Words matter. These are the best Robert Osborne Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
If I didn’t have my little schedule book, I wouldn’t get out of bed in the morning.
I think that no matter whether you’re Quentin Tarantino or any other kind of a rebel, or whatever, everyone who makes movies still wants to win an Academy Award, because it’s like the Pulitzer Prize or the Congressional Medal of Honor.
I always felt that Bette Davis was one of the great screen actresses who never really got her due – she won two Oscars, but the last was in 1938, and that was really before all the great work that she did.
I love to be able to meet people who are successful, and I love them not because they’re successful, but usually people who are successful have qualities that make them interesting to be around.
My love of movies started when I was 7 years old, living in a small town, going to the movies all the time, and finding the people in the movies more interesting than the people in my small town. Also, at that time, it wasn’t that easy to find out about movies.
Seeing New York in the movies is what made me want to live in Manhattan one day. I eventually got my wish, and the city has never disappointed me.
There comes a time when even icons, if they choose to do so, should be allowed to enjoy life out of the spotlight.
I still think of Columbia as one Rita Hayworth movie a year, or maybe one a year directed by Frank Capra in the ’30s. To see how many really outstanding movies Columbia made, and all together, is kind of eye-opening.
There’s an excellent movie we have on TCM called ‘It Happened on Fifth Avenue,’ which was originally going to be directed by Frank Capra… but just before he was going to start working on it, he came across this story called ‘The Greatest Gift.’ And that turned into ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’
When a movie opened – if you lived in New York, you would see it at Radio City Music Hall where it would play a couple of weeks, and then you moved on to the next movie. Now you can see it the rest of your life – it’s going to be on Netflix and DVD.
I was shaped by the heroes in the films I saw, which you always want to emulate and be like. I wanted to be like Alan Ladd, Gary Cooper, Jimmy Stewart.
I’m very enthusiastic about the Academy Awards because if there were no Oscars, we wouldn’t have as many good movies as we do have.
When I was growing up, you’d read about actors, and they’d never tell you their age and how much they made a year as part of their definition.
If they didn’t have an Oscar for people to shoot for, all they’d do is be making ‘Dumb And Dumber’ again and again.
You see a Clint Eastwood movie, and you might not know if it’s from Universal or Warner Bros. or another studio. He has affiliations with so many studios now, but there was a time when you’d just look at a movie and think, ‘Oh, that’s a Warner Bros. film.’
In a business like the movie business, you’re going to have a lot of people competing. Somebody is always coming behind them who wants their job. Being an actor is like being in quicksand: whatever you do, it disappears very quickly. You have to keep reminding people.
Lana Turner was adorable and funny. Jimmy Stewart was such a nice person. I quickly realized that if you’re not a nice person, you’re not going to last in this business. I mean, once your box office starts to drop off, like Veronica Lake, they’ll get rid of you fast.
I liked ‘The Help,’ and I love Viola Davis. But I didn’t think that film was a great film; I thought that was a very uneven film. I thought the Southern women were so caricatured that it was kind of like ‘Harper Valley PTA’ or something like that.
I always knew I was going to be successful in some way with films. I don’t know why. I had no particular talent, but I always knew I was going to be sitting in a dining room with Lucille Ball and at a cocktail party with Bette Davis.
Doris Day started performing at a young age, had a tough road to success, and once she achieved it delivered the goods 100 percent and brilliantly, always making difficult work look as easy as breathing.
When Orson Welles was acting in ‘Compulsion,’ the director Richard Fleischer let him just take over and direct the courtroom scenes. To be able to see Welles – who knew more about directing than anyone – direct himself and the other actors, it was unbelievable and unforgettable.
One movie I think is just terrific is ‘Bernie,’ with Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine. That was a great surprise to me – so witty, so entertaining, a true story, and I’m not a great Jack Black fan, but he’s great in it. I think it’s a gem.
