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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

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Eli Wallach
Age: 98 †
Born: 1915
Born: December 7
Died: 2014
Died: June 24
Actor
Autobiographer
Character Actor
Film Actor
Film Producer
Stage Actor
Television Actor
New York City
New York
Eli Herschel Wallach
Acting
Mechanical
Like
Technical
Movies
Says
Stage
Wife
Stop
Movie
Tightrope

More quotes by Eli Wallach

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I've worked with wonderful actors like Marlon Brando and Henry Fonda.
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Having the critics praise you is like having the hangman say you've got a pretty neck.
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One thing changes every evening: It's the audience, and I'm working my magic. I'm always learning from it.
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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.
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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.
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I don't act to live. I live to act.
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I never dreamed I would do Westerns.
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But I went to the University of Texas in the 30s, and while there I learned to ride. Mostly polo ponies.
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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 [Elia] Kazan and was called Baby Doll.
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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.
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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.
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My first Western was called The Magnificent Seven.
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In the book, I tell the story of seeing old movies when I was young and acting out scenes at home. Now I get scripts, and I act them out.
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What do I need a movie for? The stage is on a higher level in every way, and a more satisfying medium. Movies, by comparison, are like calendar art next to great paintings. You can't really do very much in movies or in television, but the stage is such an anarchistic medium.
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The big secret in acting is listening to people.
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Well, I've maybe gotten 200 requests for interviews about Marilyn, and I just decided I'm gonna do my own.
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And that movie was underrated - Nuts - because it deals with a terrible subject, but It's very well done.
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But Clint I love, because Clint was my mentor. I knew nothing about making an Italian movie.
Eli Wallach
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All of these stories bounced around in my mind for a long time.
Eli Wallach
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I've never lost my appetite for acting it's innovative and challenging.
Eli Wallach