“I look in the mirror and say to myself, Can it be you once played Romeo?”

It took me years to live down Dracula and convince the film producers that I would play almost any other type of role.

Actors were exploited no less by the capitalist managers than they were by the state.

In the studio the director controls the actor’s every move, every inflection, every expression.

I’d like to quit the supernatural roles and play just an interesting, down-to-earth person.

In Hungary, acting is a career for which one fits himself as earnestly as one studies for a degree in medicine, law, or philosophy.

I enjoy my work. I haven’t been an actor for 30 years without getting pleasure out of the profession.

A screen actor is compensated in the knowledge that millions will see his performance at one time, where only hundreds will see it on the stage.

Every producer in Hollywood had set me down as a type. I was both amused and disappointed.

The actor depends wholly on himself. He gives his performance in what, to him, seems the most effective manner.

I have played Dracula a thousand times on stage and I find I have become thoroughly settled in the technique of the stage and not of the screen.

In making theories, always keep a window open so that you can throw one out if necessary.

It is women who love horror. Gloat over it. Feed on it. Are nourished by it. Shudder and cling and cry out-and come back for more.

It took several years of hard work in small roles before I attained stardom.

I studied at the Budapest Academy of Theatrical Arts for four years and emerged with a degree.

It was hell to go through what I went through. I didn’t know I had so many friends. Many people gave a damn about my situation. They helped cure me.

I’ll take any story if it’s good.

Failure is the true test of greatness

Don’t be like the rest of them, darling.