Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Still Quoting....!

"When I worked on The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976), Vanessa Redgrave tried to convert me to a form of communism, Trotskyism, whatever the hell it is. Talented broad, but everyone ducked behind a camera when she came around. I asked her, 'Vanessa can you shoot a pistol?' 'Why?' 'Well, when the revolution comes...' 'No, no,' she interrupted. 'Someone else will do that.' Some Trotskyite. She travels by Rolls Royce." - ROBERT DUVALL on VANESSA REDGRAVE

"Then, I thought to myself, 'Darn it, maybe I can't do what Vanessa Redgrave can, but can Vanessa Redgrave do what I can do? Who's kidding who here? - RAQUEL WELCH on VANESSA REDGRAVE
"What seemed like such a nice, simple, artless performance in Superman (1978) was the finest kind of acting. Reeve's timing-and humor-has to be just about perfect to make the character come off." - director SIDNEY LUMET on CHRISTOPHER REEVE (who he directed in Deathtrap (1982.)
"It was my father who told me I should develop my body seeing as how I wasn't born with much of a brain an' it was the only thing I had to fall back on. Then I saw Steve Reeves an' I thought, 'Jesus, anybody can go to school an' become a lawyer, but I wanna be able to pull down a temple, shift a bridge, take on a whole Roman army. ...That's a man to me.'" - SYLVESTER STALLONE on STEVE REEVES
"It's the man's tremendous wit that just keeps coming across. Listen, there's no acting style. Most people just play themselves. Spencer Tracy used to say to me after a scene, 'Did I ham that one up?' If I said yes, he'd say, 'Okay, let's do it again.' There's that same honesty in Burt Reynolds. He's a throwback to the old school." - MYRNA LOY on BURT REYNOLDS (whose mother she played in The End, 1978.)
"He is the one the ladies like to dance with and their husbands like to drink with. He is the larger-than-life actor of our times. He is gifted, talented, naughty-but nice." - FRANK SINATRA on BURT REYNOLDS (and in whose Cannonball Run II, 1982, he appeared.)
"Burt has a quality that nobody else has. He's funny, sexy, glib, likeable and still very macho. But Burt tries to be all things to all people... He thinks that unless he's doing...intense dramatic work-then he's not an actor. But I don't think he's comfortable with that kind of intense emotional revealing. He doesn't like to reveal himself that way in life, yet he's mad at himself because he can't do that on the screen." SALLY FIELD (one-time romantic partner and costar in Smokey and the Bandit, 1977, The End, 1978, Hooper, 1978, and Smokey and the Bandit II, 1980) on BURT REYNOLDS in 1985.)
"She's one of the reasons I left show business... We'd give her a new scene, and she couldn't remember the lines. She couldn't sing and, surprisingly, she couldn't do the dances. And all through the horror of it all she was smiling and grinning and unreal. There's no denying her appeal to the public. That's what makes her so dangerous. She almost smiled me into bankruptcy." - PAUL GREGORY (producer of the 1959 musical The Pink Jungle, which closed prior to its scheduled 1960 Broadway opening and involved at least seven Actors Equity motions) on GINGER ROGERS
"Don't let her fool you. Tangle with her and she'll shingle your attic." BOB HOPE on JANE RUSSELL (his costar in The Paleface, 1948, and Son of Paleface, 1952.)
"...One of the best actors alive. But my opinion of him as an actor is much higher than my opinion of him as a man." - JOHN HUSTON on GEORGE C. SCOTT (who he directed three times in The List of Adrian Messenger, 1963, The Last Run, 1971, and The Bible: In the Beginning, 1966, the last of which included a booze-fueled relationship with Ava Gardner in which Scott reportedly beat her to the point of hospitalization.)
"But everything [on High, Wide and Handsome, 1937] became a little bit brighter when I got to know Randolph Scott, one of the finest men in Hollywood... Now a retired millionaire, he's still as handsome as he was in 1937, totally charming and loads of fun." DOROTHY LAMOUR on RANDOLPH SCOTT
"Randy Scott is a complete anachronism. He's a gentleman. And so far, he's the only one I've met in this business full of self-promoting sons-of-bitches." - director MICHAEL CURTIZ on RANDOLPH SCOTT (who he directed in Virginia City, 1940.)
"I think his mother had gained such an incredible influence over him that he virtually abdicated his own rights to any individual personality... Finally, he had to invade other bodies to register at all. He had to inhabit, he was like a ghoul, he had to feast off somebody else! But he did it so well, it became an art. He was not a genius, Sellers, he was a freak." - SPIKE MILLIGAN on PETER SELLERS (his frequent stage, television and movie cohort.)
"Talk about unprofessional rat finks." - BILLY WILDER on PETER SELLERS (who Wilder directed, uncredited, in Casino Royale, 1967.)
"Norma, who I have always like and got along with, was at notorious loggerheads with Joan [Crawford.] You see, she was treated as Queen of the Lot because of her marriage to the boss, Irving Thalberg. Joan had made a lot of money for the company, and I imagine that's what annoyed both of them; it was a competition of who was really the Queen of the Lot." ROSALIND RUSSELL on NORMA SHEARER and JOAN CRAWFORD (all three stars of The Women, 1939.)
"And you can tell Miss Shearer that I didn't get where I am on my ass." - JOAN CRAWFORD on NORMA SHEARER (to the press.)

