[summing up his professional career]: 30 years and 55 pictures - not more than five that were any good, or any good for me.

[To Louella Parsons, after receiving his first Academy Award nomination for Come Fill the Cup (1951)]: So many people who have been nominated for an Oscar have had bad luck afterwards.

Acting is the exaggeration of life, and if you can blow it up and still make it look real, the better your performance. Any actor who loves what he is doing can`t take his mind off it.

[On his role as the dance-marathon barker in They Shoot Horses, Don`t They? (1969)]: (The role was) a lifeline for a drowning man, a last chance to show (my) talent as a serious actor.

Comedy is harder to do than drama, since comedy roles involve the offbeat, not merely the basic emotions. I like to play both comedy and drama.

30 years and 55 pictures - not more than five that were any good, or any good for me. I`ve picked the best from the lousy parts they offered me.

My specialties are corpses, unconscious people and people snoring in spectacular epics.