All of these stories bounced around in my mind for a long time.
And I did Batman, too. I did Mr. Freeze. I get more mail for him than anything I've ever done.
And that movie was underrated - Nuts - because it deals with a terrible subject, but It's very well done.
And then the first was The Misfits, which I enjoyed very much, with Marilyn and Gable.
But Clint I love, because Clint was my mentor. I knew nothing about making an Italian movie.
But I went to the University of Texas in the 30s, and while there I learned to ride. Mostly polo ponies.
Even if I don't want to slow down, I'm slowing down.
Everyone thinks acting is easy. It's far from easy, but it's the most gratifying thing I do.
From the age of four or five. I went to see a lot of Westerns then. But it was silent movies and I loved everything that happened then.
Having the critics praise you is like having the hangman say you've got a pretty neck.
I always end up being the evil one, and I wouldn't hurt a fly.
I always wanted to tell stories and act.
I love to tell stories and this is my way of getting them down on paper.
I met my wife and, for the next ten years, we did no films at all. She did the first movie and then I did several after. My first movie was written by Tennessee Williams and directed by Kazan and was called Baby Doll.
I never dreamed I would do Westerns.
I never lost my appetite for acting.
I was an original member of the Actors' Studio.
I'd come out of the army after five years as a medic. I was a medical administrator and we ran hospitals, and I was a Captain in the army at the end, in 1945.
I'd have to think of the way I'd act if I were evil or bad. I have to find justification; it had to have meaning.
I've learned that life is very tricky business: Each person needs to find what they want to do in life and not be dissuaded when people question them.
I've never lost my appetite for acting; it's innovative and challenging.
I've worked with wonderful actors like Marlon Brando and Henry Fonda.
In the book, I tell the story of seeing old movies when I was young and acting out scenes at home. Now I get scripts, and I act them out.
John Huston was a superb master. He knew how to make good films. I did three things with him. One is called Independence. It plays in Philadelphia, for free. It's been playing there for 25 years.
My first Western was called The Magnificent Seven.
My wife says that stage acting is like being on a tightrope with no net, and being in the movies, there is a net - because you stop and go over it again. It's very technical and mechanical. On stage you're on your own.
One thing changes every evening: It's the audience, and I'm working my magic. I'm always learning from it.
So I wanted to show what I did with the money. So I got red silk shirts, beautiful hats, wonderful saddles, a great horse, and two gold teeth. So that was the way I did it.
The big secret in acting is listening to people.
The trouble with that movie is that you had to see Chinatown the day before you saw The Two Jakes.
There's a scene in Baby Doll where we're sitting around the dining table that was played in toto. It was wonderful because it had an alive quality.
This country has a complex about age. It's unbelievable. If you're over thirty, you've had it in this country.
We had what they called a curtain club. There wasn't a Drama Department. I spent four years there. One of my classmates was Walter Cronkite. He's an old man now... so am I!
Well, I go to the theater today, and its curtain - there is no curtain in this play; the lights go down and go up - and we start. And I live this character for two hours. There are only two of us in the play. And It's a complete experience.
Well, I was getting a lot of money then, and I wasn't getting any Hollywood films, so I just did those. I'd always do a play in between. Whenever I ran low on funds, I'd always rush off to do a movie somewhere.
Well, I've maybe gotten 200 requests for interviews about Marilyn, and I just decided I'm gonna do my own.
What I do like is talking to young people and saying this is what I did in my life.
What is it in my makeup that makes me grab any offer and fly around the world? Will I ever be satisfied? Can't I ever just rest?
When I saw the movie, I said, I wish I had heard the music. I would have ridden the horse differently.
When you have to shoot, shoot, don't talk.
Yes, I won the Bafta. I thought the British were very intelligent.
He and his wife, Anne Jackson, were long time friends of Marilyn Monroe. She frequently babysat for their children in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
He is the subject of the song Eli Wallach, on the album "(Methods of Getting Rid of) Hiccups" by Australian singer/songwriter Darren Hanlon.
He has worked with some of the biggest film stars of the the last sixty years including Charles Laughton, Edward G. Robinson, Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Robert Vaughn, Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Peter O'Toole, Clint Eastwood, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Kevin Bacon and Laurence Fishburne.
He appeared with Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and Steve McQueen in their final completed films:
He was almost killed twice during the filming of
He has a brother and two sisters, all of whom became teachers.
He is best known for his role as the lead bandit Calvera in
His son, Peter Wallach, is a special effects director.
Eli Wallach: (about technology) "Where are you getting all this vitae about me? Off a computer? I don’t know about privacy any more. I really don’t. People send me stuff even I’ve forgotten. I still have a rotary phone. Over my objections, they put in a fax."
He attended the University of Texas in Austin. He graduated with a BA degree in 1936 and subsequently attended the City College of New York, planning to be a teacher.
He served for five years in the Army's Medical Administrative Corps during World War II, eventually attaining the rank of captain.
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