10 comments:

Gingerguy said...

This was fabulous (and the pictures! that giant jungle red finger prop is divine). When I woke this morning the last thing I expected to see was Raquel Welch and Vanessa Redgrave in the same sentence.
I loved Christopher Reeve for "Deathtrap" it was such a brave movie to make at a time when movie stars took a risk playing gay character(same for Michael Caine). His acting was so good you didn't notice because he was so handsome. When I saw that film in a theater the audience reacted with an "eeeewww" during the kiss. I am very happy that times have changed since 11th grade.
Burt Reynolds sure did have his day. The Sinatra quote smells like movie PR to me but still remarkable.
I read a bio of Ginger Rogers a while back and there was a torrent of opinions similar to the one quoted. Totally ruined her for me. Hermes Pan said she had two left feet and everyone mentioned the self promotion that was relentless. One of many lessons for me to not delve too deeply into the movie stars I love. I can watch an Astaire dance sequence and still be thrilled but little else.
I totally believe that about Peter Sellers. He was an incredible mimic and have read he was a real odd duck. This was lots of fun Poseidon.

Poseidon3 said...

I'm glad you liked this one, Gingerguy. It seems to be a bit less inspiring than some of my others judging by the comments (or lack thereof!) I was also shocked to find Raquel remarking on Redgrave. They should have done a TV variety special together - LOL! I felt bad for Chris having to kiss ol' Michael Caine, who was quite hung up and prudish about the whole thing. While I agree with you about the Sinatra remark about Reynolds, it's so rare to find anything from Sinatra that's complimentary about anyone I had to share it! Ha ha! One of my favorite 1990s pastimes was leafing through the grocery store rags to see which new talent Sinatra was lambasting for this or that failure/flaw. I had an additional quote about Ginger that I didn't post, from Gene Kelly. Something like, whenever Fred danced with Ginger it was the only time you looked at the man rather than the woman (which I don't really agree with. She did hold my attention and others' as well!) Peter Sellers' situation rings true to me, too, and a little close to home if I'm being honest! :-O (But I'm not an unprofessional rat fink! Ha ha!)

joel65913 said...

Wonderful as always Poseidon! It's been crazed in my corner of the world so how delightful that when I finally got a chance to stop by there was some new delicious quotes to peruse.

I LOVE Vanessa Redgrave and having read a recent interview with her she seems like an interesting woman now and probably was when she was younger but I was familiar with her reputation of being a vehement proselytizer to her cause. She seems to have chilled out quite a bit as the years passed though. The Raquel quote didn't surprise me, she's always seemed like someone who understood who she was and her uniqueness but she could obviously appreciate someone else's gifts while not kidding herself nor the public that that was who she aspired to be.

I think Lumet is spot on about Christopher Reeve's work as Superman. It wasn't appreciated at the time how natural he was and now with multiple actors having played the role but none as successfully or memorably I think it shows how much charisma he brought to the part.

Hardly the first time I've heard that Ginger Rogers was not shall we say the loveliest of them all. I've also heard that when she was young she was a good-natured accessible girl but her infamous mother Lela told her STARS didn't act like that and she became the shellacked phony of legend.

Love the Roz Russell quote! She tries to be so evenhanded while basely admitting that Norma & Joan would have rode over each other without a backward glance.

Great fun!

Narciso said...

Hahha. Duvall's remark to Redgrave reminds me of an exchange I had with a similarly-tempered college teacher who urged us to vote for salary increases for professors in one breath while teaching the revolution in the next. "But who will issue your retirement checks after the state collapses?" I asked. LOL. At least Redgrave is a fine actress. Her film about Isadora Duncan is a personal favorite. The Ginger Rogers quote is a great example of taking such quotes with a grain of salt. There are plenty of other comments about her hard work, professionalism, etc., but no doubt such people are hellish when situations don't go their way. There is an interview with Rogers and Joan Rivers on the Tonight Show circa 1982 floating on YouTube. For a woman known to be prickly, Rogers is pretty amiable and game as Rivers delicately attempts to keep the conversation on a contemporary adult level. I met Rogers around the same time. She autographed an old photo and was enormously warm and gracious, sincerely so. However -- she made it abundantly clear that she would not autograph any copies of a certain picture biography of her that had recently been printed. You could see the daggers in her eyes. LOL. But so what, her movies are marvelous.

Andrea said...

Robert Duvall's quote about Vanessa Redgrave is great. It's always infuriatingly funny when rich celebrities tell the rest of us how we should be living while they don't change their cushy lives one iota!

A few months back, I watched a Piers Morgan (just ugh) interview special with Ms. Welch on YouTube. It was awful because of Piers' creepy fawning and dumb dumb questions. He was practically drooling at her feet. I love that Ms. Welch hasn't pulled a Faye Dunaway by refusing to discuss the stinky turkey that is Myra Breckinridge. She's a bit up in her own stuff (I would be too if I looked like that), but she's a good sport and always drops some great vintage gossip and shade!

