EVA MARIE SAINT (1924 – )         

[Speaking of blondes in Alfred Hitchcock movies]: ‘There were six of us blondes, and it’s like we were all married to the man at one time or another. And we all have a different take on him. Each actress was at a different stage of her life; we were different ages, some married, some not. My experience with Hitch was one of utter respect, warmth, friendliness and humor, and North by Northwest (1959) was a glorious time in my life.’

[On Warren Beatty]: ‘Remote. There was an intelligence about him that I admired. That [All Fall Down (1962)] was one of his first films, so he wasn’t that relaxed. It was hard to get to know him.’

[On Cary Grant]: ‘Adorable! A dear man and funny. Probably the most elegant man I’ve ever worked with – or even met.’

[On Montgomery Clift]: ‘Very strange, to me. Very shy, really quite unavailable – but very curious. I didn’t get to know him at all. He was so shy that it made me shy; however, the shyness didn’t exist when we were acting together.’

[On Bob Hope]: ‘Let’s talk about a sense of humor! He was just downright fun to work with. He’s a workaholic, which I’m not. I’ve other interests in my life, but he’s only happy when he’s performing. He is an American institution.’

[On Marlon Brando]: ‘…It felt like he understood me more than I understood myself, knew more about me than I felt I knew myself. And after a while I just relaxed. And I’d come from the Actors Studio; we all had, so I just relaxed and used that. I’ve never been intimidated by other actors because I’m an actor. I’m not in awe, but I certainly have respect for other wonderful actors. People ask me, ‘Weren’t you nervous opposite Marlon Brando?’ But no, I was at the Studio, and he was a member and a fine, fine actor.’

AIDAN TURNER (1983 – )                        

Eleanor Tomlinson in Poldark

[The Irish star who played the title character in the Poldark series (2015-19), was asked how he got along with his enchanting co-star Eleanor Tomlinson]: ‘She’s amazing. She’s great. She’s so cool. She’s just really laid-back, really gorgeous. Just so much fun. We had a lot of fun on set. I think we’re quite similar in our natures. We’re kind of, I don’t know, we have similar sorts of attributes, I guess, that work really well together. It helps a lot because…if we didn’t get on I think the audience might see it, so thankfully we’re good friends.’

FRED WARD (1942 – 2022)                      

[A former boxer who had his nose broken four times, spoke about the toughest job he ever had]: ‘Timber faller. It’s the most dangerous, aside from combat, that you can ever have. There are a lot of ways you can get killed. A tree can ‘barber-chair’, come back on you. ‘Widow-makers’, which are dead limbs, can fall out. You can’t predict what a tree will do sometimes. You have to watch sawdust and make sure the tree’s not rotting. If it is, it might split on you.  It’s dangerous, it’s hot – it’s hard work. You have a big chainsaw that’s rattling away and bouncing around, and you’re slipping and sliding and standing on land that’s sometimes nearly straight up and down. It can get crazy.’

STAN LAUREL (1890 – 1965)                  

[On the type of humor he preferred]: ‘Crazy humor was always my type of humor, but it’s the quiet kind of craziness I like. The rough type of nut humor, like The Marx Brothers, I could never go for.’

MICHAEL PARE (1958 – )                        

[Oliver Stone asked the former chef/male model to join the cast of Platoon (1986)]: ‘I wish I hadn’t turned down Platoon, the Oliver Stone film. Well, I didn’t turn down Platoon, actually. He wanted me to do Platoon, but he wanted me to do the film Salvador (1986) first. My agent, manager and people around me were saying, ‘No, he’s a writer, not a director. He’s just crazy.’ So I had to turn that down, and Oliver Stone became the giant, iconic, Academy Award – winning writer and Academy Award – winning director. That was something I will always regret.’

HENRY SILVA (1926 – 2022)                   

[An instantly recognizable face, but not so the name, Henry portrayed mostly ‘heavies’ for most of his career. He spoke about his New York City roots]: ‘If you come from the ghetto, you’re automatically stamped stupid. Living in a ghetto? Stupid, no education. Which is unfortunate, because the guys were articulate, they were bright, they had their own gyms, and they had their own businesses. They were really striving to overcome their environment, which was really exciting for me, because like I say, I come from the ghetto.’

ROBERT CLARY (1926 – 2022)               

[The five feet one inch French/Jewish actor who played Corporal Louis LeBeau in the 1965 TV series Hogan’s Heroes, must surely hold the title of ‘the oldest survivor of Buchenwald death camp’, having lived until the age of ninety-six after being sent there in 1942 when he was just sixteen!]: ‘The whole experience was a complete nightmare, the way they treated us, what we had to do to survive. We were less than animals. Sometimes I dream about those days. I wake up in a sweat, terrified for fear I’m about to be sent away to a concentration camp. But I don’t hold a grudge because that’s a great waste of time.’

[At Buchenwald, Clary sang to an audience of SS soldiers every other Sunday, accompanied by an accordionist]: ‘Singing, entertaining, and being in kind of good health at my age, that’s why I survived. I was very immature and young, and not fully realizing what situation I was involved with…I don’t know if I would have survived if I really knew that.’

TIMOTHY DALTON (1946 – )                  

[On drinking Vodka Martinis]: ‘I don’t think I’ve drunk one since I left the Bond movies. Every bar you go in, there’s always some wisecrack, ‘Oh, yours will be a Martini, shaken, not stirred!’ You get sick and tired of that.’

[On Roger Moore’s portrayal of James Bond and his own preferences re: 007 films]: ‘I know Roger, and I think he does a fantastic job, but they were different kinds of movies. Roger is one of the only people in the world who can be fun in all the midst of that gadgetry. But in truth my favorite Bond films were always Dr. No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963) and Goldfinger (1964).’