Gore Vidal (3 October 1925, West Point, New York, USA) movies list and roles

It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.

A talent for drama is not a talent for writing, but is an ability to articulate human relationships.

In the next few years, the empire is going to strike back at the Internet in the interest of protecting our children from porn, drugs and te...Show more »

In the next few years, the empire is going to strike back at the Internet in the interest of protecting our children from porn, drugs and terrorism - all of which the U.S. government will claim is being peddled by the Internet. There is not a trick they won't pull to get control. After all, what better way to control everyone's mind, or at least the input of information? Show less «

[asked to describe himself in one word] Realist.

A narcissist is someone better looking than you are.

Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head. [William Shakespeare] has perhaps twenty players, and Tennessee Williams has about...Show more »

Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head. [William Shakespeare] has perhaps twenty players, and Tennessee Williams has about five, and Samuel Beckett one - and maybe a clone of that one. I have ten or so, and that's a lot. As you get older, you become more skillful at casting them. Show less «

[interview in "The Secular Humanist Bulletin", Summer 1995] Once people get hung up on theology, they've lost sanity forever. More people ha...Show more »

[interview in "The Secular Humanist Bulletin", Summer 1995] Once people get hung up on theology, they've lost sanity forever. More people have been killed in the name of Jesus Christ than any other name in the history of the world. Show less «

The idea of a good society is something you do not need a religion and eternal punishment to buttress; you need a religion if you are terrif...Show more »

The idea of a good society is something you do not need a religion and eternal punishment to buttress; you need a religion if you are terrified of death. Show less «

I'm a born-again atheist.

[in 1988] I regard monotheism as the greatest disaster ever to befall the human race. I see no good in Judaism, Christianity or Islam -- goo...Show more »

[in 1988] I regard monotheism as the greatest disaster ever to befall the human race. I see no good in Judaism, Christianity or Islam -- good people, yes, but any religion based on a single, well, frenzied and virulent god, is not as useful to the human race as, say, Confucianism, which is not a religion but an ethical and educational system. Show less «

Politics is made up of two words: "Poli," which is Greek for "many," and "tics," which are bloodsucking insects.

[5/23/04] One day the Bush family may develop a conscience and they may develop some idea of statesmanship. But that day is nowhere near, th...Show more »

[5/23/04] One day the Bush family may develop a conscience and they may develop some idea of statesmanship. But that day is nowhere near, that the Bush family will ever be anything but dishonorable. And so, we can't wait, but we've got to discuss how they have dishonored us and what they have done wrong, and replace them - with anything, at the moment. Show less «

I find stupidity very exciting. And I'm excited all day long.

[regarding the US being an empire] It is a pointless empire, which gives a satirist like me great pleasure, the fact that nothing makes any ...Show more »

[regarding the US being an empire] It is a pointless empire, which gives a satirist like me great pleasure, the fact that nothing makes any sense. Show less «

Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say and not giving a damn.

[interview on Swedish radio, 2004] We pay large taxes to the government. The rich don't but the average working person does. We're the only ...Show more »

[interview on Swedish radio, 2004] We pay large taxes to the government. The rich don't but the average working person does. We're the only First-World country that gets nothing back. There's no health service. The educational system is pre-Copernicus. It's a scandal. But the Americans don't know it because they have never been told about other countries. They just know they're bad. Show less «

To write a script today means working for a committee of people who know nothing about movies, as opposed, say, to real estate or the higher...Show more »

To write a script today means working for a committee of people who know nothing about movies, as opposed, say, to real estate or the higher art of bookkeeping. Show less «

There is not one human problem that could not be solved if people would simply do as I advise.

Look, homophobia is fed into every child in the United States at birth. It is unrelenting, it never lets up. They asked a whole raft of high...Show more »

Look, homophobia is fed into every child in the United States at birth. It is unrelenting, it never lets up. They asked a whole raft of high school boys across the country a couple years ago, one of those polls about what they would most like to be in life, and what they would hate to be, and so forth, and what they would most hate to be was homosexual. There wasn't anyone, not one, who just skipped the question. They all said 'oh no, that's the worst thing you could be.' Show less «

I don't go to movies for love, do you?

It's realism. Life is mostly luck!

[upon learning of Truman Capote's death] Good career move.