I still can't wrap my mind around Sally Field dating Burt Reynolds. I've always found him sort of cheesy and she's just so....Gidget!

Ginger Rogers - Never a favorite of mine. There's just something about her that doesn't completely gel with me. I saw a (boring) documentary she was interviewed for later in life and my goodness, she was wearing more makeup than a Kardashian! And her hair! HUGE!!

George C. Scott - Ever since I read that he beat Ava Gardner and almost killed her (she had to talk him out of it), I simply can't watch him. I know, separate the artist from their personal life, but I just can't with him.

Look at expression on Joanie's face! Her eyes look like they're saying, "I can't believe this wonky eyed hussy is touching me!" I'm just going to believe that she slapped the taste out of Norma's mouth as soon as that shoot was over. What is going on in the second picture? That huge, disembodied hand is creepy! I'm sure it's a reference to "jungle red", but still! And can we talk about The Women for a sec - One, can you do a recap on that, Poseidon? I'm sure we've all seen it, but I love reading your observations. Two - Why is everyone's hair in that movie atrocious? Norma Shearer's hair looks like a deranged bird spreading its wings. Joan Crawford's hair is dangerously verging into Art Garfunkel territory. I can't believe the meticulous Crawford let that fly. Don't even get me started on Rosalind Russell's weird eyeball shirt! What was Adrian smoking or snorting when he made that?

Poseidon3 said...

Hi Joel! Glad you made time for us here. ;-) I enjoyed your reflections on Vanessa and Raquel. I don't know how anyone could do a more apt job with Superman/Clark Kent than Reeve did. (And after wanting to insert a star into that role - I'm sure you've read of some of the preposterous choices they mulled over - they took a chance on a virtual unknown, which really paid off!) I'm of two minds on Ginger. I think people are a little hard on her when it comes to the work she did with Fred, yet I can hardly stand her brittle late-'50s persona. Then I get nostalgic when I see her in the '60s & '70s!! LOL

Narciso, I recently watched that Ginger-Joan interview and enjoyed it greatly. I did think that Rogers held her ground about things she didn't want to delve into yet was amusing and playful at times, too. She seemed able to laugh at herself (a little), which is not really something she's known for. But Joan had a way of nudging people to go beyond the place they normally might. Very neat that you met her!!!!

Andrea, I've seen that Raquel-Piers interview as well (what? do all of us just sit and watch the same things?!?! LOLOL) It was a good one on her part, though she was still just the teensiest bit haughty/phony at points. I agree with you that it's great that she can laughingly embrace her less-stellar moments (though I sometimes get the feeling that she's more comfortable doing it herself than she would be if someone else began doing the same!! But we're probably all that way, I guess.) Sally and Burt were an oddball combo looking back because they came from (and also wound up in!) such different places than one another. Since I was a kid when "Smokey" came out - about 10 or so?, I was able to readily accept them as a twosome because I knew nothing else (and Dinah was but a specter lurking behind them in the pages of grocery store rags.) It's surprising to me how many movies she ended up making with him! Not her usual style at all... Ginger may be taken to task for several things here, but we never beat up on anyone for having heavy make-up and big hair! ha ha ha ha ha!!! I have no great love for George C. Scott. I can never quite get how Trish Van Devere stuck with him for so long - until his death! Did he change?? As for "The Women," I might profile it sometime. I share your distaste for Joan's hair in that one. It might have been deliberately severe to inform her tarty character. Not sure. I think Adrian was just having fun with Russell's get-ups and parodying his own outre style. BTW, if you never read it, I did profile the color, musical remake pretty in-depthly! (But minus the endless stream of screencaps that usually accompany my musings. I can't recall the circumstances, but something prevented me from doing it around that time frame. Possibly that I didn't yet have a high-def widescreen TV?) Thanks!!

http://neptsdepths.blogspot.com/2010/12/opposite-attracts.html

Forever1267 said...

These are amazing, and human. Thank you for finding these and sharing.

I found your website a long time ago, through my favorite disaster movie "The Poseidon Adventure", and then lost you to the sands of the Internet.

Now that you're Favorited, that won't happen again. Great stuff on here!

Thank you!

Poseidon3 said...

Welcome back, Forever1267! You've missed a lot of droning on and on and on by me! LOL August will mark the ninth anniversary of P.U. (I really should have considered better initials! Ha ha!) I am e-mailed on each comment for posts new and old, so if you have anything to share, etc... I'm all ears. Thank you!

Forever1267 said...

I certainly will, and I can tell we have the exact. same. tastes!!!

David Kenilworth said...


Redgrave trivia intertwine:

Vanessa Redgrave portrayed Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII, in A Man For All Seasons (1966). Her brother, Corin, portrayed William Roper (no relation to Stanley & Helen!), in the same film.

Redgrave's daughter, Joely Richardson, portrayed Catherine Parr, sixth wife of Henry VIII, in The Tudors TV series (2010).