Christopher Walken Quotes

I like cats a lot. I've always liked cats. They're great company. When they eat, they always leave a little bit at the bottom of the bowl. A dog will polish the bowl, but a cat always leaves a little bit. It's like an offering.

- Christopher Walken

Bowl, Bit, Liked, Cats

Laurence Olivier said in an interview once that when he plays a tragedy he always aims for the funny parts, and the other way around. Because in a comedy you look for what's serious. I think that's true. Sometimes things are really funny if you're absolutely earnest. If you're really serious, it's hilarious.

- Christopher Walken

Other, I Think, Laurence, Hilarious

When videotape came so a lot of movies that I do have a kind of afterlife in video. Things where movies that I do would come and go; they still come and go but you can go rent them and see them on TV.

- Christopher Walken

Kind, Still, TV, Rent

I grew up listening to people speaking broken English. I probably picked that up. And I probably speak English almost as a second language.

- Christopher Walken

Listening, Broken, Almost, Picked

I think that sometimes when they see me in a movie they expect me to be something nasty. I mean, I play a lot of villains and you show up and they think maybe... That's why it's good to defy expectations sometimes.

- Christopher Walken

Play, I Think, Villains, Nasty

I don't know why people eat so badly. I could eat pasta all the time, but it really is fattening. And I love ice cream, but I can't do that. There was a time, until I was in my mid-forties, when I could eat a whole pizza - and really, no effect.

- Christopher Walken

Love, Why, Badly, Fattening

I've made three musical movies which is pretty good considering that not many are made but I was lucky in other ways. I came along when independent movies were starting to boom.

- Christopher Walken

Lucky, Independent, Other, Considering

When you're onstage and you know you're bombing, that's very, very scary. Because you know you gotta keep going - you're bombing, but you can't stop. And you know that half an hour from now, you're still gonna be bombing. It takes a thick skin.

- Christopher Walken

Skin, Very, Half, Thick

You hear about things happening to people - they slip in the bathtub, fall down the stairs, step off the curb in London because they think that the cars come the other way - and they die. You feel you want to die making an effort at something; you don't want to die in some unnecessary way.

- Christopher Walken

Die, Some, Other, Slip

I think if you do something effectively whether you're the lover or the comic or the action guy or the villain like I play; movies are very expensive to make. Chances are you'll get asked to play that part again.

- Christopher Walken

Play, I Think, Very, Chances

I'm not much of an analyzer or a psychologist.

- Christopher Walken

Psychologist, Much, Analyzer

When I was a kid I joined the circus. I did that. It is true. But it's not like you think. There was a guy, he had his own circus. His name was Carol Jacobs and he owned it. It was a small thing.

- Christopher Walken

Small, Think, Like, Carol

Quite often, I'll be sent a script for a movie. And I find that I like it, so I say I'll do it. But then they rewrite it for me. They make it quirky. Odd. I find that rather annoying. I call it Walkenising.

- Christopher Walken

Movie, Like, Rather, Rewrite

Yeah, well I've always played comedy. My background is musical comedy theatre and that's really where my training is. As an actor, that's my training.

- Christopher Walken

Comedy, Always, Musical, Musical Comedy

I became an actor by accident. I suppose I figured since I was in musical comedy from the time I was a teenager, I suppose I figured that I'd always been in that world to some extent.

- Christopher Walken

Always, Extent, Became, Musical Comedy

My background is in musical comedy. I didn't know I was going to be an actor. But all my points of reference have to do with musical comedy and in being kind of a showoff.

- Christopher Walken

Comedy, Going, Musical, Musical Comedy

I've always played comedy. My background is musical comedy theatre, and that's really where my training is.

- Christopher Walken

Comedy, Always, Musical, Musical Comedy

They have a kind of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby thing going on.

- Christopher Walken

Going, Crosby, Bob, None

Also for me it was different because I play a lot of villains and in this one I play a dad and I play a good guy, basically. He's the Secretary of the Treasury. I never had a job like that.

- Christopher Walken

Play, Like, Villains, Treasury

I think the fact that I grew up in show business had a real effect on my personality. If you were born in New York during the golden age of television, and you grew up on Broadway, that marks you.

- Christopher Walken

Fact, Broadway, I Think, Golden Age

I'm scared of everything. I think it's only sensible to be that way.

- Christopher Walken

Think, Only, I Think, Sensible

I'll tell you, Quentin Tarantino really writes the most amazing dialogue.

