Quotes By Alan Ladd

I don't care how small the parts are, as long as they're good.

I'm working myself to death.

It's natural to want your kids to have all the things you didn't have.

I'm no good with words but I'll find ways from time to time to show you how grateful I am.

I learned more about acting from George Stevens in a few months than I had in my entire life up until then.

Strangers still leave me self-conscious.

It's a funny thing about me. I don't have any interest in food most of the time now, although when I was a kid I was always hungry.

I've always had a great respect for the picture business. It's been good to me.

I know what's good for me. I can't play black or gray. I can't be a villain or anything close to one. I have to play white.

I was never trained for anything.

Maybe I thought too much about picking up the money and not enough about the really good parts.

I just want to make pictures that are entertaining. I'll leave the scenery chewing to someone else.

A producer has to know all about everything from set-building to costumes to acting.

My parents were so poor when I was a kid, I never went anywhere. I take our youngsters with us because I don't know anything that teaches them so much.

It seems only reasonable that the people have a right to know virtually everything about the personality they are buying each time they put their money through the box office.

I'm going to make it. Nothing is going to stop me. Nothing. I want it too much.

Maybe I can't act, but I know the gimmicks. I studied acting all my life and know what's good for me.

I was a dummy in school.

If you can figure out my success on the screen, you're a better man than I.

I wish I were the type who could walk into a place and have everybody love me. But I'm not, and there's no use wishing.

I had only that one picture, Hitler, the Beast of Berlin, in which I had a part big enough to impress anyone. I tried for better roles over and over again.

Not every father gets a chance to start his son off in his own footsteps.

I'd rather be David Ladd's father than Alan Ladd any day.

Being a good host offsets the deprivation and loneliness of my youth.

When I was on the air a lot my throat and vocal chords got tired. If you don't vary your tones you can't get pretty tired of your own voice.

I hear about stars being torn to pieces by fans. It never happened to me and I never saw it happen to anyone else.

What good will a tax break do me if I'm crippled for life?

I never fail to feel let down when I see myself on the screen.

Time scoots along pretty fast when you grow up.

I'm the most insecure guy in Hollywood. If you had it good all your life, you figure it can't ever get bad, but when you had it bad, you wonder how long a thing like this will last.