Eli Wallach Quotes

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

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

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.

- Eli Wallach

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.

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

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.

- Eli Wallach

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.

- Eli Wallach

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?

- Eli Wallach

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.

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

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.

- Eli Wallach

My first Western was called The Magnificent Seven.

- Eli Wallach

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.

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

I never lost my appetite for acting.

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

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.

- Eli Wallach

I was an original member of the Actors' Studio.

- Eli Wallach

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

- Eli Wallach

I never dreamed I would do Westerns.

- Eli Wallach