Quotes

I lost it all. And I am very, very bitter about it . . . The biggest mistake I ever made was discovering women. I only wish society had been as free and easy when I was coming along as it is today because if that had been the case I wouldn't have been married. Three women in my life utterly destroyed me.

[on Sweet Savage (1979), a hardcore porn film in which he appeared in a non-sex role] I wanted, I guess, to see what it was all about--a kind of half-assed adventure, you know? It was also a kind of vacation for me in a bad time--a nice location in Arizona--and I picked up a few thousand bucks. After it came out, a few people wagged their fingers at me--"Oh-ho-ho, you dirty dog"--but I knew I hadn't done anything wrong. They shot all the sex stuff after I'd flown back to L.A. I won the adult film Oscar for that, by the way, but somebody copped it.

[on John Wayne during the filming of The Green Berets (1968) I never considered him much of an actor, much less a director. Wayne was just a personality--I mean, I'm a personality, too, but he was all personality. I refused to call him "Duke" or brown-nose around him like everybody else. One day he was telling me how to do a scene a certain way, and I said, '"john, maybe that's the way you'd do it, but it's not the way I'm gonna do it". [He said] "Hey, I've been in this business for 40 years and I was a star for most of that time". I said, ":I don't care how long you've been in the business--you've never learned a fucking thing". He looked at me and turned around and walked away . . . He kind of admired me, and we drank together every night after work. But during work, we avoided each other. That picture shot for a long time--three months.

In some ways the tough soldier role locked me in.

[his last interview] I regret that I don't have more control of my tongue and thoughts . . . because I speak too frankly and too honestly, and this world is not meant for frank and honest people. They don't mix. Reality is pretty phony . . . I'm in still great shape--got all my energy and strength back. I had surgery on my neck last March [1990] and after one more session of the chemo--that's 50 more hours--the doctors say I'll have it all beat . . . I'm not scared of dying. It's how I die that matters. I'd rather live one more good year than ten more crappy years. And I think I've got some good pictures ahead of me if I can find the right roles. There's plenty of good stuff left in me, you know?

I always knew I was going to be a big man, but I thought it would be in politics.

He has a great advantage: the way his eyes are made. The light comes into them. There are certain people who have opaque eyes which refuse to catch the light. But his eyes had a certain glow and gave quite well in the photographed result. He did this silent scene very well lying there on the bed in the same room with Judy (Holiday). Then later he did comedy scenes with her--very difficult ones--and there were also emotional sequences where he broke down and cried. They were brilliant. [Director George Cukor on Ray]

[about his three films with director Fred Olen Ray] Yeah, a did a few films for him . . . Angel Unchained (1970), Biohazard (1985). I'm not sure about all of the titles for a guy named Fred Olen Ray. He'd give me $1,000 in cash, pay my expenses and I'd do a day's work. Somebody once showed me one of his cassettes . . . starring Aldo Ray and asked for my autograph. But it was just a one-day job . . . I needed money at the time, and Fred knew I needed a buck, so I did it. He exploited me, yeah . . . but I was ripe for it.