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The Great Gatsby
Hamlet

Free Literature Study Guides
The Great Gatsby
Hamlet

Malcolm McDowell Quotes

I’d love to do radio plays. I think that one should be open to everything and shouldn’t limit oneself.

– Malcolm McDowell

The villains that I play, I always think that they are grounded, wonderful people with enormous intellects who are very exciting to spend an evening with. I never see them as bad people.

– Malcolm McDowell

You can’t hold back. You can’t think of the subtleties of playing. You just have to get out and really bare it all, and hopefully you don’t fall off the plank. And if you do, hey, pick yourself up, dust yourself down, and start all over again.

– Malcolm McDowell

I’m not quite as buoyant as I was in my youth.

– Malcolm McDowell

If you look a little punkish, then they’re going to give you the parts. And if you play an iconic villain early on in your career, you tend to get asked to play one over and over and over again.

– Malcolm McDowell

I’ve tried it all. I’d love to do radio plays. I think that one should be open to everything and shouldn’t limit oneself.

– Malcolm McDowell

I just love a challenge, and always have, and will do anything to make it interesting. I’ll try anything, really, as long as it’s a challenge and you can have some fun doing it.

– Malcolm McDowell

Once you commit to something, you’ve got to commit the whole way. Try and make the best of it.

– Malcolm McDowell

I like to razz the Trekkies a little bit. Who doesn’t? It’s trainspotting, isn’t it? But they are very well-meaning, actually. I’ve done a couple of Star Trek conventions, and they’ve only been really welcoming.

– Malcolm McDowell

My favorite actor who played villains – who could play anything, really – was Jimmy Cagney.

– Malcolm McDowell

I think we’re all a little afraid of the dark. If you lived in the country, as I did, there’s nothing quite like country dark, which was really black. And as a child, your imagination runs wild.

– Malcolm McDowell

Every university in America teaches ‘Clockwork Orange.’ I get fed up with it.

– Malcolm McDowell

There are no great scripts – just great films.

– Malcolm McDowell

Let’s not get too precious about it: actors are not heart surgeons or brain surgeons. We are just entertaining people.

– Malcolm McDowell

An actor cannot be a censor. I’m there to interpret.

– Malcolm McDowell

I’m from a country where acting is taken very seriously; it’s a very serious profession.

– Malcolm McDowell

You’ve always got to work with the best if you can, and of course, the best are the best because they’re different. They expect certain standards, and they’re usually very difficult people to work with.

– Malcolm McDowell

I love doing every role I do!

– Malcolm McDowell

The most nurturing of directors can make you feel too comfortable, and you don’t really push for that extra whatever.

– Malcolm McDowell

Different directors offer you different things, and it’s not necessarily the most obvious things.

– Malcolm McDowell

You know, I’ve had an incredible career and I’m blessed.

– Malcolm McDowell

It is true I’d rather get a hole in one than win an Academy Award.

– Malcolm McDowell

I am a professional actor, and I don’t go about moralizing about what the character does. Otherwise, seriously, why be an actor? You’re not making some kind of social statement. That’s not what actors do.

– Malcolm McDowell

The definition of insanity in Texas is so insane that it’s impossible to be insane in Texas.

– Malcolm McDowell

I just take it as it comes, and if I’m not offered something, there’s always a reason, and usually it’s a pretty good one. I’m not worried about it. You know, I’ve had an incredible career, and I’m blessed.

– Malcolm McDowell

The thing is, I’ve never been a handsome leading-man type, so let’s not kid ourselves.

– Malcolm McDowell