Monty's quotes

[recalling his arrival in Hollywood] I told them I wanted to choose my scripts and my directors myself. "But sweetheart," they said, "you`re going to make a lot of mistakes." And I told them, "You don`t understand; I want to be free to do so."

[on Marilyn Monroe] Marilyn was an incredible person to act with, the most marvelous I ever worked with and I have been working for 29 years.

Good dialogue simply isn`t enough to explain all the infinite gradations of a character. It`s behavior -- it`s what`s going on behind the lines.

I love the stage, but after a few months you can get tired. I would rather do three movies than play in one stage hit. I played in four flops in a row when I was about 17 and I was delighted. I was being paid to be trained.

I keep my family out of my public life because it can be an awful nuisance to them. What`s my mother going to tell strangers anyway? That I was a cute baby and that she`s terribly proud of me? Nuts. Who cares?

[on Elizabeth Taylor] Liz is the only woman I have ever met who turns me on. She feels like the other half of me.

I don`t want to be labeled as either a pansy or a heterosexual. Labeling is so self-limiting. We are what we do, not what we say we are.

[reported last words, upon being asked if he wanted to see one of his movies on TV[ Absolutely not!

What do I have to do to prove I can act?

I feel my real talent lies in directing for my later years.