- Christopher Walken

Amazing, Tell, Most, Writes

I don't carry lucky charms, but I believe in those things.

- Christopher Walken

Lucky, Carry, Things, Charms

I think that a good movie creates its own world, and that world needn't refer to anything that's real. If it's consistent, if it's entertaining, if it's interesting, it justifies its being there.

- Christopher Walken

Think, Movie, I Think, Refer

I was born in America but all of my friends' parents, everybody's parents, including my own, had come to America from Europe. Many people in my neighborhood hardly bothered to learn English.

- Christopher Walken

Learn, Everybody, Including, Hardly

My father was a lesson. He had his own bakery, and it was closed one day a week, but he would go anyway. He did it because he really loved his bakery. It wasn't a job.

- Christopher Walken

Father, Week, Own, Bakery

It's what actors call a big, juicy part, when you're a leading man. I don't get a lot of those. I get a lot of supporting things.

- Christopher Walken

Big, Part, Leading, Leading Man

I don't like flying at the best of times. And as I get older, I like it less and less. I don't much like driving, either. I prefer to be driven. And, when I'm in London, I don't even like walking on the street. I can never get used to looking the right way when I cross the street.

- Christopher Walken

Best, London, Prefer, Right Way

The best thing for me is, when I'm not working, is to be at home and to have a script or two scripts is better, and to be just walking around the house and just thinking about the lines.

- Christopher Walken

Best, Two, About, Scripts

I have a friend of mine who does me on his answering machine, and when I call him, I answer. It's pretty strange.

- Christopher Walken

Him, Pretty, Mine, Answering

No, improvising is wonderful. But, the thing is that you cannot improvise unless you know exactly what you're doing.

- Christopher Walken

Doing, Cannot, Unless, Improvising

Improvising is wonderful. But, the thing is that you cannot improvise unless you know exactly what you're doing. That's a kind of paradoxical thing about improvising.

- Christopher Walken

Doing, Kind, Paradoxical, Improvising

I grew up in the '50s, in New York City, where television was born. There were 90 live shows every week, and they used a lot of kids. There were schools just for these kids. There was a whole world that doesn't exist anymore.

- Christopher Walken

City, Week, New York City, Live Shows

There's something dangerous about what's funny. Jarring and disconcerting. There is a connection between funny and scary.

- Christopher Walken

Connection, Dangerous, About, Disconcerting

I've never crashed a wedding. When I was a kid I, of course, used to crash parties. Crashing a wedding is difficult though because you have to have the suit, and you have to have information in case someone catches you. You have to know at least some names and something.

- Christopher Walken

Kid, Some, Least, Crashed

I think that weddings have probably been crashed since the beginning of time. Cavemen crashed them. You go to meet girls. It makes sense.

- Christopher Walken

Wedding, Think, Been, Crashed

Also, I think there are huge reactions sometimes, which are also mysterious.

- Christopher Walken

Think, I Think, Which, Reactions

Movies are terrifically optimistic enterprises.

- Christopher Walken

Movies, Optimistic, Enterprises

I certainly have never been an actor who can play the Everyman guy - or, I don't tend to get those parts. I've tended to play eccentrics. I've played a lot of villains, of course.

- Christopher Walken

Play, Been, Certainly, Eccentric

I remember that. I was talking to him and I said how great it would be if actors had a tail because I have animals and a tail is so expressive. On a cat you can tell everything. You can tell if they're annoyed. You can tell whether they're scared.

- Christopher Walken

I Remember, Tell, Had, Scared

My life is really quite conservative. I've been married nearly 50 years. I don't have hobbies or children. I don't much care to travel. I've never had a big social life. I really just stay home, except when I go to work.

- Christopher Walken

My Life, Conservative, Big, Social Life

I like to stand in my kitchen with the script on a counter that's about chest high. Usually I do something else at the same time - make a chicken or slice vegetables - and all day long I just read it over and over and over.

- Christopher Walken

Chicken, Something Else, Kitchen

Early on, I played one or two disturbed people, and I guess I must have been good at it, because it stuck. But, you know, I'm a regular guy. I stay home a lot, I make an effort to keep a distance from the whole social thing, the openings, the parties. I try to live in a calm way.

- Christopher Walken

Distance, Been, Disturbed, Regular Guy

I think that if I had grown up and had been in show business and the movies twenty five, thirty years earlier, I think I would have made a lot more musical movies.

