Charles Durning Quotes & Sayings

#1. I never turned down anything and never argued with any producer or director.

Charles Durning

#2. I was doing judo before anybody knew it existed in this country.

Charles Durning

#3. If I had my druthers, I would do only stage work.

Charles Durning

#4. I'd like to have a decade of my life back. I dropped into a void for almost a decade.

Charles Durning

#5. You're out there on a high wire without a net, and that's the way actors operate. They have to be fearless about how they work and they have to create a life for the audience in 90 minutes and make them believe.

Charles Durning

#6. I think I've done 200 plays and 125 movies, so I've been very lucky to have made a living at acting.

Charles Durning

#7. Of course, I'm not often the top dog, but sometimes it's better not to be top dog, because you last longer. If a movie or play flops, you always blame the lead. They say, 'He couldn't carry it.' They always blame him. But they rarely blame the second or third banana.

Charles Durning

#8. I lack confidence as an actor.

Charles Durning

#9. There's no nobility with war. It's tear-'em-up destruction that leaves you frustrated, bitter and angry ... If you really knew what it was like for an hour, you wouldn't want anyone to go through it.

Charles Durning

#10. Acting is ephemeral. You can't hang it on a wall. You can't throw it off. And you can't bring it out of a closet. It's there one night and it's gone the next, at least with stage acting anyhow.

Charles Durning

#11. I would rather do a play because it's instantaneous. You go on the stage, and you know whether it's happening or not. Somebody asked me 'What is acting?' And I said, 'Acting is listening.' And if you ain't listening, nobody's listening.

Charles Durning