- There is nothing duller on the screen than being accurate but not dramatic.
- I know audiences feed on crap, but I can't believe we are so lacking that we cannot dish it up to them with some trace of originality.
- We are in this business primarily to provide entertainment, but in doing so we do not dodge the issue if we can also provide enlightenment.
- An executive cannot expect love - ever!
- No one can possibly write the history of motion pictures without devoting the largest individual share of it to Irving Thalberg, who incidentally was my intimate friend until the day he died. In my opinion, he was the most creative producer in the history of films during the period when he was Production Head of MGM, and the guiding light of that operation.
- [on Jean Renoir] Renoir has a lot of talent, but he isn't one of us.
- [Referring to TV as "Video"] Video won't be able to hold any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.
- Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night. Darryl Zanuck, executive at 20th Century Fox, 1946
- [Accused of having a stupid man on his staff] I keep him because I know if a situation is clear to him, it'll be clear to anybody.
- [Zanuck was quoted on variations of this line many times] For God's sake, don't say yes until I'm finished talking!
- Croquet keeps you from thinking of anything else. That's why I like it.
- Christ, I was a victim of Cleopatra (1963). The god-damned asp was biting me!
- [In a letter to Lord Mountbatten about "The Longest Day"] I believe I have a tougher job than Ike had on D-Day - at least he had the equipment. I have to find it, rebuild it, and transport it to Normandy.
- Unless these two pictures ("Wilson" and "One World") are successful from every standpoint, I'll never make another film without Betty Grable.
- If I had gotten a divorce instead of a legal separation, I would have been married three times since. I would have had three more divorces. I would have had a lot less money and a lot more misery.
- [Upon entering the Louvre]: We got to be out of this joint in 20 minutes!
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