Quote

My father was a dreamer - my hero. He was a smart, tough guy from Poland, a cutter of lady's handbags, an old socialist-unionist who always considered himself a failure. His big line was: 'Don't end up like me.'

Alan King

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Alan King
Age: 76 †
Born: 1927
Born: December 26
Died: 2004
Died: May 9
Actor
Film Actor
Film Producer
Stage Actor
Writer
Brooklyn
New York
Like
Failure
Poland
Line
Dreamer
Lines
Socialist
Guy
Lady
Bigs
Considered
Unionist
Father
Hero
Cutter
Ends
Smart
Cutters
Always
Tough
Handbags

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The ability to absorb a book and make someone else's words and story your own was exactly was I was doing on stage.
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If you keep yourself alive and current, funny is funny.
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And humor has always been a weapon. You want to get even on somebody? You want to attack somebody? Make fun of them.
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Comedy is an amazing calling. Once you get that first laugh, it's hard to turn away. Then, of course, you're hooked and you have to learn how to survive in the business.
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My father helped me leave. He said, 'It's all out there, it's not here.'
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When I was in the hospital they gave me apple juice every morning, even after I told them I didn't like it. I had to get even. One morning, I poured the apple juice into the specimen tube. The nurse held it up and said, 'It's a little cloudy.' I took the tube from her and said, 'Let me run it through again,' and drank it. The nurse fainted.
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There's a charm, there's a rhythm, there's a soul to Jewish humor. When I first saw Richard Pryor perform, I told him, 'You're doing a Jewish act.'
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Milton took vaudeville, which, if you look up 'vaudeville' in the dictionary, right alongside of it, it says 'Milton Berle' - and he made it just a tremendous party.
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