I owe Bankhead a gift; she made a director out of me.

If you're going to play a cowboy, show up with the horse at the audition

I question the value of stars. I think they're overrated. They get too much money, too much praise.

Take it from a director: if you get an actor that Sandy Meisner has trained, you've been blessed.

I was an outsider... but I was also sympathetic with people that were struggling to get up, because I struggled to get up.

Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it.

A film director has to get a shot, no matter what he does. We're desperate people.