The Jack Lemmon Fansite

Quotes by Jack Lemmon

"The worst part about being me is when people want me to make them laugh."

"I'm spreading a little sunshine throughout the day!"

"If you think it's difficult to meet new people, try picking up the wrong golf ball."

"I won't quit until I get run over by a truck, a producer or a critic."

"It's hard enough to write a good drama, it's much harder to write a good comedy, and it's hardest of all to write a drama with comedy. Which is what life is."

"Failure seldom stops you. What stops you is the fear of failure."

"Stay humble. Always answer your phone - no matter who else is in the car."

"How do you know that God didn't speak to Charles Darwin?"

"I think it stinks."

"Death ends a life not a relationship."

"We're doing very serious stuff .... but some of the stuff we pull with each other in

between is not serious at all, and also not repeatable."

"It can be a simple sentence that makes one single point and you build for that. You zero in on one moment that gets that character, you go for it, that's it, man, and if you fail the whole thing is down the drain, but if you make it you hit the moon."

"I think whatever you do, if you are going to do well or even if you don't do it well, you have to have a passion for it, and I am passionate about it. I love it. I respect it and it gets me. I get off on acting."

"If you really want to be an actor who can satisfy himself and his audience, you need to be vulnerable. You must reach the emotional and intellectual level of ability where you can go stark naked, emotionally, in front of an audience."

"Nobody deserves this much money - certainly not an actor."

"Some Like It Hot...Nobody's Perfect."

[on Marilyn Monroe] "Marilyn had an incredible charisma that was so rare, I don't think I've seen anything quite like it. She had a lot of talent as an actress and she used that talent to the best of her ability as well as her skills as a comedienne, which worked out marvelously for her as she had a certain magic on film. I loved working with her and a lot of people say that's clear in our scenes together. I absolutely adored her and we got on wonderfully."

[on Judy Holliday] "She was intelligent and not at all like the dumb blondes she so often depicted. She didn't give a damn where the camera was placed, how she was made to look, or about being a star. She just played the scene -- acted with, not at. She was also one of the nicest people I ever met."

[on Tony Curtis] "One of my best pals and a tremendous actor. He's a kind of brother that I never had, along with Walter [Matthau]. We wore a dress together and raced against each other in another film - all in the name of comedy!"

[on Billy Wilder] "I've had directors who were marvelous at breaking scenes down and handling people. But when you would string all the pearls together, they wouldn't make a beautiful necklace. But Billy is the kind of picture-maker who can make a beautiful string of pearls. He makes the kind of movies that are classics and last forever."

[on Walter Matthau] "Walter is the helluva actor. One of the best I've ever worked with."

[on Shirley MacLaine] "She hated rehearsals and had a bad habit of ad-libbing, which didn't set well with Billy Wilder. But we got used to each other, because mainly she's a helluva girl."

Quotes about Jack Lemmon

Marilyn Monroe [co-star in Some Like It Hot]: "Jack Lemmon is the funniest man in the world."

Tony Curtis [co-star in 'Some Like It Hot' and 'The Great Race'] "Jack Lemmon is my very best friend and a very wonderful actor. A very talented, very funny man. We're like brothers. We are gifts to each other. He's got such a fun personality, both on screen and off. Yes. There will only ever be one Jack Lemmon."

Blake Edwards [director of 'The Great Race' and 'Days of Wine and Roses']: "If I had to choose only one actor to work with for the rest of my career, it would be Jack Lemmon."

Billy Wilder [director of 'Some Like It Hot' and The Apartment']: "Jack Lemmon is the best actor I've ever worked with, he's a thinking actor. Not only that, but he's one of the greatest actors to ever have had a career in this strange showbusiness world. He's a cross between Cary Grant and Charlie Chaplin."

Shirley MacLaine [co-star in 'The Apartment' and 'Irma La Douce']: "I loved working with Jack Lemmon on the the films we did. If I was ever feeling down one day on the set, he'd always make me feel better because he was always in a good mood. He loved working and I love the fact that I was able to work with this great man. He is very funny and a very handsome, talented man."

Natalie Wood [co-star in 'The Great Race']: "I was quite impressed by Jack when I first met him, to a point where I was exceedlingly impressed not only by him but also the performance he did in The Great Race. He was wonderful in that film. I have never seen anyone go in so many different directions, identifying every character he plays so perfectly and finely."

Doris Day [co-star in 'It Happened to Jane']: "Jack Lemmon. What a great name! As well as person! Jack and I have a certain bond and we shared that special bond in a film in 1959. We just bounce off each other and we make each other laugh. I just love Jack. He is one of my dearest friends."

Betty Garrett [co-star in My Sister Eileen']: "I think I fell in love with Jack Lemmon. I know I had a big crush on him. He was so handsome and so beautiful. And yet he's one of the easiest persons to work with. Because he likes to rehearse, which I like to do. And at the same time, it doesn't matter if you don't want to rehearse. Jack will still sit in his dressing room alone and go over and over his lines. He was a very unique actor with a huge fanbase."