[an interview in 2007] I do a lot of reading of the dead. I finally got around after 50 years to reading all of Aristotlex. He's very good o...Show more »

[an interview in 2007] I do a lot of reading of the dead. I finally got around after 50 years to reading all of Aristotlex. He's very good on republics, how they always come a cropper, and why. Required reading. Republics, once lost, don't easily come back. Show less «

The only time I went on stage, in the part of Dalton Trumbo, a blacklisted writer on Broadway, was right after Howard [Austen, his companion...Show more »

The only time I went on stage, in the part of Dalton Trumbo, a blacklisted writer on Broadway, was right after Howard [Austen, his companion of 53 years] died. Before I knew it, I was standing out there in front of the audience. It was the best thing I ever did. If you want to drown your grief, play on Broadway. Show less «

There are no homosexual people, only homosexual acts.

[on leaving La Rondinaia, Italy, for Hollywood when his partner Howard Austen had required specialist treatment] It was an intelligent thing...Show more »

[on leaving La Rondinaia, Italy, for Hollywood when his partner Howard Austen had required specialist treatment] It was an intelligent thing to live in California, [but now] as the American dictatorship gets going, I don't know if it's the right setting to say farewell to the Republic. Show less «

The protocols for impeachment are meant to be used. Of course Dick Cheney should be impeached, and then I would impeach the president. They ...Show more »

The protocols for impeachment are meant to be used. Of course Dick Cheney should be impeached, and then I would impeach the president. They are guilty of high crimes against the Constitution of the United States. We have a bad government, just out of control. We have turned into a very ugly, totalitarian society. Show less «

[on America during the George W. Bush years] Never have so many things gone so wrong all at once. Saboteurs and thieves have been in charge ...Show more »

[on America during the George W. Bush years] Never have so many things gone so wrong all at once. Saboteurs and thieves have been in charge of every part of government. Show less «

I remember Grandfather, Senator T. P. Gore, always said, "This whole country is based on only one thing: due process of law, involving Habea...Show more »

I remember Grandfather, Senator T. P. Gore, always said, "This whole country is based on only one thing: due process of law, involving Habeas Corpus." The only good thing England gave us was Magna Carta, which he regarded as sacred. Show less «

[on his 53-year relationship with Howard Austen] It is very easy to sustain a relationship when sex plays no part, and impossible when it do...Show more »

[on his 53-year relationship with Howard Austen] It is very easy to sustain a relationship when sex plays no part, and impossible when it does. Show less «

My grandmother would say, "If it's in the newspapers, it's just not true." That was our automatic take.

William Faulkner told me not to fall into the trap F. Scott Fitzgerald did. He thought you could make something out of a movie. You can't. G...Show more »

William Faulkner told me not to fall into the trap F. Scott Fitzgerald did. He thought you could make something out of a movie. You can't. Go, get the money, go home, write your books. Show less «

My father was asked, "How do you explain Gore's courage?" "Courage about what?" replied my father. "It's not courageous if you don't care wh...Show more »

My father was asked, "How do you explain Gore's courage?" "Courage about what?" replied my father. "It's not courageous if you don't care what people think of you." He had my number. Of course, one does care, but which kind of people is the question. Show less «

[on working in Hollywood in the 1950s] We did too much. Someone would ring up and say, "We've got a bar, a bedroom and a kind of ballroom. W...Show more »

[on working in Hollywood in the 1950s] We did too much. Someone would ring up and say, "We've got a bar, a bedroom and a kind of ballroom. We've got Paul Newman and Vincent J. Donehue is going to direct. Can you think of a play?" In three or four days you'd write something to fit the sets and the cast. Show less «

[on post-WW2 America, from 1945-1950] For the first time, the US was not involved in a war. The Depression was over. Suddenly, there were 13...Show more »

[on post-WW2 America, from 1945-1950] For the first time, the US was not involved in a war. The Depression was over. Suddenly, there were 13 million of us who'd served in the military and were home. There was a cultural burst that Americans had never known before: we became number one for things like ballet. We had dozens of first-rate poets, several not so bad novelists, wonderful music, Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland. It was a great moment, and it lasted for five years. Then the Korean War came, and we've never stopped being at war since. Show less «

The best thing about being Anglophone is that you have two countries.

Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.

Shit has its own integrity.

