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" If I have to speak in public, I am terrified. "
Kirk Douglas
Public
Terrified
Am
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" Acting is make-believe. I never believe I'm the character; I want you to believe. "
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You
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Character
" My mother, we were a very poor family. When I was a kid, we would be in our little room, and there would be a knock on the door almost every night with a hobo begging for food. Even though we didn't even have enough to eat, my mother always found something to give them. "
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Door
Family
Food
" If I thought a man had never committed a sin in his life, I don't think I'd want to talk with him. A man with flaws is more interesting. "
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Think
Thought
" Why can't a woman be more like a dog, huh? So sweet, loving, attentive. "
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Woman
Dog
Loving
" No matter how bad things are, they can always be worse. So what if my stroke left me with a speech impediment? Moses had one, and he did all right. "
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Matter
Bad
" People are composed of many things, and in my work, what influences me is the complexity of people - the chiaroscuro of dark and light. When I play a strong guy, I try to find, where is he weak? And, conversely, when I play a weak guy, where is he strong? "
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People
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Work
" I was not a very good Jew. I never practised what Judaism tells you to do, to teach your kids all about Judaism. "
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Judaism
You
Teach
" I don't need a critic to tell me I'm an actor. I make my own way. Nobody's my boss. Nobody's ever been my boss. "
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Nobody
Boss
Me
" Virtue is not photogenic, so I liked playing bad guys. But, whenever I played a bad guy, I tried to find something good in him, and that kept my contact with the audience. "
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Him
Audience
Virtue
" Too often, I have not been what I wanted to be; I've succumbed to pressures. Yes, I have. The things I've done that I liked, I've always done against advice. "
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Always
Yes
Done
" My first job was on Broadway. Then I went into the Navy. When I came out of the Navy, I went back to Broadway and a friend of mine, Lauren Bacall, was in Hollywood filming with Humphrey Bogart. She told one of her producers I was great in my play, and he saw it and cast me in 'The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'. "
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Me
Love
Great
" When you have a stroke, you must talk slowly to be understood, and I've discovered that when I talk slowly, people listen. They think I'm going to say something important! "
Kirk Douglas
Important
Think
People
" It's tough to make a movie about movies... We're all too close to it. But 'The Bad and the Beautiful' was very good. "
Kirk Douglas
Tough
Beautiful
Too
" I know Italians and I like them. A lot of my father's best friends were Italians. "
Kirk Douglas
Best
Father
Friends
" I never had any desire to be a film actor. I never thought I was the good-looking movie type, which I assumed they wanted. "
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Film
Thought
Had
" Cancer does give you a new rejuvenation. I know what it's like to be down. I lost a couple of good friends - Larry Hagman and Nick Ashford - who had the same type of cancer that I did, and that makes you think. "
Kirk Douglas
Friends
Good
Know
" Acting is a youthful profession. "
Kirk Douglas
Profession
Acting
Youthful
" I came from abject poverty. There was nowhere to go but up. "
Kirk Douglas
Came
Nowhere
I Came
" If you want to know about a man you can find out an awful lot by looking at who he married. "
Kirk Douglas
You
Find
Know
" I'm an actor; I have made my living by acting, and I almost think I owe it to the public to express my feelings and not as a character on a screen but as myself. "
Kirk Douglas
Think
Acting
Character
" You know, sometimes an interviewer will look at me and say - you're bright! They're actually surprised I might be bright. "
Kirk Douglas
Look
Me
Say
" Now, what does an actor who can't talk do? Wait for silent pictures to come back? "
Kirk Douglas
Wait
Now
Silent
" Listen - pacemaker, crash, stroke. What does it mean? God doesn't want me now. That's all. "
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Now
Want
God
" Sometimes, the thing that ties you down sets you free. "
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You
Thing
Sometimes
" When you become a star, you don't change - everyone else does. "
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Become
Star
You
" All my life, I have taken inventory at intervals. For example, when I became a movie actor and suddenly I had to deal with fame, money and playing so many roles, I lost myself. I said, 'Who am I?' And I wrote my first book to deal with that, 'The Ragman's Son.' "
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Myself
Son
Money
" I have been an actor for most of my life. When I started out, I didn't think about anything except what was good for me. Like many movie stars, I became all wrapped up in myself. "
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Myself
Me
Good
" I was living in a terrible time when people were being accused of being communists, and they attacked the movie industry, especially the writers. People couldn't work if they were on the blacklist. The studios banned them. It was the most onerous period in movie history. I don't think we have ever had a period so dark as that. "
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Think
Time
Dark
" Virtue is not photogenic. What is it to be a nice guy? To be nothing, that's what. A big fat zero with a smile for everybody. "
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Fat
Virtue
Big
" Sometimes an interviewer will look at me and say, 'You're bright!' They're actually surprised I might be bright. "
Kirk Douglas
You
Say
Bright