Gene Hackman Biography

On himself:

“If I start to become a star, I’ll lose contact with the normal guys I play best.”

“I was in New York for about eight years before I had a job. I sold ladies shoes, polished furniture, drove a truck. I think that if you have it in you, and you want it bad enough, you can do it.”

“People in the street still call me Popeye, and the French Connection was many years ago. I wish I could have a new hit and get a new nickname.”

On acting:

“I wanted to act, but I’d always been convinced that actors had to be handsome. That came from the days when Errol Flynn was my idol. I’d come out of a theater, and be startled when I looked in a mirror because I didn’t look like Flynn. But I felt like him.”

“Dysfunctional families have sired a number of pretty good actors.”

“I was trained to be an actor, not a star. I was trained to play roles, not to deal with fame and agents and lawyers and the press.”

Others:

“The difference between a hero and a coward is one step sideways.”

“When you’re on top, you get a sense of immortality. You feel that you can do no wrong, that it will always be good, no matter what the role. Well in truth, that feeling is death. You must be honest with yourself.”