Anthony Quinn.

The Parts Dried up as I Reached My 60Th Birthday, Loosely Coinciding with My Growing Disinclination to Pursue Them. Indeed, I Could Not See the Point in Playing Old Men on Screen When I Rejected the Role for Myself.

I Held Out My Arms, in a Traditional Greek Stance, and Shuffled Along the Sands. Soon Alan Bates Picked up on the Move … We Were Born Again Greeks, Joyously Celebrating Life. We Had No Idea What We Were Doing, but It Felt Right, and Good.

It Took the Faith of 750 Million Muslims to Restore My Faith in Myself.

Some Days, I Paint Like an Indian. Some Days, I Paint Like a Mexican … I Steal from Everybody Picasso, Kandinsky … I Steal, but Only from the Best.

Probably It’s the Irish in Me That Makes Me Speak Out. but There Are About 800 Boys in My Profession Who Have a Political Ideal and Want to Express It. How Can an Actor Be Real in His Work If He Hasn’t Some Convictions Regarding the Problems in the World Around Him?

Funny Thing, You Know, One of My Favorite Characters in All My Films Was Zorba the Greek. and Somehow, I Think I’ve Become More Like Zorba Ever Since I Played Him.

Many People Remember Jack Barrymore as Either a Wit or a Drunk, but What Impressed Me Was His Courage of Conviction. He Used to Tell Me That You Can Only Be as Right as You Dare to Be Wrong. That You Must Be Willing to Take Chances to Achieve Superiority in Your Craft. He Gave Me His Armor from ‘Richard III.’ He Was Like a Retiring Matador, Who Gives His Sword to the Most Promising Newcomer He Knows.

I Love, Love, Love Women.

I Fought Early to Go Beyond the Stereotypes and Demand Mexicans and Indians Be Treated with Dignity in Films. You Know, the Character in ‘the Ox Bow Incident’ Was the Most Influential Depiction of a Mexican for Its Time. He Was a Young Outlaw but a Young Outlaw Who Spoke Eight Languages.

Those Were Rough Times, Right from the Beginning. with a Name Like Quinn, I Wasn’t Totally Accepted by the Mexican Community in Those Days, and as a Mexican I Wasn’t Accepted as an American. so as a Kid I Just Decided, Well, ‘a Plague on Both Your Houses. I’ll Just Become a World Citizen.’ so That’s What I Did. Acting Is My Nationality.

I Steal from Everyone. Picasso Did It. Modigliani Did It. so Did Da Vinci. Rufino Tamayo Stole from the Mayan Civilization. the Thing Is, a Big Talent Steals; a Small Talent Borrows.

I Have Never, Never, Never Talked About My Son’s Death. I’ve Never Used the Term Death in Connection with My Son. but Every Night Doing the Show I Had to Say, ‘He’s Dead.’ at First I Cut the Line Out of the Play. the Director Came to Me and Said, ‘It’s Wrong. I Know How Painful It Is, but You’ll Have to Do It.’ He Loved His Son Very Much, This Zorba. He Left His Family Because He Couldn’t Bear Being with Them After the Loss of His Son. Zorba and I Are Very Much Alike.

My Father, Francesco, Had the Same Problem I Did with People Making Fun of Him Because of His Name. and He Joined the Revolution to Prove That He Was a Good Mexican. but I Must Say That I Think It Was a Good Thing, If There Is Such a Thing as a Good Thing, That I Wasn’t Accepted 100 Percent by the Mexican People. Because It Drove Me Mad, It Drove Me Absolutely Crazy.’

I Live a Revolutionary Life.

I Believe in Karma. One Is Guided by La Duende , a Worm Inside Your Stomach That Makes You Do All Sorts of Things. This Worm, No Matter What You Do, How You Try to Change, This Duende Calls the Shots.

When I Die I Want to Return and Claim My Six Feet of Mexican Soil. It’s My Way of Saying ‘Accept Me’. If I Go Back Maybe Then They Will Say, ‘He Was One of Us.’

I’ve Never Accepted Discrimination Against Myself. I’ve Always Walked Proudly, Maybe Too Much So, Never Apologizing for Being Mexican.

If I Stayed in Hollywood, I’d Still Be Playing Indians. I Went on Stage, Where I Had the Chance to Play Many Nationalities. I Was an English King, a Polish Worker in ‘Streetcar’, Taking Over the Role from Brando.

I Hope I Opened the Door for Ethnic Leading Men. Many Mexican Actors Didn’t Reach Out to Play Other Nationalities, Other Roles, but Now They Can.

I’m Sorry to Say My Home Country Never Really Accepted Me as Mexican. If I Had a Mexican Name and Won Two Oscars, I’d Be a God to Mexicans Everywhere. but I’ve Never Been Taken up as Anyone’s Hero. They Don’t Know Whether to Treat Me as Mexican or Irish Because of My Name.

At That Time Hollywood Hell, America Looked Down on Anybody Not Blond or Blue Eyed as Potential Enemies. We All Had to Put up with It. I Always Said I Was Mexican, Indian and Irish. the Only Mexican Leading Man Was Gilbert Roland but He Told Everyone He Was Spanish.

For so Many Years I Defied Mexico, Angry for Not Recognizing Me. I Had No Backing. I’m No Longer Angry or Disappointed. I Made My Own Life Out of Defiance and I’m Proud of It.

A Career in Pictures Did Not Look Promising. I Was Either Too Dark, or Too Mexican, or Too Unusual Looking, and the Good Parts Always Seemed to Go to the Actors Who Fit a More Conventional Mold.