The first thing one must remember about film is that it is a young medium. And it is essential for every responsible artist to cultivate the ground that has been left fallow.

The essential is to excite the spectators. If that means playing Hamlet on a flying trapeze or in an aquarium, you do it.

I've spent most of my mature life trying to prove that I'm not irresponsible.

I have made an art form of the interview. The French are the best interviewers, despite their addiction to the triad, like all Cartesians.

I started at the top and worked my way down.

It would be so much better if the critics would come, not on first nights, but on last nights, when they could exercise their undoubted flair for funeral orations.

On my tombstone, I want written: 'He never did 'Love Boat!''