Ed Lauter

[his definition of a character actor] Someone who's most usually not an 8x10 glossy. You know, not a Steve Stunning. They're characters.

[on his status as a "recognizable" character actor] Recognizable, but sometimes people don't know my name. They'll say, "Oh, yeah! There's that guy! You were in... Jesus Christ... you were in... in..." So in a way it's good - and in a way it's bad. Show less «

One of the tools that an actor has - and it's a trite thing, but you can really use it a lot - is imagination. Really important. And New York City was a great place for me to grow up because I had so many characters to study. I didn't grow up in Oklahoma and then move to the city as an adult and suddenly say, "I want to be an actor." I was around actors all of the time. I was around interesting people - the people of the city. Show less «

[on playing villains or otherwise unsavory authority figures] I like those roles. Lee Marvin once told me, "When you play a heavy, every once in a while make the audience like you a little bit." Then they'll think, "Wait a minute, he's not such a bad guy. Did you see the way he petted that dog?". Show less «

[on meeting David Niven] I was really starstruck... He was through shooting for the day so I asked him if we could just take a walk around the Warners' lot and he agreed. And I was so pleased I was going to get some tips from a real star. And, as we walked, he said to me, "Remember, get every penny you can from the sons-of-bitches.". Show less «

[on Alfred Hitchcock] He didn't care for Montgomery Clift. He didn't like the way he'd act one way in the master and a completely different way in the close-ups. He just couldn't match it, you know? Show less «

[on Lee Marvin] I'd given him a book by H.L. Mencken and he sent me one back, and I opened it and he'd written inside "To Ed, for more joy, Lee Marvin." I rang him up and thanked him so much and he said "I'm glad you got it. You know why I wrote it in pencil don't you? So you can erase it if you don't like your books being blemished.". Show less «

(2012, on Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise) Revenge of the Nerds II, that was funny! Yeah, I had fun on that because I took my hair, or what hair I had, and ... You know how some guys comb their hair to the side to make it look like they have more hair? Well, I did that, then I said to the director, Joe Roth, who's actually a big producer now, "Look, because I'm always trying to flirt with these girls that come into my office, especially this one girl [Courtney Thorne-Smith], is it all right if I keep a mascara pencil in my vest pocket, I try to pencil in my hair before she comes in, and then quickly put it back in my pocket?" He said, "Oh, my God, that'd be funny! Do that!" And they left it in the movie. My character was such a jerk, I wanted to do something to make him more funny. I mean, it was a comedy, anyway, so it wasn't like I was taking any tension away from the film... Working with Robert Carradine and all those guys was fun. Bobby's a really good friend of mine. I've worked with both of his brothers. I worked with David and Keith both. Keith and I did a TV movie called The Godchild back in the '70s. And then with David, it was one of the last films he did, one called Camille. Al Ruddy produced that. He and I go way back. We've done a lot of things together, starting with The Longest Yard. He was also part of Death Hunt, too. Al's a great guy and a great producer to work with. Oh, and I also managed to meet John Carradine at one point, too. I shook his hand. Man, he had some gnarly hands. I also worked with all the Bridges at various points. Lloyd, Beau, and Jeff. Beau directed me in a TV movie. So, yeah, I'm pretty entrenched with the Bridges clan. Show less «

(2012, on Wagons East) John Candy, that was his last movie. We had a lot of fun with John on that. I remember we talked about being altar boys, and we would trade our Latin prayers with each other. I had a break in the filming, and we were down in Mexico, so I wanted to go back to L.A. for about four days. I hear this voice up in the mountains yelling down at me on the prairie, and it's John. He's yelling, "Hey, Eddie! Kyrie eleison! Kyrie eleison!" And as a good altar boy, I'm supposed to yell, "Christe eleison! Christe eleison!" He's up there, waving his hat, and we're having fun with Latin. Then they called me three days later and told me, "John's dead. He died of a heart attack." That really took the wind out of all of us. And I think the movie... I think they were hoping that John would go around selling it. But... oh, boy. Hey, at least I got to meet John. He was a great guy, a funny guy. We were really getting along well. I'm sorry he's gone. Show less «