1950s Hollywood Quotes

'The King and I' - one of the first films I ever saw.

Unless you're of a certain age, you may not know my name, but you can Google it - I was a pretty big movie star in the 1950s. Oh, and another thing: I was - am - gay.

Sunset Boulevard' is my favorite film.

During the late '50s, I had worked on the script of Ben-Hur in an office next to that of the producer Sam Zimbalist.

I myself am a great James Dean fan. He had this aura and enigma about him.

It was the era of Tab Hunter and Rock Hudson; they all had a certain look.

At one point or another, everybody gets called 'the new James Dean.'

There was a time when I thought Kim Novak was the sexiest woman in the world.

Actually, what will be shown from here to eternity will be Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr cavorting on the beach. 'From Here to Eternity' must have seemed like a chore to its director, Fred Zinnemann.

When I grew into a teenager, I became obsessed with Marlon Brando, Montgomery Cliff, and James Dean.

I knew by heart all the dialogue of James Dean's films; I could watch Rebel Without a Cause a hundred times over.

I liked the fact that 'My Week With Marilyn' wasn't a biopic.

When I was filming the Marilyn Monroe movie, I was listening to a lot of Leonard Cohen.

Steve McQueen was from a time when you didn't know every little dirty thing about our public figures. He and James Dean were very mysterious, archetypal American heroes.

There would be no Tab Hunter if it were not for Dick Clayton.

Even though L.A Confidential box-office was a fraction of, say, Titanic or the Grinch movie, it finds its audience and will continue doing so for who knows how long, because of the basic thing we love about movies, which is storytelling and performances.

I never wanted to work in fashion. At age 12 or 13, I wanted to design for showgirls - for the theater! And I was crazy for the Hollywood of the 1950s: Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor, Jennifer Jones. They were my idea of glamour - and Sylvie Vartan, the French singer.

Anyone can be James Dean for a day.

More than anything else, my mother wanted to be an actress - a famous actress - which in the 1950s was all about being young, sexy, and available. She was all that, and more. She had big blue eyes, alabaster skin, a heart-shaped face, a beautiful figure. She was just a knockout.