When an actor plays a scene exactly the way a director orders, it isn’t acting. It’s following instructions.
JAMES DEANI’m a serious-minded and intense little devil – terribly gauche and so tense that I don’t see how people can stay in the same room as me. I know I couldn’t tolerate myself.
More James Dean Quotes
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In the short span of his lifetime, an actor must learn all there is to know, experience all there is to experience, or approach that state as closely as possible.
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To my way of thinking, an actor’s course is set even before he’s out of the cradle.
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Remember: Life is short, break the rules (they were made to be broken) Forgive quickly, kiss slowly Love truly, laugh uncontrollably And never regret anything that makes you smile.
JAMES DEAN -
When an actor plays a scene exactly the way a director orders, it isn’t acting. It’s following instructions. Anyone with the physical qualifications can do that.
JAMES DEAN -
Being an actor is the loneliest thing in the world. You are all alone with your concentration and imagination, and that’s all you have.
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Being a good actor isn’t easy. Being a man is even harder. I want to be both before I’m done.
JAMES DEAN -
The gratification comes in the doing, not in the results.
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Only the gentle are ever really strong.
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A fish that is in the water has no choice that he is. Genius would have it that we swim in sand. We are fish and we drown.
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Am I in love? Absolutely. I’m in love with ancient philosophers, foreign painters, classic authors, and musicians who have died long ago. I’m a passionate lover.
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To grasp the full significance of life is the actor’s duty; to interpret it his problem; and to express it his dedication.
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On these days I go to my studio, leaf through an art history book, and tell myself that I am part of this great tradition.
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He must be superhuman in his efforts to store away in the core of his subconscious everything that he might be called upon to use in the expression of his art.
JAMES DEAN -
An actor must interpret life, and in order to do so must be willing to accept all the experiences life has to offer. In fact, he must seek out more of life than life puts at his feet.
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I think the prime reason for existence, for living in this world is discovery.
JAMES DEAN