts left, all they have to do is give them a good script and a guarantee of enough time to rehearse. They'd be surprised how fast those hard-to-gets would grab at the bait!”
“I'm a very practical actor, and having an artistic triumph that's a commercial flop doesn't do you any good, in any phase of show world.”
“Audiences hardly recognize me from picture to picture.”
“An actor doesn't have a regular job. He is dependent upon the roles which are given him.”
“I can't stand loafing. It's awfully hard on you.”
“Sometimes when an actor returns to work after three or four years in service, he is assigned inferior roles because the studio claims popularity has to be built again.”
“I'm from the old school of actors who are convinced too much exposure on TV isn't good for a long career.”
“How much better company is offered by the working wife who out of sheer necessity must keep on her toes mentally and physically.”
“On matinee days I could never be sure I'd make the curtain for the matinee. I'd put on my makeup in the morning, rush to the studio and do the radio shows,then try to get across town before the curtain went up.”
“I'm not clothes-conscious.”
“As an actor, you're not working every day and sometimes not for long periods of time.”
“I've been doing a lot of pictures in Europe. So many that producers here don't call me when they have a part for me - they think I'm never here any more.”
“Once the Europeans become interested in you they make it a point to learn everything they can about your personal and professional life.”
“I just don't have the looks and if I don't do a good acting job, I look terrible.”