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When I told Sam I wanted to act in films he went to an agent, Robert Lang, and said he’d found a boy who was a great writer. And he showed a lot of old, unused filmscripts by the top boys as if they were mine. Naturally this agent is impressed and wants to sign me. But my friend explained how I’m a…

When Cassavetes told him he was an actor, Shaw said he wanted to help him in any way he could. The older, more experienced man immediately ‘adopted’ the younger. Shaw would be one of Cassavetes’ closest friends and collaborators for more than thirty years – initially introducing him to most of the …

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…

Everett Chambers, a television casting director on NBC’s Philco Playhouse and subsequently a good friend, said Cassavetes was the most persistent unemployed actor he ever saw. Cassavetes would come to his office; Chambers would, only half-facetiously, yell at him to get out and throw a telephone bo…

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…