- Christopher Walken

Think, Been, I Think, Twenty

You know, there's nothing you can do about your public image. It is what it is. I just try to do things honestly. I guess honesty is what you would call subjective: if you feel good about what you're doing, yourself, if you figure you're doing the right thing.

- Christopher Walken

Doing, It Is What It Is, Public Image

I'm not sure I'd write a good cookbook, but I might make a good cooking show.

- Christopher Walken

Might, Sure, Cookbook, Cooking Show

Obviously an actor draws on his own experience.

- Christopher Walken

Own, Actor, His, Draws

When I was a kid, my parents gave me piano lessons and guitar lessons for a while, but I was never very good at it. I have big, sort of awkward hands. It's hard to keep going when you don't get any better.

- Christopher Walken

Hands, Big, Very, Lessons

I'm in a place in my life where I get offered parts that I didn't get offered before - fathers and uncles and grandfathers and so on. And it took me a long time to get to that place, but I'm glad because it opens up new territory.

- Christopher Walken

My Life, Before, Fathers, Opens

By the time I was 7, I did walk-ons, catalogue modeling, you name it. In the Queens where I grew up, you didn't go bowling on Saturday; you went to dancing school.

- Christopher Walken

Dancing, By The Time, Queens

I don't play lovers. I wish I did. At least once I'd like to have a crack at one of those guys. A heartbreaker. Some people are born to it. I'm not.

- Christopher Walken

Play, Some, I Wish, Crack

One thing that's happened to me is I've been around a long time and I've played a lot of villains and so forth. I think it had to do with, well one thing is that I looked younger than I was for a long time. Now I think I'm suddenly starting to play people's father.

- Christopher Walken

Play, Been, I Think, Starting

It's interesting - a lot of good actors are good mimes. But I'm terrible. If I tried to do an impression, nobody would know what I was doing.

- Christopher Walken

Good, Interesting, Doing, Terrible

I think early on I knew what I was going to do and it was based a lot on familiarity but it was also because I didn't have a lot of skills. There was nothing I wanted t be. I didn't want to be a doctor. I wanted to be in show business.

- Christopher Walken

Think, Familiarity, Based, Early

I come from a part of New York that was almost entirely immigrants. I was born in America, but all of my friends' parents, everybody's parents, including my own, had come to America from Europe.

- Christopher Walken

New, Everybody, Including, Entirely

I love spaghetti. And I like to cook spaghetti. And I used to eat it every day. I weighed thirty pounds more than I do now. You can't - you can't do that.

- Christopher Walken

Love, Like, Spaghetti, Pounds

Because if I don't know my lines, I really don't know what I'm doing.

- Christopher Walken

Doing, Know, Because, Lines

Acting has to do with saying it as if you meant it, so for me the words are always very important. It's very important for me to know my lines, know them so well that I don't have to think about them.

- Christopher Walken

Always, Very, Meant, Lines

No, but way before that, I've been doing little dances in movies for years. Yeah, that was an amazing chance. You know, at my age to be able to do a music dance video, very unusual.

- Christopher Walken

Doing, Been, Very, Unusual

I've been married for 46 years, and I live in a nice house, my grass is always cut, I pay my bills, and my cat loves me!

- Christopher Walken

Always, Been, Cut, Grass

And I think that when I play these villains, maybe what is different is that the audience sees me play these and they know that that's Chris and he's having fun and he knows that and he knows that and you know that and everybody knows that.

- Christopher Walken

Play, Think, Audience, Chris

The minute I start to talk about acting, I realize that I can't. You know, it's an abstract thing, a little bit mysterious even if you do it for a living.

- Christopher Walken

Start, Living, About, Realize

People come up to me all the time in New York. Not for autographs, but to talk about movies, often in a very scientific way.

- Christopher Walken

New, Scientific, Very, Autographs

I've been to Chicago a lot - it's one of my favorite places. My wife is from Chicago, and I worked in the theater there a lot.

- Christopher Walken

Wife, Been, Lot, Chicago

I play a lot of, maybe a little bit, cartoonish people. I've been a Bond villain, and I play a lot of villains, people who want to take over something.

- Christopher Walken

Play, Over, Been, Bond

You do something on television, and so many people see it that it follows you around. It's interesting. I've done a couple of things on TV, and probably more people saw me than in all the movies I've made.

