JUDY GARLAND:                                                             

[On her days at MGM] ‘MGM had us working days and nights on end. They’d give us pep-up pills to keep us on our feet long after we were exhausted. Then they’d take us to the studio hospital and knock us cold with sleeping pills…Then after four hours they’d wake us up and give us the pep-up pills again so we could work another 72 hours in a row. I started to feel like a wind-up toy from FAO Schwarz.’

JAMES GARNER:                                                 

Garner as Bret in the TV series Maverick (1957)

[On his conflicts with Warner Bros in relation to his contractual obligations to the TV series Maverick (1957). They really stuck it to me. I was young and dumb. I said a couple of things about being under contract that they didn’t like, like that I felt like a ham in a smokehouse. They were waiting to get back at me by laying me off. We went to court and got out of my contract. I didn’t want somebody in an office guiding my career. If I had a failure, I wanted it to be my failure. If I had a success, I wanted it to be my success.’

‘I did a little bit of cocaine in the eighties, courtesy of John Belushi, but fortunately I didn’t like it. But I smoked marijuana for 50 years and I don’t know where I’d be without it. It opened my mind and now it eases my arthritis. After decades of research I’ve concluded that marijuana should be legal and alcohol illegal.’

‘Too many actors have run for office. There’s one difference between me and them: I know I’m not qualified. In my opinion, Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn’t qualified to be Governor of California. Ronald Reagan wasn’t qualified to be Governor, let alone President. I was a vice-president of the Screen Actors Guild when he was its President. My duties consisted of attending meetings and voting. The only thing I remember is that Ronnie never had an original thought and that we had to tell him what to say. That’s no way to run a union, let alone a state or a country.’

JANEANE GAROFALO:                                      

‘Our country is founded on sham: our forefathers were slave-owning rich white guys who wanted it their way. So when I see the American flag, I go, ‘Oh my God, you’re insulting me.’ That you can have a gay parade on Christopher Street in New York, with naked men and women on a float cheering, ‘We’re here; we’re queer!’ – That’s what makes my heart swell. Not the flag, but a gay naked man or woman burning the flag. I get choked up with pride.’

‘We can laugh at Donald Trump. But when prideful ignorance and homophobia and misogyny and xenophobia become accepted political rhetoric, that’s not funny to me.’

WILLIAM HAINES:                                                          

Haines & Joan Crawford 1927

[Haines was a notoriously gay actor of the Roaring Twenties] ‘Joan Crawford thought we should get married. This was back in the 1920s, when I was a star and she was a rising flapper. It wasn’t just a crass question of her ambition, we were very good but platonic friends. I told her, ‘Cranberry’ – my pet name for her – ‘that isn’t how it works in Hollywood. They usually pair men who like men and ladies who like ladies.’ Because if we both liked men, where would we be as man and wife? She’d resent me, and that would be the end of our beautiful friendship.’

NINA FOCH:                                                                       

Nina & Bill Holden in The Dark Past (1948)

[On her co-stars in The Dark Past (1948)] ‘Bill Holden was a sweetheart. He was lovely to work with. I think Bill’s father had made him believe that acting wasn’t really a fit occupation for a man, which gave him great unhappiness. But we got along fine. Lee [Lee J. Cobb] was obnoxious. He’d come in every morning and complain about the film and how awful it was. It drove Bill crazy – he’d be dying inside. But that’s how Lee cranked up his motor, by bad-mouthing everything. So I’d commiserate with Bill and get his spirits up again.’

‘I wasn’t very happy at Columbia. I didn’t like Harry Cohn and his ilk. They wished I was prettier, had luscious lips and big tits, but I didn’t. But when you were under contract to a studio, you were stuck.’

EDWARD FOX:                                                                  

Daniel Craig as James Bond

[On the decision to cast Daniel Craig as James Bond] ‘So ugly! He is utterly wrong for Bond. The opposite of what [Ian Fleming] intended, and I knew Fleming.’

ANDY GARCIA:                                                                

[Andy was born in Havana, Cuba] ‘I never applied to go back to Cuba. They did invite me to the Havana Film Festival, but I am opposed to the regime in Cuba. I’d have liked to go back every day of my life. But in honour of all the people who have died and suffered under that regime, I’m not able to make that leap. I’m an exile. My father had the courage to leave with his wife, his mother and three children under twelve. It took more courage to leave, to sacrifice everything for freedom, than to stay.’

MEL GIBSON:                                                        

[On salvation for those outside the Roman Catholic Church] ‘There is no salvation for those outside the Church…I believe it. Put it this way. My wife is a saint. She’s a much better person than I am. Honestly. She’s like, Episcopalian, Church of England. She prays, she believes in God, she knows Jesus, she believes in that stuff. And it’s just not fair if she doesn’t make it, she’s better than I am. But that is a pronouncement from the chair. I go with it.’

‘…what the hell are we doing in Iraq? No-one can explain to me in a reasonable manner that I can accept why we’re there, why we went there, and why we’re still there.’

[On his drunk driving relapse] ‘I acted like a person completely out of control when I was arrested, and said things that I do not believe to be true and which are despicable. The arresting officer was just doing his job and I feel fortunate that I was apprehended before I caused injury to any other person. I disgraced myself and my family with my behaviour and for that I am truly sorry. I have battled with the disease of alcoholism for all of my adult life and profoundly regret my horrific relapse.’