Charles Durning famous quotes

Last updated: Sep 5, 2024

That place that no one knows about - horrifying things we keep secret. A lot of that is released through acting.
-- Charles Durning

#Secret #Acting
I was doing judo before anybody knew it existed in this country.
-- Charles Durning

#Country #Judo
I'd like to have a decade of my life back. I dropped into a void for almost a decade.
-- Charles Durning

#Void
If I had my druthers, I would do only stage work.
-- Charles Durning

#Stage
Sometimes you succeed and sometimes you don't.
-- Charles Durning

#Succeed #Sometimes
You make the money in movies and TV so you can do theater. I do a play a year... somewhere.
-- Charles Durning

#Years #Play #Tvs
Acting is ephemeral. You can't hang it on a wall. You can't throw it off. And you can't bring it out of a closet. It's there one night and it's gone the next, at least with stage acting anyhow.
-- Charles Durning

#Wall #Night #Acting
I would rather do a play because it's instantaneous. You go on the stage, and you know whether it's happening or not. Somebody asked me 'What is acting?' And I said, 'Acting is listening.' And if you ain't listening, nobody's listening.
-- Charles Durning

#Play #Listening #Acting
Of course, I'm not often the top dog, but sometimes it's better not to be top dog, because you last longer. If a movie or play flops, you always blame the lead. They say, 'He couldn't carry it.' They always blame him. But they rarely blame the second or third banana.
-- Charles Durning

#Dog #Play #Lasts
I was born looking older - and I've been aging since I was a teenager.
-- Charles Durning

#Teenager #Aging #Born
I was born a character actor.
-- Charles Durning

#Character #Actors #Born
In order for your dreams to come true, you've got to stay awake.
-- Charles Durning

#Dream #Order #Vision
There's no nobility with war. It's tear-'em-up destruction that leaves you frustrated, bitter and angry... If you really knew what it was like for an hour, you wouldn't want anyone to go through it.
-- Charles Durning

#War #Frustrated #Tears
There are many secrets in us, in the depths of our souls, that we don't want anyone to know about.
-- Charles Durning

#Soul #Secret #Depth
Dancing came easy for me. Acting came hard.
-- Charles Durning

#Dancing #Acting #Easy
I can't count how many of my friends are in the cemetery at Normandy, the heroes are still there, the real heroes.
-- Charles Durning

#Real #Hero #Normandy
I lack confidence as an actor.
-- Charles Durning

#Actors
I never turned down anything and never argued with any producer or director.
-- Charles Durning

#Directors #Producers #Turned Down
I think I've done 200 plays and 125 movies, so I've been very lucky to have made a living at acting.
-- Charles Durning

#Thinking #Play #Acting
You're out there on a high wire without a net, and that's the way actors operate. They have to be fearless about how they work and they have to create a life for the audience in 90 minutes and make them believe.
-- Charles Durning

#Believe #Fearless #Wire

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