Donald Pleasence quotes

Donald Pleasence was an English actor, renowned for his intense performances and distinctive voice. His prolific career spanned film, television, and stage, with memorable roles in classics such as "Halloween" and "The Great Escape." He became highly respected for portraying complex and often sinister characters. Here are 25 of his quotes:

The idea of dying and coming back is what makes the Halloween films work.

Donald Pleasence

At the end of the first Halloween, when I shot 6 bullets into Michael Myers, John Carpenter said, Let's get a shot of you looking out of the window and seeing no one lying there.

Donald Pleasence

John and I had a few meetings about what direction the sequel should take. I made some real insane suggestions. True to what you'd expect, he ignored them all and just picked up Halloween II where the original left off.

Donald Pleasence

I was offered a choice of a flat salary up front or a percentage of the film's future earnings. I took the up front money. Nobody could have figured what Halloween would ultimately become.

Donald Pleasence

I think people have a tendency to read into more than there is.

Donald Pleasence

I do not use any set methods, not even The Method. The character after all is in the lines.

Donald Pleasence

What can I tell you about things like Circus of Horrors except that I get killed by the bear?

Donald Pleasence

The process of creation goes on all the time. When I get through, I feel I know what the character will do in every situation. But the building up of the part is not mechanical or deliberate. It grows out of the text.

Donald Pleasence

I don't really know how many films I've done, and I don't look at this as a race that I necessarily want to win. Nor is it a race that I want to stop running.

Donald Pleasence

I believe you can frighten people without showing their heads caved-in.

Donald Pleasence

I am not one of those actors who believes he has to live the part he is playing. I can turn it on and off.

Donald Pleasence

The first Halloween was very well made. The second one was also well made, though I didn't like it as well as the first one. The third one had nothing to do with the series at all and perhaps shouldn't have been made at all.

Donald Pleasence

I do think the story in Halloween 5 is a bit stupid, and there's a lot more blood. They're obviously going to take the Halloween series in a different direction.

Donald Pleasence

John Carpenter created the idea of Halloween, so his vision remains the most focused and intelligently directed of the series. The directors that have followed have kept the original intent of the concept.

Donald Pleasence

Loomis has always felt himself responsible for the fact that he did not stop Michael when he first murdered his sister, and so he's got that guilt to live with.

Donald Pleasence

I loved working with Jamie Lee Curtis, and I felt she was a wonderful actress even that early in her career.

Donald Pleasence

Continental directors, as opposed to British and American, tend to be somewhat high-handed in their approach.

Donald Pleasence

At this point in my career, it doesn't bother me much that I'm probably hopelessly typecast. I like to work, and horror films definitely keep me working.

Donald Pleasence

The process of building a part doesn't really stop.

Donald Pleasence

The play is on top of me all the time, and I am constantly thinking about it. Even when I leave the theatre, I'll mumble the lines to myself or think about the way the character walks or holds himself.

Donald Pleasence

I treat all film roles one way: very seriously," exclaims Pleasence. "I never play anything tongue-in-cheek, though at times it might appear that way. I'm a professional actor who has no particular approach to acting. I get the part, I read the script. If I decide to do it, I learn the lines. People expecting a longwinded explanation on my approach will be disappointed. I have no theory about acting. There is no method, there is no way. I just do it.

Donald Pleasence

It's gotten to the point where it's big news when I don't do a horror film.

Donald Pleasence