- Christopher Walken

Around, Couple, TV, So Many People

My father passed away a couple of years ago, but he was very old. He was almost a 100 years old. And, you know, he had a very good life. He came to America and he had a good life.

- Christopher Walken

Away, Very, Couple, 100 Years

To be honest, I was never very ambitious. And I still am not.

- Christopher Walken

Never, Very, Still, To Be Honest

I don't usually get to play fathers or grandfathers or uncles. Now that I'm older, maybe I can play people closer to myself. I'd like that.

- Christopher Walken

Play, Maybe, Fathers, Uncles

Both my parents had heavy accents, and so did everybody they knew. It's a rhythm thing - people who speak English where they have to hesitate and think of the right word. And I think it rubbed off.

- Christopher Walken

Everybody, Both My Parents, Parents

I play disturbed people a lot, but always with a bit of distance or tongue-in-cheek. Most of the villains I play are essentially harmless.

- Christopher Walken

Play, Always, Villains, Disturbed

In England, and all over Europe, and all over the world, actors act until they die. They get old, really old, and they're still working. They just keep doing it.

- Christopher Walken

Die, England, Over, Europe

I have made a number of movies that I have never seen. It's not a matter of ego. It's a matter of being disappointed. It's really a shame. It's just as difficult to make a movie that no one cares about as to make a hit.

- Christopher Walken

Shame, Movie, Cares, Disappointed

I think I'm getting a little bit of Alzheimer's. Just a little.

- Christopher Walken

Think, I Think, Getting, Alzheimer

When I was a kid, I worked in the circus. It was a touring circus that was owned by a man named Terrell Jacobs. It was just one big tent, and he was a lion tamer. He didn't have any kids, but the bit was that I would dress up as his son in an identical outfit.

- Christopher Walken

Dress, Big, Tent, Lion

I have always refused to do something that has offended me. I have been offered potential roles that are totally vulgar.

- Christopher Walken

Always, Been, Refused, Potential

To me, there are things you're good at and things you're not so good at. For some reason, I'm good at darker characters. It has to do with how you look.

- Christopher Walken

Good, Reason, Some, Darker

I used to love Danish. My father used to make a Boston cream pie. You never see that anymore.

- Christopher Walken

Love, Boston, Danish, To Love

I've made movies that we're very successful that we're a complete surprise, and I've made movies that I thought we're going to be very successful that, you know.

- Christopher Walken

Surprise, Thought, Very, Complete

Some people can do things and get away with it. Comics are famously like that. Why is it that some guys can say the most horrible things and it's not offensive, it's funny?

- Christopher Walken

Some, Away, Offensive, Guys

I never know when I am being funny, and the other way too. I don't think you can think about that. I don't think you can try to be funny. Some people are just funny.

- Christopher Walken

Think, Being Funny, Some, Some People

I don't need to be made to look evil. I can do that on my own.

- Christopher Walken

Need, My Own, Made, Evil

As an actor you become that lighting rod between the person who made the play and the audience.

- Christopher Walken

Play, Audience, Actor, Lighting

I always like to watch comics and it's interesting that you can tell if someone's funny in 10 seconds.

- Christopher Walken

Always, Like, Comics, Seconds

I used to be prettier than I am, but I think I look better now. I was a pretty boy. Particularly in my early movies. I don't like looking at them so much. There's a sort of pretty thing about me.

- Christopher Walken

I Think, About, Better Now, Prettier

I'd love to do a character with a wife, a nice little house, a couple of kids, a dog, maybe a bit of singing, and no guns and no killing, but nobody offers me those kind of parts.

- Christopher Walken

Love, Couple, Offers, Parts

The thing about cooking is it's so interesting to watch. I don't know why, but if you go to somebody's house and they're making something, they usually say interesting things while they're cooking.

- Christopher Walken

Interesting, Making, About, Interesting Things

I don't have a lot of hobbies. I don't play golf. I don't have any children. Things that occupy people's time. I just try to take jobs.

- Christopher Walken

Play, Jobs, Occupy, Hobbies

I like to go to work, and also, I don't have any kids. I don't have any hobbies. I don't like to travel. So going to work is kind of it.

- Christopher Walken

Work, Like, Going, Hobbies

My own way of thinking is very conservative, very linear and not particularly imaginative, but if I look for things in different places, sometimes things happen.

- Christopher Walken

Conservative, Happen, Very, Things Happen

Emotional power is maybe the most valuable thing that an actor can have.

