Efrem Zimbalist Jr. Quotes

I have been very lucky for most of my adult life to be working as an actor.

I've been close to Bette Davis for thirty-eight years - and I have the cigarette burns to prove it.

I came in on the tail end of the old school of Hollywood.

Essentially, I'm a small-part actor who's been lucky enough to play leading roles for most of his life.

Movies were invented for Jimmy Cagney, and he was invented for the movies. A perfect match.

Long ago, I was lucky enough to shoot 'Flashpoint' and 'Durham County' at the same time. It doesn't happen often in an actor's life that you get two great parts simultaneously.

A lot of actors said they hated the studio system, but I loved it. It was like a college; it was a great place to learn.

I grew up being obsessed with old Hollywood and loving the history, what's behind the scenes, and what people don't know.

I have a romantic vision of the beautiful delineation between TV and film that existed for so many years. I romanticize the studio system and movie stars as a whole, but obviously that's just anachronistic and probably a non-reality.

I was a big fan of Greta Garbo and that era of movies, so I dreamt watching those movies.

Hollywood in the 1930s is an incredible period of history. There are so many amazing stories about the stars and the studios at that time that you can't fit into one film.

If you want to be real about it, the fact that any actor books a job is a one-in-a-million shot. I've been so fortunate to have worked on even a few films, so, no, I don't wake up feeling bad.

My grandparents lived in Hollywood, and I was surrounded by the romanticism of movies ever since I was a child.

It's so odd because I don't even know if I'm cut out for it, but being a movie star guy, I sort of end up gravitating toward the Coen brothers. That's one of the reasons my wife and I moved to L.A.: that however much of a pipe dream that would be, I moved to L.A. because I'd love to work with the Coen brothers.

I'm very good at getting up in the morning - so much of my life has been spent on film sets where we start at the crack of dawn.

My first year and a half in Hollywood, I did three films. Then in 1959, I was in 'Gidget,' 'Imitation of Life' and 'A Summer Place.' After that, I was a star. It was fun.

I was on a sitcom called 'Gary Unmarried' for 37 episodes, and then I was in 'Bad Teacher' with Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake.

I loved all those classic figures from the '30s and '40s... Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Humphrey Bogart, Rita Hayworth. They had such glamour and style. I loved the movies of those times too - so much attention paid to details, lights, clothing, the way the studios would develop talent.

I've been fortunate. I don't pick scripts. Scripts pick me.

I've been really lucky. When I decided to go to LA I said I was going to quit modelling and just go and see how I do. In the first two weeks I got three movies. I was so excited I had all my furniture shipped out from New York.

Anne Baxter was a very good actress, Donna Reid was great. You couldn't name an actress I wasn't crazy about.

It doesn't mean I'm not interested in Hollywood. I like the way it operates; I like the people who are involved and the sense of possibility. But if I ever get back in, it's not going to be as an actress.

Many years ago, I had the pleasure of editing a book by Joan Crawford, who, like Norma Desmond, was still a big star; it was just the movies that had gotten smaller.

I have been lucky because sometimes things go really pear-shaped with a second or a third part, but I have been lucky enough to be in good sequels.

I certainly wouldn't mind if 'Jurassic Park' turns out to be commercially successful, and somebody says, 'Hey, you were in a box-office hit, and if you want to do another movie, we'll give you five million dollars to make it.'