Everyone thinks acting is easy. It's far from easy, but it's the most gratifying thing I do.

Well, I go to the theater today, and its curtain - there is no curtain in this play; the lights go down and go up - and we start. And I live this character for two hours. There are only two of us in the play. And It's a complete experience.

And then the first was The Misfits, which I enjoyed very much, with Marilyn and Gable.

I met my wife and, for the next ten years, we did no films at all. She did the first movie and then I did several after. My first movie was written by Tennessee Williams and directed by Kazan and was called Baby Doll.

Well, I've maybe gotten 200 requests for interviews about Marilyn, and I just decided I'm gonna do my own.

Well, I was getting a lot of money then, and I wasn't getting any Hollywood films, so I just did those. I'd always do a play in between. Whenever I ran low on funds, I'd always rush off to do a movie somewhere.

And that movie was underrated - Nuts - because it deals with a terrible subject, but It's very well done.

What is it in my makeup that makes me grab any offer and fly around the world? Will I ever be satisfied? Can't I ever just rest?

My first Western was called The Magnificent Seven.

Yes, I won the Bafta. I thought the British were very intelligent.

This country has a complex about age. It's unbelievable. If you're over thirty, you've had it in this country.

I'd come out of the army after five years as a medic. I was a medical administrator and we ran hospitals, and I was a Captain in the army at the end, in 1945.

I was an original member of the Actors' Studio.

I always wanted to tell stories and act.

Having the critics praise you is like having the hangman say you've got a pretty neck.

Everyone thinks acting is easy. It's far from easy, but it's the most gratifying thing I do.

John Huston was a superb master. He knew how to make good films. I did three things with him. One is called Independence. It plays in Philadelphia, for free. It's been playing there for 25 years.

The trouble with that movie is that you had to see Chinatown the day before you saw The Two Jakes.

But Clint I love, because Clint was my mentor. I knew nothing about making an Italian movie.

My wife says that stage acting is like being on a tightrope with no net, and being in the movies, there is a net - because you stop and go over it again. It's very technical and mechanical. On stage you're on your own.

I've learned that life is very tricky business: Each person needs to find what they want to do in life and not be dissuaded when people question them.

One thing changes every evening: It's the audience, and I'm working my magic. I'm always learning from it.

I've never lost my appetite for acting; it's innovative and challenging.

So I wanted to show what I did with the money. So I got red silk shirts, beautiful hats, wonderful saddles, a great horse, and two gold teeth. So that was the way I did it.

When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk.

The big secret in acting is listening to people.

But I went to the University of Texas in the 30s, and while there I learned to ride. Mostly polo ponies.

I love to tell stories and this is my way of getting them down on paper.

I've worked with wonderful actors like Marlon Brando and Henry Fonda.

All of these stories bounced around in my mind for a long time.

I never dreamed I would do Westerns.

When I saw the movie, I said, I wish I had heard the music. I would have ridden the horse differently.

I never lost my appetite for acting.

Even if I don't want to slow down, I'm slowing down.

I always end up being the evil one, and I wouldn't hurt a fly.

And I did Batman, too. I did Mr. Freeze. I get more mail for him than anything I've ever done.

It was always part of the plan to move into acting.

Be where the acting is. I live in Houston. Dallas is 4 1/2 hours away. I let them know there's no difference.

My mother keeps things in perspective for me. She makes me realize that the acting I do and love is no more important than what one of my brothers does-he works in a shoe repair shop. If my career ever tapers off, I'll go to college.

In Hungary, acting is a career for which one fits himself as earnestly as one studies for a degree in medicine, law, or philosophy.

I think acting is about forgetting yourself in order to give the best of yourself. It's passing through you more than you're creating it. You're not the flower, but the vase which holds the flower.

In LA, too many people want to go the quickest route from A to B. Method acting offers them that.

I don't see it as a form of healing, because if you have wounds that are bleeding I don't think acting will ever get them to stop. But I find acting is a form of illumination.

Maybe I can't act, but I know the gimmicks. I studied acting all my life and know what's good for me.

I know that if I'd had to go and take an exam for acting, I wouldn't have got anywhere. You don't take exams for acting, you take your courage.

I'm not acting, but I am acting.

I've done a lot of acting. I'm not saying I'm the greatest, but I'd love to act, I'd love to sing.

I had a bonding problem when I went off and boxed for five years. I was over in Europe and Asia fighting because I wanted to do something different; I was tired of acting. But the thing is, when I was done doing that, I couldn't get a job.

Acting for me is not that quid pro quo.