Peter Stone Quotes

United States, Writer
February 27, 1930 – April, 26, 2003.

Peter Hess Stone was an American writer for theater, television and movies. Stone is perhaps best remembered by the general public for the screenplays he wrote or co-wrote in the mid-1960s, Charade (1963), Father Goose (1964), and Mirage (1965).

There are two kinds of actors: those with one job too few, who have to take every one that comes along, and those with one job too many, who can always turn down the one they don't want.

Peter Stone
- Job
- Want
- Actors
For writers that rehearsal period is death. It is the most destructive thing of all to a script.

Peter Stone
- Death
- Writer
- Script

It seems to me that everybody who's a success has made a decision to put themselves in a situation that eats away at their privacy. Their hours just don't end. Now, with actors it's extreme, because their privacy is almost nonexistent.

Peter Stone
Hollywood is a cottage industry involving a very small number of people, and around the edges are enormous numbers of people trying to get into it and work.

Peter Stone
When talking about unicorns, minotaurs, or compassionate conservatives, one does not normally have to prove their non-existence; the mere lack of any evidence is sufficient reason not to believe in any of them.

Peter Stone
Musicals are written and then rewritten. Those things used to happen on the road. Now they are done in New York during preview performances.

Peter Stone
- Road
- New York
- Musicals
The rehearsal period is so far away from the time when the scene will actually be shot that very little is remembered.

Peter Stone
- Scene
- Shot
- Rehearsal
You listen to the audience. The audience is wrong individually and always right collectively. If they don't laugh, it isn't funny. If they cough, it isn't interesting. If they walk out, you are in trouble.

Peter Stone

The relationship between an actress and her director is often a very close one.

Peter Stone
I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace, that two are called a law firm, and that three or more become a congress.

Peter Stone
- Congress
- Firm
- Disgrace