[on John McCain's 2008 Republican presidential campaign] Anyone could beat McCain! I've never met anyone in America who has the slightest re...Show more »

[on John McCain's 2008 Republican presidential campaign] Anyone could beat McCain! I've never met anyone in America who has the slightest respect for him. He went to a private school and came bottom of his class. He smashed up his aeroplane and became a prisoner of war, which he is trying to parlay into "war hero". He's a goddamned fool. He was on television talking about mortgages, and it was quite clear he does not know what a mortgage is. His head rattles as he walks. Show less «

But John F. Kennedy had great charm. So has Barack Obama. He's better educated than Jack. And he's been a working senator. Jack never went t...Show more »

But John F. Kennedy had great charm. So has Barack Obama. He's better educated than Jack. And he's been a working senator. Jack never went to the office - he wanted the presidency and his father bought it for him. Show less «

I never believed in John F. Kennedy's charisma. He was one of our worst presidents. Robert F. Kennedy was a phony, a little Torquemada and t...Show more »

I never believed in John F. Kennedy's charisma. He was one of our worst presidents. Robert F. Kennedy was a phony, a little Torquemada and their father [Joseph P. Kennedy] was a crook--should have been in jail. Show less «

[on Barack Obama's 2008 Democratic Party nomination campaign] I liked the idea of him, but he never managed to get my interest. I was brough...Show more »

[on Barack Obama's 2008 Democratic Party nomination campaign] I liked the idea of him, but he never managed to get my interest. I was brought around by his overall intelligence - specifically when he did his speech on race and religion. He's our best demagogue since Huey Long or Martin Luther King. Show less «

[on Hillary Clinton's 2008 Democratic Party nomination campaign] I think her strategy is more or less insane. I'd always rather liked her. S...Show more »

[on Hillary Clinton's 2008 Democratic Party nomination campaign] I think her strategy is more or less insane. I'd always rather liked her. She's a perfectly able lawyer . . . But this long campaign, this daily search for the grail, has driven her crazy. Show less «

The George W. Bush people have virtually got rid of Magna Carta and habeas corpus. In a normal republic I would probably have raised an army...Show more »

The George W. Bush people have virtually got rid of Magna Carta and habeas corpus. In a normal republic I would probably have raised an army and overthrown them. It will take a hundred years to put it all back. Show less «

[commenting on the giant Jerusalem set for Ben-Hur (1959)] This Jerusalem is the Jerusalem of Jesus Christ. He could move through the city a...Show more »

[commenting on the giant Jerusalem set for Ben-Hur (1959)] This Jerusalem is the Jerusalem of Jesus Christ. He could move through the city and feel that He was absolutely at home. He would know where to go to order a pizza. Show less «

[on Truman Capote] Capote should be heard, not read.

Those presidential ninnies should stick to throwing out baseballs and leave the important matters to serious people.

[on writer Carson McCullers] Of all our Southern writers, Carson McCullers is the one most likely to endure.

(When asked by interviewer David Frost if his first sexual experience was heterosexual or homosexual) I was too polite to ask.

(On Anita Bryant) As to Anita's fear that she'll be assassinated? The only people who might shoot Anita Bryant are music lovers.

Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little.

It's easy to sustain a relationship when sex plays no part and impossible, I have observed, when it does.

[on William F. Buckley] Looks and sounds not unlike Hitler, but without the charm.

[on Ronald Reagan] A triumph of the embalmer's art.

[ on his role at a christening] Always a godfather, never a god.

[observation, 1973] The bad movies we made twenty years ago are now regarded in altogether too many circles as important aspects of what the...Show more »

[observation, 1973] The bad movies we made twenty years ago are now regarded in altogether too many circles as important aspects of what the new illiterates want to believe is the only significant art form of the twentieth century. An entire generation has been brought up to admire the product of that era. Like so many dinosaur droppings, the old Hollywood films have petrified into something rich, strange, numinous-golden. For any survivor of the Writers' Table, it is astonishing to find young directors like Bertolucci, Bogdanovich, Truffaut reverently repeating or echoing or paying homage to the sort of kitsch we created first time round.. Show less «

When you get to a certain age, a juicy lawsuit is sometimes the only thing that gets you up in the morning.

What matters finally is not the world's judgment of oneself but one's own judgment of the world. Any writer who lacks this final arrogance w...Show more »

What matters finally is not the world's judgment of oneself but one's own judgment of the world. Any writer who lacks this final arrogance will not survive very long, especially in America. Show less «

I'm all for bringing back the birch, but only between consulting adults.