sir lawrence olivier, on acting

"Acting is to an actor what water is to a fish. It's the context of our daily lives-- the space we inhabit and the great sustaining factor we need to survive. Taking acting away from an actor is like pulling a fish into a boat. Surely I jest, you say? Well, let me simply say that once upon a time a certain director who shall remain unnamed decided to give Joseph Cotton a blank script during a read through. Dear Josie started flopping around, gasping for air, collapsed and eventually defecated on set right in his trousers. We all thought it a great bit of improvisation, but it turned out he'd had a seizure and died. I ended up screwing his widow. Life's funny that way."

Interview with British Acting Guild Journal, September 1968