Jack Nicholson - biography

1937-

Biography

Jack Nicholson is best-known for the following films:

Jack Nicholson Quotes

“A few years from now, if you can still portray a human being, you’ll be quite a valuable commodity.”

“A star on a movie set is like a time bomb. That bomb has got to be defused so people can approach it without fear.”

“Acting is everybody’s favorite second job.”

“Because you know, down deep in my heart, when all is said and done, I still live under the illusion that basically people think of me as an up-and-coming young actor.”

“I don’t want people to know what I’m actually like. It’s not good for an actor.”

“I know I can act. There aren’t too many other jobs I know how to do.”

“I’m an actor who they said was wrinkled and balding and everything else when I was in my early 30’s. Most of the people who wrote that who thought they were younger than me are now bald and wrinkled.”

“I’m at least 75 per cent of every character I play. For the rest, you have to search out and adopt the character’s own justification and rationalization.”

“If I could be a star rather than an actor, I’d probably stop acting.”

“If it works, that’s The Method.”

“If you get an impulse in a scene, no matter how wrong it seems, follow the impulse. It might be something and if it ain’t - take two!”

“If you suck a tit, you’re an X - cut it off with a sword, you’re a GP.”

“In other words, I wouldn’t like to be an actor if I could only be real. I like to get wild, behaviorally wild, and it’s crazy to think of any form where it’s just one way.”

“It’s a slight stretch of the imagination but most people are alike in most ways so I’ve never had any trouble identifying with the character that I’m playing.”

“Just let the wardrobe do the acting.”

“Most of the early part of an actor’s career, you do the jobs you get.”

“My whole career strategy has been to build a base so that I could take the roles I want to play. I’d hate to think that a shorter part might not be available because I was worried about my billing.”

“The [studio] system is geared towards overworking the stars. There aren’t too many stars around to haul the freight.”

“Warren Beatty can say ‘No’ simply and I can’t, while I can say ‘Yes’ simply and he can’t.”

“When I am cast in a movie where I feel that the woman’s part is more interesting, I usually start thinking about Spencer Tracy and Fred Astaire. They seem to be the most clear actors when working with women.”

“You’ve got to keep attacking the audience’s values. If you pander to them, you lose your vitality.”

“I’ll tell you one thing: Don’t ever give anybody your best advice, because they’re not going to follow it.”

“Age is the first limitation on roles that I’ve ever had to encounter, and I hit that awhile ago.”

“I’ve never been able to say I’ve been influenced by a list of artists I like because I like thousands and thousands and I’ve been influenced in some way by all of them.”

“My first art teacher said art is one thing: a stimulating point of departure. That’s it!”

“I’d like to win more Oscars than Walt Disney and I’d like to win them in every category.”

“What’s beautiful is all that counts, pal. That’s all that counts.”

“Early on, if I was alone two three nights in a row, I’d start writing poems about suicide.”

“I sense an incredible feeling of searing agony from being burned. I’ve never liked the idea of being dead, of short-circuiting.”

“I’m Irish. I think about death all the time.”

“I feel talented as a director. I don’t feel desired as a director.”

“Roman Polanski has no time to listen to actors but Milos Forman insists on talking about every scene.”

“Beer, it’s the best damn drink in the world.”

“In my last year of school, I was voted Class Optimist and Class Pessimist. Looking back, I realize I was only half right.”

“The minute that you’re not learning I believe you’re dead.”

“When I was in high school, I earned the pimple award and every other gross-out award.”

“Frankly, I got into the movies because I like the movies a lot.”

“I think that’s what distinguishes Schmidt, really. In the movies now, so much of what is appealing to an audience is the dramatic or has to do with science fiction, and Schmidt is simply human. There’s no melodrama; there’s no device, It’s just about a human being.”

“I’m a New Wave baby, so I got very stimulated by foreign film.”

“Once you’ve been really bad in a movie, there’s a certain kind of fearlessness you develop.”

“I learned a long time ago in Hollywood that the only person I should vote for is myself.”

“It’s like any town.”

“I don’t feel heroic - nor anti-heroic.”

“I have a lot of vanity.”

“I’m not hard to get along with.”

“I’m very 50s Zen. All tributes are false, all is vanity.”

“I’ve been overweight since I was four. I don’t want to overinflate my role and my job, but isn’t there more to me than what I weight?”

“I’ve been physically dissected more than any frog in a biology class - my eyebrows, my eyes, my teeth. And now it’s my stomach.”

“I’ve been too many places. I’m like the bad penny.”

“It’s good for business if people think I’m a womanizer. I’ve no motivation to deny it. Unless it begins to dominate the reality of my situation.”

“My best feature’s my smile. And smiles, praise heaven, don’t get fat.”

“With my sunglasses on, I’m Jack Nicholson. Without them, I’m fat and 60.”

“I do get bored easily. So, I’d rather do a short, interesting stint than a long, dreary one.”

“There’s only two people in your life you should lie to... the police and your girlfriend.”

“Well, I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I haven’t been a rogue most of my life.”

“Well, a girlfriend once told me never to fight with anybody you don’t love.”

“I never had a policy about marriage. I got married very young in life and I always think in all relationships, I’ve always thought that it’s counterproductive to have a theory on that.”

“Financially, I’ve lost money and made money, but I know my way around financially.”

“We are going as fast as we can as soon as we can. We’re in a race against time, until we run out of money.”

“My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch.”

“Americans don’t like sexual movies. They like sexy movies.”

“I’m preoccupied with sex - an area of human behaviour that’s underexplored, in general. And I like virgin territory.”

“There is no way you can get people to believe you on screen if they know who you really are through television.”

“I prefer the company of women. I’m buzzed by the feel mystique. I always tell young men there are three rules: they hate us, we hate them; they’re stronger, they’re smarter; and most important, they don’t play fair.”

“I don’t have any fear of intimacy, but rather thrive on it, which is rare in a public person.”

“I only take Viagra when I’m with more than one woman.”

“I sort of understood that when I first started: that you shouldn’t repeat a success. Very often you’re going to, and maybe the first time you do, it works. And you love it. But then you’re trapped.”

“I think there’s a well-known contest in the acting profession to see who can say the best stuff about Marlon [Brando].”

“I used to think that one of the great signs of security was the ability to just walk away.”

“I’m the last guy in the world to feel overlooked by the Academy.”

“In this industry, there are only two ways up the ladder. Rung by rung or claw your way to the top. It’s sure been tough on my nails.”

“People who speak in metaphors should shampoo my crotch.”

“The blues and jazz will live forever... So will the Delta and the Big Easy.”

“There are two ways up the ladder, hand over hand or scratching and clawing. It’s sure been tough on my nails.”

“They literally spring out of the parking lots at you with scripts. Nobody can read a thousand scripts a year and still work.”

“Well, a younger woman is a type, but not necessarily a type for me. And what is a younger woman? I mean, I’m pretty old. Almost everyone is younger.”

Filmography

The Actor