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The only anecdote I am aware of from this period in Cassavetes’ life describes how the production featured three knock-out beautiful actresses in small parts and how he used to go on stage to talk to them between acts. He would get a little carried away by the conversations at times so that one day…

When an actor is out of work a long time, he grows self-centered and bitter. I know. I went through it for five years. I used to walk around angry all the time. You get so wrapped up in your personal worries and miseries, you lose interest in other people. That’s deadly for anyone – especially an a…

Since none of us had any money, we had to use our wits. We had to get girls to give us their apartment, come in and cook for us, bring food over. We found that trying to get along with actresses who are broke too is no good. We had to go out and find people who weren’t actresses – airline hostesses…

Nothing changes from where you are right now. Nothing will ever change except your own attitudes. Nothing. You’ll be put down. And you’ll get better. And you’re stupid, just stupid, if you get put down and you don’t find some way to fight that put-down. The main thing of being an actor or an actres…

Another difference between the methods of Cassavetes and Strasberg was that Cassavetes studiously shunned group discussions of character. Actors developed their characters separately and even kept secrets from each other about what their character felt, wanted or knew. If two actors discussed their…