Quotes by Gene Hackman

“If you look at yourself as a star, youve already lost something in the portrayal of any human being”

“Dysfunctional families have sired a number of pretty good actors.”

“Scarecrow”

“[Did the two have any sense back then that they would be such massively successful and accomplished actors?] I wouldve been happy with an off, off Broadway job and thats what happened, ... We both started in something like that.”

“[Asked what changed in the tide to allow them to be stars, Hoffman laughs and replies,] A decline in the culture. ... Everyone has a chance if youre lucky enough to find the property and we all three individually were very fortunate.”

“I got fired, I think, because I just didnt fulfill the directors and the writers idea of what the part shouldve been. In rehearsals, I do a lot of searching around, I try not to perform and I really feel confident in what Im doing. I mean, you can go first day and perform and probably wont go further than that. But the way that we were all trained in the Fifties and Sixties, you needed to keep searching and so, I was doing that, and they decided that I was just taking too much time.”

“You have a powerful weapon working for you. For you there is no tomorrow and that makes you all very dangerous people!”

“If I start to become a star, Ill lose contact with the normal guys I play best.”

“I was trained to be an actor, not a star. I was trained to play roles, not to deal with fame and agents and lawyers and the press.”

“I do not like assassins, or men of low character.”