"There's a kind of silliness in the theater about what one contributes to a show. The producer obviously contributes the money... but must the actor contribute nothing at all? I’m not a modest fellow about those things. I contribute a great deal. And they always manage to hang you for having an interpretation. Isn’t [the theater] where your imagination should flower? Why must it always be dull as shit?"
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Comedians from the United StatesActors from New York CityJews from the United StatesSingers from the United StatesTony Award winners
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Responding to criticism that his performances dominated over the material. Ellipsis in the cited source
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zero_Mostel
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Zero Mostel
Zero Mostel (February 28, 1915 – September 8, 1977) was a Brooklyn-born stage and film actor best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus in the Broadway production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (and in the film version), and Max Bialystock in The Producers. He was blacklisted during the 1950s, and his testimony before HUAC was well publicized. He was a Tony Award and Obie Award winner.
2 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Zero Mostel →
Related Quotes
"Mostel: If I appeared there, what if I did an imitation of a butterfly at rest? There is no crime in making anybody l…"
"… Hassan promotes the BITE model as a scientific method for identifying “destructive cults,” claiming it can distingu…"
"I am not a drag queen."
"I'm Jamaican, y'know."
"I never knew there was a purpose for girls with loud voices until I discovered musical theater."
"When one appeals solely to the truth of a discourse to authorize it intellectually and socially, one represses reflec…"
"On the other hand, ... a pragmatic turn ... expands the number of parties who may participate more or less as equals …"
"Where a discourse is redeemed ultimately by metatheoretical appeals, experts step forward as the authorities. This si…"
"In an enterprise such as the building of the atomic bomb the difference between ideas, hopes, suggestions and theoret…"
"I remember having listened to Fermi’s discussions on hydrodynamics with von Neumann. (These took the strange form of …"