As an actor he is superb. However you read a line, he has anticipated — Robert Mitchum

"Deep down he is a gentle, obliquely witty man, possessed of many, many more talents than the acting by which he is known."

"For a while it looked like I was going to be stuck in westerns. I figured out I could make 6 a year for 60 years and then retire. I decided I didnt want it. So I started blinking my eyes every time a gun went off in the scenes. That got me out of westerns."

"She may have been right. Looking back, I suppose I was expecting, as a young actor, to discuss Stanislavski or Acting as an art. Instead, I palled around with the crew—the grips, the stagehands—and the conversation centered around the two Bs—broads and booze."

"No. But it was indicated by other people that I should go there—like my wife, my friends, the woman from Alcoholics Anonymous who came around. My wife, Dottie, was the prime mover. It would have been a disappointment to her if Id rejected her suggestion. I stayed until they were done with me. I dont know if it worked. I dont understand that."

"Listen, when I arrived in Los Angeles in the early 40s, there were just 640,000 people. Every loser in the world headed there because there was no competition. The keynote was mediocrity because the film, radio and music businesses had defined that the average mental age of the audience was 12. They handed me the bloodstained hat of a guy whod fallen off his horse and suddenly I was in the movies—in a Hopalong Cassidy picture. I give hope to the hopeless. People say, "If he can make it, I can be Queen of England."

"Got the same attitude I had when I started. Havent changed anything but my underwear. Ive played everything except midgets and women. People cant make up their minds whether Im the greatest actor in the world - or the worst. Matter of fact, neither can I. Its been said I underplay so much, I could have stayed home. But I must be good at my job. Or they wouldnt haul me around the world at these prices."