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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.

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
Tell
Stories
Scenes
Young
Scripts
Home
Scene
Book
Movies
Seeing
Acting
Story

More quotes by Eli Wallach

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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.
Eli Wallach
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The big secret in acting is listening to people.
Eli Wallach
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Recipe? Recipe? We don' need no stinkin' recipe.
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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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
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I never dreamed I would do Westerns.
Eli Wallach
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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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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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One thing changes every evening: It's the audience, and I'm working my magic. I'm always learning from it.
Eli Wallach
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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.
Eli Wallach
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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.
Eli Wallach
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I don't act to live. I live to act.
Eli Wallach
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My first Western was called The Magnificent Seven.
Eli Wallach
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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.
Eli Wallach
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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.
Eli Wallach
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Having the critics praise you is like having the hangman say you've got a pretty neck.
Eli Wallach
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No, I never thought of it in those terms. I used to go into agents' offices and they'd have pictures of these handsome movie men and I knew I'd never be up there. I'm a journeyman actor. I didn't think about stardom.
Eli Wallach
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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.
Eli Wallach
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I love to tell stories and this is my way of getting them down on paper.
Eli Wallach
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Fifty million dollars is not to be sneezed at. Of course, I never catch cold.
Eli Wallach