- Christopher Walken

Actor, Maybe, Most, Valuable

As an actor, I'm rather hit and miss; I throw a lot out there, and some of it works and some of it doesn't.

- Christopher Walken

Actor, Some, Lot, Miss

People think that my favorite roles to do are villains, but I find comedy to be the most challenging and rewarding.

- Christopher Walken

Think, Rewarding, Villains, Challenging

There are people who are able to plan their career, their future, but I've never had any talent for that. I just do things and hope for the best. Say yes, take a chance, and sometimes it's terrific and sometimes it's not.

- Christopher Walken

Career, Sometimes, Had, Terrific

I think the fact that I was raised in show business, in New York City, in the '50s, that's affected my personality to the point that I'm a little different.

- Christopher Walken

Think, New, I Think, York

There probably aren't a lot of actors my age who tap dance.

- Christopher Walken

Age, Lot, Tap, Dance

At its best, life is completely unpredictable.

- Christopher Walken

Life, Best, Unpredictable

Somebody said to me that I speak English almost like somebody for whom English is not their first language.

- Christopher Walken

Me, Like, Almost, Whom

Onstage I have a natural chutzpa that audiences like. I'm out there.

- Christopher Walken

Natural, Like, Onstage, Audiences

When you're onstage and you know you're bombing, that's very, very scary. Because you know you gotta keep going - you're bombing, but you can't stop.

- Christopher Walken

Going, Gotta, Very, Onstage

I was never a child actor. I was a child performer.

- Christopher Walken

Never, Actor, Performer, Child Actor

The last time I did a movie that needed a horse, I said: 'If it moves, I'm out of here.' The worst thing is, they know when you're afraid and act up accordingly. I've had them run off on me. Horses I do not like.

- Christopher Walken

Here, Movie, Needed, Horses

Even in the limo, I buckle my seatbelt. I got that seatbelt on before the car moves.

- Christopher Walken

Car, Before, Even, Moves

I've made movies that I thought were good. I've made movies that I thought were okay, but then I was very good. And sometimes you're in a movie and you think, I wish more people saw that - because you're good. And it just works out that the movie gets lost. But that's show business.

- Christopher Walken

Thought, Very, Works, Okay

I've made movies that I thought were okay, but then I was very good. And sometimes you're in a movie and you think, 'I wish more people saw that' - because you're good. And it just works out that the movie gets lost. But that's show business.

- Christopher Walken

Thought, Very, Works, Okay

Well, I was sort of a jack-of-all-trades in show business for a long time. I was a singer and a dancer and then I got a job as an actor.

- Christopher Walken

Business, Singer, Show, Long Time

I was sort of a jack-of-all-trades in show business for a long time. I was a singer and a dancer, and then I got a job as an actor.

- Christopher Walken

Business, Singer, Show, Long Time

There's an impression that actors make a lot of choices. I just take what's there.

- Christopher Walken

Choices, Lot, Take, Impression

Usually directors hire me because I'm what they are looking for. But once in a while, and it's very rare, they will hire me and then try to make me over.

- Christopher Walken

Over, Hire, Very, Directors

My favorite characters are the ones that are the most successful movies.

- Christopher Walken

Movies, Most, Characters, Favorite

My hair was famous before I was.

- Christopher Walken

Famous, Before, Hair

An actor really is a kind of intermediary between an audience and the piece, whether it's a play or movie.

- Christopher Walken

Play, Audience, Movie, Actor

I don't much like being directed. I enjoy being allowed to play.

- Christopher Walken

Play, Like, Allowed, Directed

I live sort of in the country and I like that. It's very quiet, it's beautiful.

- Christopher Walken

Beautiful, Country, Very, Quiet

Everybody has to be a little lucky, I think.

- Christopher Walken

Think, Everybody, I Think, Lucky

My life has been wonderful. Everybody has to be a little lucky, I think.

- Christopher Walken

My Life, Think, Been, Lucky

It's true in most movies I don't use my own voice.

- Christopher Walken

Movies, My Own, Most, Voice

Morning is the best time to see movies.

- Christopher Walken

Best, Movies, See, Best Time

I try not to worry about things I can't do anything about.

- Christopher Walken

Try, Things, About, Worry

If you're searching for quotes on a different topic, feel free to browse our Topics page or explore a diverse collection of quotes from various Authors to find inspiration.

Powerful Christopher Walken for Daily Growth