Competition [in a scene] is healthy. Competition is life. Yet most actors refuse to acknowledge this. They don't want to compete. They want to get along. And they are therefore not first-rate actors.

Acting in theatre or television or screen is only for the irrecoverably diseased, those so smitten with the need that there is no choice.

Competition is healthy. Competition is life. Yet most actors refuse to acknowledge this. They don't want to compete. They want to get along. And they are therefore not first-rate actors. The good actor is the one who competes, willingly, who enjoys competing. An actor must compete, or die...Peacefulness and the avoidance of trouble won't help in his acting. It is just the opposite he must seek.

The actor needs to find out what the basic fight is in every character in every scene.

Every scene you will ever act begins in the middle, and it is up to you, the actor, to provide what comes before.

Competition [in a scene] is healthy. Competition is life. Yet most actors refuse to acknowledge this. They don't want to compete. They want to get along. And they are therefore not first-rate actors.

To go into acting is like asking for admission to an insane asylum. Anyone may apply, but only the certifiably insane are admitted.