- [on Claudette Colbert, his co-star in Cleopatra (1934)] Have I said before what an accomplished actress Claudette is? Well, she is. And, as a result, the hiccup scene really works well, and is my favorite scene with her.
- I like Cleopatra (1934) very much, but I think I like The Crusades (1935) a little better. I think Crusades is one of the best pictures DeMille ever made. It really holds up; it doesn't date at all. As you know, Loretta Young played Queen Berengaria, and I played Richard the Lionhearted. But they were both very good pictures, no doubt about that.
- [on Cecil B. DeMille] There was an immediate rapport between us, and our relationship was more than director and star; there was a great friendship, and a great mutual respect. I loved the old buzzard. You either hated him or you loved him, there was no half-way measure at all. He liked me because I never "yessed" him, and contrary to popular opinion, DeMille hated yes-men. There were a lot of people around him who were yes-men because he was such a powerful producer-director, but they wouldn't last. He'd always say, "I don't want 50 little DeMilles running around - it's bad enough to have one!"
- It's all the same, you know, this whole acting business. Television, motion pictures, the theater - it's all acting with very slight differences. The approach to character is always the same. You simply must remember the fourth wall.
- The fourth wall is an expression that refers to the object of your acting. The three walls in a theater are obvious. There's the wall behind you, and the wings on either side - and the fourth wall is the audience.
- So, you simply play to the camera and forget what medium you're working in. I just go to work on time, know my lines, know my character, keep my sense of humor and that's it. And that, also, you might say, is a secret for professional longevity.
- [on his work as a producer] I left my blood in The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). It was a very special kind of film and now it might be viewed as a valuable document of history.
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