John Hurt Quotes
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I first decided that I wanted to act when I was 9. And I was at a very bizarre prep school at the time; to say 'high Anglo-Catholic' would be a real English understatement.
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As Beckett said, it's not enough to die, one has to be forgotten as well.
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I knew I didn't want to pursue an academic career at all, which, of course, my father would have loved me to have done. I didn't want to go to university. The only other thing I could do was paint, and so I went to art school because they couldn't conceive of how one would be an actor.
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I'm not really a big musical fan. I enjoyed 'West Side Story' when it came out, but it gets a bit tired in the end.
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One thing that is likely to make you lose touch is if you keep in touch with the past too much.
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You can't lose your concentration at all. And there are times when you're on the stage, and you've got silence, which is wonderful, but you have to have the confidence to make you realize it's fine. You can't suddenly wobble and think, 'They're not interested.'
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I've lived publicly and never hidden behind closed doors. Therefore, if I have gone over the top sometimes, it has been visible.
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The most difficult thing about painting is the self-discipline. When I finish a job, I give myself a few days, but then I have to discipline myself quite fiercely if I want to do some painting that's worthwhile. Otherwise, you're just doodling. It's much easier when you're just told what you have to do.
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Early on, I didn't intend to have children. I thought it was too difficult a world for them. But then it happened, and I am thrilled to have them now.
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If I'm doing a play, 30 to 40 percent of the people that come to the stage door have pictures of 'Alien' for me to autograph. And usually, the photos are pretty gory ones.
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Picasso was hugely innovative, and, wow, did he have facility, amazing ability, but I don't think he painted a masterpiece.
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My parents felt that acting was far too insecure. Don't ask me what made them think that painting would be more secure.
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I have done quite a lot of outsider figures.
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Don't forget there are two sides to performing. Finding the truth, but you also have to be transparent enough for the audience to see it. How many times have you seen a performance and thought: 'Well, it seems to be meaning a great deal to you but it ain't coming across to me?' It is to be shared.
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I think fame makes people a bit nervous.
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I say you play a part, you don't work one.
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I don't know whether I inspire anything in anyone.
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I'm essentially the result of other people's imagination. And that's fine. Because of other people's imagination, I've played parts I would never have thought I could do. Still, I've never had a hankering or an ambition for any particular role.
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I like the physical activity of gardening. It's kind of thrilling. I do a lot of weeding.
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The clergy is in the same business as actors, just a different department.
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I never quite understand why we watch the news. There doesn't really seem much point watching somebody tell you what the news is when you could quite easily listen to it on the radio.
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Things come in a quieter way to me. It's not laziness, and it's not diffidence. I just know how far you have to bend for work. That's important for me.
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There's an awful lot of hanging around when you're doing science fiction. Going down and waiting for them to set up, being told to go back to your dressing room while they change the track and the lighting and so on.
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Everybody's got to work with Roger Corman. You can't leave out that experience.